Why Hire a Life Coach

When I’m out in the world, meeting people, talking to friends etc, one of the most asked questions I receive is “Why would I hire a Life Coach?” This a such a great question and it tends to have a number of answers and rather than reinvent the wheel, I compiled a list of reasons that a fellow Life Coach recently posted on video which I thought was both brilliant and thorough.

10 Real Reasons to Hire a Life Coach

1.    A Life Coach will help you stay accountable to what you say you would love to create.

2.    A Life Coach will help you to recognize the blocks and blind spots that could be keeping you from moving toward your dream.

3.    A Life Coach will help you recognized the gap between where you are now and the dream life you want to create and help you navigate that gap.

4.    A Life Coach will take you on a process of self-discovery, helping you learn more about who you believe yourself to be and who you really are at your core.

5.    A Life Coach will ask you provocative questions that will help you think into larger possibilities.

6.    A Life Coach will help you create a new perspective so you can see and move toward opportunity.

7.    A Life Coach will help you move through any resistance you feel as change occurs and you move toward your dream life.

8.    A Life Coach will save you time in figuring it all out!

9.    A Life Coach will save your from all the stress, pain and frustration of figuring it out on your own.

10.                    A Life Coach will help you learn to see obstacles and failures as opportunity. 

I’ve worked with the young, the old, people with disabilities, people with huge financial, physical and emotional challenges. The fact remains that everyone has a dream inside of them, a dream that deserves to be realized. Through my Dream Builder course, you will learn how to apply various proven concepts that will assist you in creating a life you love. If you are interested in learning more, contact me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com to receive a complimentary Strategy Session. This is an opportunity to get your dream in front of me to discuss potential next steps.

Wishing You All Your Best Life,

Marika

Nurturing Your Dream Through Others - Creating a System of Support

Okay, so you’ve got a dream. It’s huge, it’s scary, it’s exciting and you’ve run it through the 5 point dream builder test (see my blog post from April 15/14 http://marikavandommelen.blogspot.ca/2014_04_01_archive.html  ) and it meets all the criteria. You can’t wait to share it with the world so you go to your Mom, your best friend, your brother; somebody you love and who loves you back and you tell them all about your big, exciting, scary dream.

And then, it happens, your Mom, your best friend, your brother, that person you love that loves you back looks at you with concern and asks you if you are sure; did you think this out? What if you get hurt? What if it doesn’t work out? Etc.

Today I want to talk to you about creating a strong support system for yourself to help you nurture your dream into reality. Often we think of people who support us as those who love us, those who will point out the potential issues, problems, failures that could come up because they’re just looking out for our best interest right? What if this wasn’t true? What if we believed that the people who truly supported us in our dream saw all the potential pitfalls and pushed us toward our dream anyway? What if they believed in us even when we didn’t believe in ourselves? What if they reminded us of our truth when we got stuck in our circumstances? 

Someone who truly supports your dream is someone who is more interested in the power you have within you than the circumstances around you. They will ask you, “If you truly believed it was possible to have your dream, what would be one step you could take in the direction of it right now?” 

If you have a dream, I encourage you to start a group of “Partners in Believing,” a mastermind of people who support you in your dream no matter what fears, limiting beliefs and opposing "facts" you come up against. Not only will you get the support you need but when you come together as a group, you bring together a greater collective experience so everyone in the group benefits. Napoleon Hill once said, “When a group of brains are coordinated in a spirit of harmony, the increased energy created through the alliance becomes available to every individual brain in the group.”

Through my Dream Builder course, you will learn how to apply the concept of building Partners in Believing to support your dream along with many other concepts that will assist you in creating a life you love. You will also have me as your personal Partner in Believing throughout the span of the course. If you are interested in learning more, contact me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com to receive a complimentary Strategy Session. This is an opportunity to get your dream in front of me to discuss potential next steps.

I would also like to invite you to attend my free workshop –“Ignite your Dream” by conference call on Tuesday June 24th at 6:30 PST. During this dynamic and fun workshop there's an opportunity for you to ignite the fire of the dream that you know is inside of you and begin to define, design, and experience that dream. You will receive a blueprint for how to turn your greatest possibility into your reality. We'll discover:
• Two essential keys for tuning into your purpose.
• A five point process to define if your dream is right for you.
• Simple thinking-strategies that will guard you from fear, doubt and worry.
• What wealthy people do that creates sustained success.
• The number one factor that causes people to lose steam when going after a dream, and how to stay motivated and override it.
And much more!

 
Please feel free to forward this to your contacts. This is a complimentary teleconference. To register please email me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com to receive your dial in number and access code. I look forward to "seeing" you there!

