personal development

Knowing the Power of Your Strengths

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 22 Conversations

 

When something intrigues me I just have to know more.

This really is not that surprising when you find out that my top strength is curiousity.

Authentic Happiness is an amazing site (be prepared; you could lose hours there) and the home of the positive psychology movement.  It offers up a wealth of information and free assessments such as the Signature Strengths test. Whether you call them values, strengths or virtues, this test is eye-opening.

“The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living.” – Martin Seligman, from Authentic Happiness

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5 Steps to Managing Your Lizard Brain

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 33 Conversations

No matter how much personal development work you’ve done, no matter how many self-help books you’ve read, there’s one thing you need to know…

Salamander: photo credit - Mark Faviell

This little fella ain’t never going away!

 

Your lizard brain is never going away and it’s never going to shut up.

It’s there for your survival and we’re still here as a species so it must be doing something right. Thing is, survival isn’t what it used to be.

Our Neanderthal ancestors? They had to deal with survival; saber tooth tigers and warring tribes were a real threat! That you’re afraid to try something new and step out of your comfort zone – not so much.

So if it’s never going away and never shutting up, just how do you manage this ancient, survival driven part of your brain?

1. Talk to it

“There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.” – Anthony de Mello

Start questioning it! One of the best ways I’ve found to talk to the lizard brain is through The Work, a process created by Byron Katie. It’s a process of identifying and questioning the thoughts that cause all the fear that trigger your lizard brain.

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Living in the Questions

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 33 Conversations

 

When I started blogging I declared somewhat boldly that I had come up with a theme, a road map of where I was headed. It was all well and good to begin just to begin (thanks to guru Seth and his call to action), but I’d begun questioning my Why.

Why do it? Why put myself out there? Why take the risk?

As the doubts began to creep in, I decided to return to my tribe – who I love and trust much more than my lizard brain – and what they told me was this:

I’m relentlessly curious, a life-long learner and I’ve got more questions up my sleeve than Houdini!

It’s so damn easy to forget who I really am when LB starts whispering in my ear.

It blows my mind that somehow I stumbled upon the profession of coaching and had the biggest insight of my life:  this is what I’m supposed to be when I grow up!

What a relief to finally know and begin using my strengths rather than wondering why I had them! Up until then no J.O.B. had fit the bill and I constantly felt like a round peg in a square hole.

It’s been said when you know your Why, anything is possible.

My Why was so big (honouring my values of growth, learning and contribution) and so loud that it drowned out my lizard brain long enough that I could take the first steps, and then the next.

It took something to keep my word, writing and posting – shipping – every week. I began by really getting into the questions. I jotted down questions that worked with clients; questions I overheard; questions we usually don’t have the courage to ask ourselves.

Then I read How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. In this very cool, yet practical guide Michael Gelb invites us to begin training our vast untapped resources to start thinking like Leonardo.

Is it really possible to think like a Renaissance genius?

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Do You Know What’s Important?

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 4 Conversations

 

This post comes to you from a rather unusual location;  I wrote it sitting at a pub surrounded by men, beer and a good deal of testosterone.

World Cup fever grabbed hold of my husband and on Friday he asked if I would please spend a part of our day off together in front of a big screen watching the England vs. Algeria match.

As the game got under way, and I glanced around the pub, this question came to mind:

What’s important?

Many of the fans wore the bright red of the English team.  My husband Mark, suddenly overcome by a desire to show his support, impulsively bought himself a jersey, instantly branding himself a member of the English tribe.

Fanatic – a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics

The servers even wore specially made T-shirts that read,“It’s not soccer, it’s football, you wanker!”

To those fans, in that pub…the answer to what’s important was obvious.

To me, the answer to the question”What’s important?” was spending time with Mark, even if it meant turning my back on work and doing something that was not on my top 10 list of things to do on my day off.

 

What is really important?

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Who are your 5?

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 15 Conversations

 

I just spent an amazing weekend with a friend.

Whether we were creating goals over coffee in my living room, or out on the town, we experienced a connection and rapport that left me feeling deep gratitude.

You know the kind of great time that leaves you tired from bouts of laughing, late night chats and conversations for world domination?

Like that.

We consciously set an intention to get together for the purpose of brainstorming, creating and inspiring each other to take on some big-time goals in our lives and businesses.  Because we live in different cities and we know how easy it is to stall when we’re on our own again, we created a structure to support each other.

It was seriously a productive, energizing weekend and I’m still giddy from the possibilities!

So where am I headed with this? Continue reading →