Issue #71 - March, 2  2001 <<Taming Your Gremlins>>

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brought to you by Laurie Riddell Geary, M.Ed., PCC.
Coaching you to get your life IN GEAR by making shifts, getting
unstuck, finding balance, accelerating your growth, and mapping
the best route to your chosen destination: a life filled with
passion and purpose.

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In this issue:
        1. Welcome!
        2. Reader Feedback
         3. Weekly Article:  <<Taming Your Gremlins>>
        4. Recommended Books
        *My new workbook -   RISK to GROW!
                <Create the Life You Want through Responsible Risk-Taking
                5. Recommended Tasks
        6. Upcoming Teleclasses: <Finding Your Passion> and <Taking Risks to Grow>
                7. Upcoming  local Workshops
                8. Subscription information
 

1. WELCOME!

Welcome to <Gear Up for Success!> and a warm welcome to all my new subscribers! Over 20 people subscribed this week! I really appreciate your forwarding my newsletter to all your friends and colleagues.  Your recommendations help me grow and develop as a coach. Anyone can subscribe by going to my website @ www.ingearcoaching.com. Thank you for your support!
 
 

2. READER FEEDBACK: (on issue #69: <Valentine Thoughts>)

<I've never responded, but this time I want to because you struck a chord in me. I too, am divorced, but I never thought of doing anything for myself on Valentine's Day. Yes, I sent my mother and happily-married-with-kids sister a card, but as for me...I didn't do anything nor had I ever thought of such a thing. I know I rarely "give" myself anything, but it seemed like such a great idea. After all, even though one doesn't have someone in their life, they can still be good and kind to themself. Why didn't I ever think of it that way?? As a matter of fact, I think I'll do it a little more often, and then do something very special on Valentine's Day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!>
Sincerely, Dawn Jabari

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3.  WEEKLY ARTICLE:  Last week's article dealt with Creating A Perfect Life.  Obstacles or Blocks get in the way of creating our perfect life...a BIG obstacle is the negative self talk we often tell ourselves: eg. "I'm no good," - "I'm not good enough," - "I'm not perfect," - "I'm too_____________,"  "No one likes me"  etc.
There are ways we can stop or reduce our internal self put - downs...

 <TOP TEN STRATEGIES for REDUCING or ELIMINATING NEGATIVE SELF TALK
a.k.a. our GREMLINS…VULTURES…KILLER STATEMENTS

1. AWARENESS Exercises:
a. Notice your negative self-talk: keep a daily record of your inner statements to
            yourself or use a “clicker” to keep count.   Then work on reducing the count!
 b. Ask your friends to let you know when you verbalize your negative statements
            about yourself.
           c. Read books/listen to tapes to increase your awareness.
           d. Take Workshops/courses/classes

3.  THOUGHT-STOPPING: Yell: STOP!    or Yell: CANCEL! CANCEL! inside your head
        (or yell it out loud!) in order to stop those negative internal thoughts.
        Put a rubber band on your wrist and, whenever you hear a negative self-statement, snap your wrist!

4.  JAMMING: Insert positive self-talk into your thought process; practice using Affirmations.
        Insert positive visual images into your mind.

5.  ARGUING: Talk to yourself, re-frame your point of view, change your perceptions
        by discussing the other way of looking at things.

6.  DISTRACTIONS: Do things that totally involve you and distract you from your
  negative thoughts: eg. see a movie, read a good book, go to a concert,
  participate in an involving physical activity/exercise or a game.

7. COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING: Change your irrational negative self-talk
and replace it with rational self-talk.
        Remember E+R=O …..  the  Event + our Response = the Outcome.
        We are always in charge of our Response to an Event; we can change our
        perception filters, and thus our response to the event! Then the Outcome will be different.

8.  POSITIVE PEOPLE: Be around positive people who have succeeded in
taming their own gremlins, AND who won’t allow you to put yourself down.

9. HUMOR: Lighten up! Don’t take yourself so seriously; see the humor in your gremlins.
 Stop Shoulding on yourself! and stop Musterbating!

10. THERAPY/COACHING:  Work with a professional to help you reduce/eliminate
 your negative self talk.

copyright, all rights reserved, Laurie Geary, March, 2001
 
 

4. RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

1. <TAMING YOUR GREMLIN: A Guide to Enjoying Yourself>, by Richard Carson

2. <VULTURE: A Modern Allegory of the Art of Putting Oneself Down>, by Sidney Simon

3. <SELF ESTEEM:  A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining your       Self Esteem>, by Matthew McKay & Patrick Fanning.

4. <FEELING GOOD: The New Mood Therapy>  by Burns.
 

5. RECOMMENDED TASKS:

1. Follow one or more of the Top Ten Tasks.

2. Read one of the books mentioned

3. Call or email me for a complimentary half-hour COACHING session to help you tame your gremlins/
        /reduce your negative self-talk/killer statements.
Voice:617-494-1422;  email: laurie@ingearcoaching.com

4. Come to my upcoming teleclasses in March (see below)

5. Go to my Website www.ingearcoaching.com for back issues of my newsletter to read
 more articles on taking risks, building self esteem, finding your passion...and much more
 
 

6.  UPCOMING FREE TELECLASSES:

<FINDING YOUR PASSION & PURPOSE> Wednesday, March 14 @ 9pmEST

<RISK TO GROW> Wednesday, March 21 @ 9pmEST

 Register @ www.teleclass.com or www.womensu.com or email me: laurie@ingearcoaching.com
 
 

7. UPCOMING LOCAL WORKSHOPS:

RISK-TAKING: THE PATH to PERSONAL GROWTH
*Boston Center for Adult Education - 6:30-9:30 pm.
Tuesday, April 10, 2001 and Thursday, June 7th,2001

BUILD YOUR SELF ESTEEM WITH THE 8-A SYSTEM
*North Shore Community College (NSCC)
 Wednesday, April 4, 2001, 9-3pm

ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING: Get Your Needs Met!
Homebased BusinessWomen's Network
Thursday, April 12 @ 7:30 pm
Village Green, Danvers, MA

BE A PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL COACH
*Boston Center for Adult Education
 Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 6:30-9:30 pm
 and Tuesday, June 5, 2001

MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) Staff Training
Watertown Free Library; Thursday, March 16, 2001
and
Beverly Hospital: Thursday, March 22, 2001
 
 

**Check out my new booklet on experiential activities for trainers: 75 of my favorite activities
learned from years of working as an instructor for Outward Bound Professional Development Programs.
GAMES & INITIATIVES for NETWORKING, ENERGIZING, & TEAM-BUILDING...

 *AND, finally! My new workbook:
RISK TO GROW! CREATE the LIFE YOU WANT through RESPONSIBLE RISK-TAKING...
Both now available...hard copy ($20) or pdf. file ($15)
Send check to Laurie Geary, 4 Canal Park, PH9, Cambridge, MA 02141; email request to: laurie@ingearcoaching.com or order at my website: www.ingearcoaching.com
 

8. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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including subscription information and my contact and copyright information. Thankyou
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