Lack Busters - Moving from Lack to Abundance

“I don’t have the time,” “I don’t have the money,” “I don’t have the energy,” “I don’t have the education,” “I don’t have the WHATEVER!” These are all thoughts of lack that bring us down at times. We’ve all experienced one or all of these thoughts at some time or other and for some people, these are the dominant thoughts that run through their minds day after day. Whether any of these are frequent thoughts or they are minor annoyances, fear not, there are tools you can use to strengthen your abundance attracting muscles to bring you more of what you do want and less of what you don’t. 

The question is how do you move to a place of abundance from where you are now? By shifting your Awareness! What is the abundance you have in your life right now? Express gratitude for what you do have in this moment! This shifts your awareness so you can see your life from a different perspective. 

Be a person of increase, a giver. Yes, in order to receive you must give. If you want a wood stove to give you heat you must first give it wood. So, if you are feeling a lack of creativity, share ideas; a lack of love, give someone a hug; a lack of money, tithe of yourself. Giving causes us to become a vibrational match with what we would love. 

Celebrate the success of others. When we authentically celebrate the success of others, we signal the Universe that we would love to experience that in our lives as well.

Last but certainly not least, write a gratitude list of everything you are grateful for and become aware of raising your vibration of gratitude for even the little things. Make gratitude an everyday practice. You will be amazed at what shows up!

Moving from Lack to Gratitude is just one of the many subjects I cover in detail in my 12 week coaching course, The Dream Builder. One of the things I am truly grateful for is the opportunity to do this work of Dream Builder coaching. To see my clients creating lives they love and living their purpose is pure bliss for me :). So in the spirit of this I am beginning my first group coaching classes. This opportunity allows you to learn in an environment of like-minded people who want what you want, to create their dream, whatever that may be. It’s also an opportunity for me to serve more people and charge WAY less. Yay, more abundance already, for all! :).

If you have a dream, something you want to be, do or have but you’ve been struggling to achieve it, drop me a line at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com for a complimentary consultation.

Henry David Thoreau, in his essay Walden, wrote this famous quote:

"I have learned this, at least, by my experiment. That if one advances confidently in the direction of their dream, endeavoring to live the life they are imagining, one passes an invisible boundary…all sorts of things begin to occur that never otherwise would have occurred. One begins to meet with a success unexpected in common hours. New, more universal, more liberal laws begin to establish themselves around this person, or the old laws are rearranged in one’s favor. Nevertheless, one begins to live with the license of a higher order of being."

Here’s to your Dreams!

Testing Your Dream

Often, when I speak to people about their dreams for their life, their future, I am told a short, lifeless version of a person's dream, followed by all the reasons why they can't have it. "I don't have time money", "I have responsibilities", "I'm too busy". I get it! It's so much easier to think of the reasons we can't have something than to figure out how we can. Most people doubt their dream and ask, 
"Am I deserving of this dream?" "Is this too big for me?"

These are the wrong questions!!! It has been said that the quality of our life is determined by the quality of the questions we ask. We can make the choice to ask ourselves empowering questions that lift us up and get us excited and test our commitment to our dream, questions like, "Is this dream worthy of me?" and "Is this really the highest possibility for me?"

When I work with clients to define and design their dreams to create a life they would love,  I have them ask these 5 questions to help them determine if the dream they have chosen to work on is right for them, BIG enough for them. So here are the questions:

1. Does it give me LIFE? - Does your dream make you feel alive, give you goose bumps, make your heart race? - You want a YES to this question.

2. Does it align with my core values? - These are those things that are the utmost importance to you, ie family, spiritual values etc. that must be part of your dream. - You want a YES to this question.

3. Does it cause me to GROW? - Does it stretch you past your comfort zone? - You want a YES to this.

4. Does it require a power bigger than me? - Another way of asking this is "Do I know all the steps in moving forward to create this dream?" If you do, it might be a great goal, but not necessarily a dream. You want a dream that you don't have all the answers to how it's going to happen.

5. Does it have some good in it for others? - Now here's a loaded question. Many people believe their dreams are selfish, ie. I want to attract my perfect life partner. The question I would ask then is this: If you are happy, would that bring joy to other people in your life? Would the energy of you being happy rub off on others? I can pretty much guarantee this is a YES :).

In my course, The Dream Builder, I teach the 10 steps to defining and designing your dream. I will help you bridge the gap between where you are now and the dream you want to create and put strategies in place to overcome fear, procrastination and create a new way of thinking and acting for ongoing success. Some people live 90 years but many live one year 90 times. If you are ready to start thinking, acting and moving in a new, freer, fuller, more expanded direction, consider emailing me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinsitute.com to receive a complimentary consultation or to attend my tele-seminar on April 29th at 6:30 pm.

