Feedback
Three months ago today I launched Catching Light Wellness, filled with excitement, trepidation and hope. I have been on an enormous learning curve since then, utilising social media, and building, maintaining and updating a website.
Feedback is crucial to development and moving towards goals. How can we know if we are succeeding if we aren’t made aware of how we come across to others? I am thankful every day for the due diligence and support not only of my editor in chief, Lucy, but also Tillie for being a critical friend. Gratitude is also for those who have provided feedback - advising and offering suggestions on what is working well and where there is room for improvement.
How we show up to others can be so important, especially with body language in these digital times. I was in a Microsoft Teams meeting recently and was politely asked by the host if I could sit back a bit. I have Teams on my work phone and don’t have a small video of myself as with Zoom and Google Meets, and so have assumed that the host and others could see my head and shoulders.
I duly moved back, asking why this was important to her.
‘Well’, she responded, ‘I can only see your eyes and it's quite intense to be honest.’
I laughed because I have attended numerous Teams meetings, and no-one has pointed this out to me. Unfortunately, when I moved back I couldn’t read my laptop monitor but after some minor adjustments I found a position that worked for both of us. It did leave me pondering afterwards that we can be so backward at coming forward to advise a friend, say, of smudged mascara, a label hanging out of a shirt, or a coffee stain. I would always prefer to be told how I show up. I might not like it initially but I respect the advice and respond accordingly.
I have also been reflecting on the use of Wellness as part of my USP and was concerned that perhaps visitors to the Catching Light Wellness site might expect to see only exercise and nutrition as these are often associated with the ‘Wellness Industry”. The definition of wellness which has always resonated with my coaching approach, according to the WHO (World Health Organisation) and Global Wellness Day is this:
“Wellness is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” – The World Health Organisation.
"Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life. It is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth. A good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterised by health, happiness, and prosperity; welfare…
Wellness is the conscious development of the whole self. Embarking on a wellness journey is a process of searching for the appropriate “tools” to make you a healthier and happier human being, plus discovering your own effective methods to use these “tools” for continued growth and development. As there is a great variety on all aspects of life, there are also countless ways to cultivate yourself on an ever-changing path of wellness."
If you are in pursuit of wellness, having a coaching session with me will create a safe space and give you time to think. You will be able to work out which of the tools you already have which will help you find or develop a state of wellness.
Good physical health is essential for feeling good and promotes mental and social health too, and I am an advocate of being outdoors as much as possible, but we all have to go at our own pace and listen to our bodies to find what works for us.
I will continue to offer suggestions, and share my own wellness journey but I do not endorse any one method for finding inner wellness. You have the capacity to do that.
Wellness coaching is about me, as your coach, listening for understanding, reflecting, asking questions to elicit deeper thinking and where appropriate paraphrasing and summarising for clarity so that you can move forward and achieve 'that lightbulb' moment
It is not about being the sage on the stage. It is not about giving advice.
We are on the stage together in a non-directive, collaborative, confidential and safe space.
So if there is something that is holding you back, an issue you regularly tussle with, a brave, courageous or essential decision you have to take, why not get in touch and see just how far a coaching conversation can take you.
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