Nicola Walker Coaching

Reignite Your Joy, Align with Your Deepest Desires

heart wisdom

Increasing Confidence: Lead From Your True Self, Not Your Small Self

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frothy ocean shore increasing confidenceYou are strolling along a beach close to where the waves roll into a frothy finish. Your bare feet sink into the wet sand with each footstep that you take. You feel one with the vast expanse of sky, sand and sea. Your heart is vibrant with joy, your mind is at peace. With increasing confidence, you know that there is something bigger for you to do. You see or sense a fuller version of you.

Yet, in the cold light of day, after breakfast when you sit at your computer and attempt to do your work, the clarity fades. Doubts set in. Indecision mounts. Taking action resembles a beginning golfer taking multiple swipes before he or she hits the ball just a few feet with a clod of turf. Your small self has taken over yet again.

The problem is that many of us aren’t adept at catching our small self when it slips into the driver’s seat of our life, especially in our business or career. The more you want something, especially something that demands that you take risks, be vulnerable and put yourself on the line financially, the more likely it is that your small self will sneak in to save you from oblivion.

Would you like to experience more of your clear, confident and courageous true self? Who wouldn’t?!

[Read more…] about Increasing Confidence: Lead From Your True Self, Not Your Small Self

Try A Little Tenderness – Loss, Love and the Holidays

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Angel in Red Poinsettia“The Holidays greet you where you are. No matter what is happening in your life, suddenly the familiar wave of frenetic activity descends upon you, whether you feel ready for it or not. Some people love this time of the year. Yet if you have gone through a big loss in your life, loss of a loved one, recent loss of a job or a dream, you can feel extremely vulnerable and emotional.”

Honor what you need as the year draws to a close. Greet yourself with tenderness. Take it slowly and listen to your heart. The love that you are never truly loses love for you are the cup that runneth over, even when you feel dried up like an old piece of discarded fruit. You can only see what you perceive, such as when life seems like one grey low-lying cloud in a vast, endless sky. The sun is always present, even when it is unseen.

Tenderness is a beautiful habit to cultivate. Treating yourself tenderly soothes raw nerves, replenishes and brings out the best in you. Answers, wisdom and love arrive naturally the deeper you delve into relaxed acceptance, appreciation and simply being. There is a beauty to this season of the light, whatever tradition you celebrate. When you turn your attention to love, the warmth of love flows out to greet you.

Here are three tender steps to take whenever you feel overwhelmed, sad, angry or even hopeless: [Read more…] about Try A Little Tenderness – Loss, Love and the Holidays

Your Joy is Your Support System for Your Soul-Inspired Second Career

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Distant sunset over hills and ocean“Moving towards your soul-inspired second career and doing your current job? – Even your highest destiny can’t land in your hands when you’re drained, disconnected and frustrated.”

OK. You’re all juiced up with the vision that is forming inside of you, your inner calling, the life that is a perfect match for your soul and so much more exciting and more meaningful than your current life. Like a distant beacon of light on a far-off hilltop, your dream life pulsates, beckoning you to clamber over the rocks and brambles to claim your deepest truth and highest destiny.

Then, as desire and ambition flood your being, your mind feverishly trying to work out how and when, you suddenly find yourself feeling drained and hopelessly human. The beacon of light remains just as distant as before, even when you start to move stealthily towards it. Is it a golden carrot that beams before you like a cosmic tease, so beyond the confines of reality that it belongs to the world of unicorns, life on stars and big ideas that go pop in the night?

When the delicate balance between moving towards your dream life, your soul-inspired second career, the deepest truth in your heart and doing your current job or whatever practical considerations you have right now becomes out of whack, you have to look at the warning lights instead. Even your highest destiny can’t land in your hands when you’re drained, disconnected and frustrated.

The key to sanity and success in following your new soul-inspired direction in life is to weave in your joy, to let joy be your balm, your freedom and your best friend. Many people ignore their joy just to get everything done, do the right thing, be responsible, feel safe and to cling to their fears. They mistakenly think that their to-do list or financial security come first. Yet, part of them is dying of thirst, starved of nectar, even on the path to golden lands.

Here are three simple ways to keep your joy alive and be enlivened by your joy: [Read more…] about Your Joy is Your Support System for Your Soul-Inspired Second Career

Losing Heart? Five Ways to Find Your Heart Again

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Feeling sad, overwhelmed or discouraged? Or, maybe just not as bright as you know you could be? Sometimes we can feel worn down by a situation and lose all sense of perspective.

Here are five simple ways to start opening up your heart again so you can benefit from its wisdom and love. The wisdom of the heart is always available to you, though hard to hear when your heart feels closed. Spending time with someone you love and can communicate deeply with is also wonderful, but there are times when this may not be an option.

  1. Take some time out – go for a walk, look for beauty, things to appreciate, breathe, enjoy exerting your body and notice the difference between before your walk and after. If you prefer to run, make sure you observe and appreciate your surroundings so your attention is outside of yourself and your preoccupations.
  2. Lie down and have a rest. Your breath will find its own rhythms again and you’ll find your mind will let go of cycling around the same themes and leave space for a more balanced state of being. [Read more…] about Losing Heart? Five Ways to Find Your Heart Again

Want to Feel More Joy in Your Life?

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mountain springThis summer I received some wonderful guidance from the wisdom in my heart. It all began when I was driving one day and I heard whisper #1: “Go to Mount Shasta.” Mount Shasta is a beautiful sacred mountain in Northern California, which I’ve visited before, the last time six years ago. This unexpected idea felt so right. I really felt like being in the mountains and I particularly love this area. Miraculously, once I got clear about what I really wanted in terms of accommodation, a friend suddenly told me that she knew someone up there who could offer me a room at a very reasonable price. This sounded perfect, and from then on my plans all fell into place, just like they do when you’re really meant to do something.

I had a mission for my trip. I wanted to receive guidance on my coaching business. There was something I knew I needed to realize, a special focus for me to articulate. So one day, hiking up on the mountain I stopped for lunch under the shade of some old fir trees and my inner voice spontaneously started to speak, very softly. I seized the moment and asked, what is the one the most important thing for me to achieve in the rest of my life? Then I received whisper #2 as the word Joy formed itself in front of my eyes. Then the words floated up in my consciousness, “Find your joy, then help others to find theirs.” I smiled. This was my purpose. I felt an affirmative glow of warmth that filled my being.

Finding your joy is not a one-shot deal. The ability to feel joy in your life, no matter what your circumstances, is a choice. It’s a commitment to your soul, to shining your light, because then you can love your life without having to get somewhere first. When you focus more on the getting there, whatever dreams you’re chasing, and less on the being here you start to lose your center of peace, joy and inner wisdom.

Once you’re aware of what it takes for you to find balance, then you can keep adjusting the steps you are taking to live your dream life and create cool new changes with whatever it takes for you to feel the joy of being alive, of being you, of having the rich, ever-unfolding life you have.

Joy for me is enjoying simple pleasures, catching myself when I start complaining or feel irritable to find out what I really want, and doing what I love even if I can only do it some of the time. Honor your dreams and take steps towards them, yet loosen the intensity of your desire when it stops you from loving life as it is right this moment.

For you to reflect on: How frequently do you feel joyful? What do you do to find your joy when you lose it? Do you have any beliefs that limit the amount of joy you think you can experience in your life?

Feel free to share the results of your reflections either by commenting to this post on my blog or sending me an email – Nicola[at]nicolawalkercoaching.com.