Valentines Day, It's all about the Love

Okay, so this is the second post I'm making this week but I was so called to write this morning as the last few days have been a process and I wanted to share both the lesson and the joy I learned from it. Once again it's Valentines Day and for the last few years my usual reaction prior to this day is to go into complete stress mode about it. To help you understand a little more about why this happens I need to tell you a little about myself.  Many of you may not know that I am a paraplegic, born with Spina Bifida. No big deal for the most part; I'm quite independent, I work (from home), I'm married and have a teenage son. I've accomplished most of what I have set out for myself and I love my life. However, as I'm digging deeper into my 40 something years I'm definitely noticing that the joints and energy aren't holding up like they used to and getting into the car to go anywhere myself is happening less and less often.

So, here's the question that usually runs through my mind before the big day. "How can I get something without having to strain myself and use up all my energy?" The result usually ends up being that I do nothing. My poor hubby is very understanding and never complains.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in the process of becoming a Dream Builder Transformational Life Coach is that there is an answer to every question or problem and to ask empowering questions of the universe, rather than ones that leave me feeling uninspired and disempowered. So this year, I posed the question, "How can I do something very personal to show my husband how much I love him?" I was so surprised when the perfect answer came quickly. I realized that I have files full of beautiful photos on my computer that I took and a program for making cards. Big duh moment here folks. Why didn't I think of this before? No matter,  I decided to take one of my photos and put it onto card stock and write a personal message rather than some store bought greeting.

I know it doesn't sound like a lot but I loved the creativity of the process and when I gave it to him this morning he recognized how personal it was and the love that had gone into it. As it turned out, it was also one of his favourite photos. After all, it's not about the dollars we spend or how big a gift it is. It's about the love that went into.

Happy Valentines Day! 

Deciding For Your Dream

1     "Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do it; because what the world needs is more people who have come alive." – Howard Thurman

The first question I always ask new clients is "What would you love?" The result... usually a blank look. Many people really don't have any idea what they would love to be, do or have. They've set limits on their abundance because from the very beginning of their time on this earth they were told, in a completely loving, well intended way of course, by parents, family, friends, teachers etc, what is possible. 

     Today I challenge you to think about what you would love. What are your longings? Where is your discontent? Life, God, the Universe, whomever you see as your higher power, is seeking an ever freer, more expanded experience and expression through you. Mary Morrissey, my coaching mentor and someone I've come to admire greatly always says "some people live 90 years and some people live 1 year 90 times." It's your life and you get to choose whether it's a life created by design, ie, you make it happen, or default, ie it happens to you.

     In my coaching course, the Dream Builder, I teach proven strategies for designing and refining what you want and moving you forward, past fear, limiting beliefs and old habits and ways of thinking to create it. If you're interested in taking steps toward creating a life you would absolutely love; a life of your own design, and could use some direction and support, email me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com for a complimentary strategy session. I do all my consultations and coaching by phone so distance is not a factor. Or if you are interested in learning more about what I do and live in the Lower Mainland, BC, feel free to contact me in regard to attending my free Vision Workshop at 7pm on Wednesday February 19th.

Fear: The edge of what you know

Yesterday I made a decision to set up a Meetup, a gathering of people that I would present a Vision Workshop to and create a discussion around the concepts I teach in my Dream Building coaching course.I decided on a date and time and as I pressed the confirmation button that would send this information out to the community, my FB friends and all my contacts I suddenly felt a feeling that can only be described as complete terror :). What if nobody came? What if too many people came? Do I really know this stuff well enough to present it to a group? What if the evening turned out to be a complete flop?

So what is fear anyway? It can can show up in ways such as dissuasion, ie, your mind telling you that whatever you are trying to achieve does not line up with the way you see yourself. It might sound like, "you're not smart enough." Fear can also show up as distraction, a sudden desire to clean your space or do laundry instead of what you need to do to create what you say you want. Finally, fear can show up as a physical bodily feeling like goose bumps, rapid heart beat or ....well, you get the picture :).

So, let's take a minute to ponder the idea that fear is just the edge of what you know right now; an opportunity to move beyond that, to a newer, happier, more abundant, more fully expressed version of you. Courage, after all is not doing something in the complete absence of fear. Courage is deciding for something, feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

You only get to live this life once so what would you like to be, do or have? What's on the other side of your edge of becoming?

In my coaching course, the Dream Builder, I teach proven strategies for dealing with fear and moving you forward to what you say you want. If you're interested in taking steps toward creating a life you would absolutely love, If you're tired of living the same year over and over again, or if you've tried to move forward but keep running into the same pitfalls, email me at marikavandommelen@lifemasteryinstitute.com for a complimentary strategy session. I do all my consultations and coaching by phone so distance is not a factor. Or if you are interested in learning more about what I do and live in the Lower Mainland, BC, feel free to contact me regarding my Vision Workshop on February 19th.