Emily Downward

Tag: life coach

  • Letting Go and Finding the Wisdom of My Soul

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    emilydownward
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    A few years ago, my life seemed to fall apart. One by one, I experienced major losses in my work, my social support, my health, my relationship, my hopes for the future… At the bottom of it all, I was quite literally adrift, not even having an official address to call home. It was obvious…

  • Gifts Found in the Dark

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    emilydownward
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    Yesterday marked Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, the day with the shortest amount of daylight. Over the last few months, as the days have been getting shorter and darker, I have been confronting some darkness of my own, in the form of some challenging health issues and the accompanying thought storm that…

  • Permission to Rest

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    emilydownward
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    Sometimes, we feel like we need permission to rest. Or maybe that’s just me. I feel like I need permission to rest, take it easy, not push myself so damn hard. This seems to be a lesson I haven’t quite mastered. I’ve written previously about how I injured my hip from over-pushing myself and not…

  • The Fear and Thrill of Trying Something New

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    emilydownward
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    I’m often encouraging my clients to do things that are a bit scary or out of their comfort zone, in order to help them achieve the goal or feeling they want to create. We all get stuck in ruts, doing things and thinking the same way day after day until something causes us to change.…

  • Finding Your Way Back to Knowing

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    emilydownward
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    When I began my life coach training program in January 2011, I had no idea that the journey I was beginning would completely change my life. To be honest, I hoped it would change my profession. (And it did.) But I didn’t realize the profound effects it would have on everything else. And I also…

  • What’s Wrong with Your Job?

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    emilydownward
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    I talk to a lot of people who are unhappy or frustrated with their work. I hear them say things like, “I hate my job. I can’t stand how my boss treats me/my employees are lazy/my colleagues take credit for my ideas…I’m bored with this work and dread going into the office…” We are so…

  • Tips for Dealing with Overwhelm in Feeling

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    emilydownward
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    When you’re overwhelmed by feeling, such as grief, anger, sadness or frustration, it may seem like it will never end. We have a natural tendency to resist these feelings, to stuff them or avoid them, and we may turn to things like food or alcohol to avoid feeling them. As Carl Jung wisely pointed out,…

  • Tips for Dealing with Overwhelm in Your Thinking

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    emilydownward
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    I work with a lot of people who are dealing with overwhelm, whether that’s at work — trying to manage incredible pressures and responsibilities, not to mention that never-ending Inbox — or in their personal life — when everything falls apart and you don’t know where to begin to put the pieces back together again.…

  • Choosing Your Focus

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    emilydownward
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    When I told people I was moving to Seattle, several of them said, “You’ll hate it there! It rains all the time, and it’s so GRAY.” I would just smile and reply, “It’s not for everyone.” And while it does rain quite a bit in Seattle (especially this time of year), and the sky can…

  • An Intentional New Year

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    emilydownward
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    Rather than New Year’s resolutions, I now prefer to set intentions. To be honest, resolutions only kept me toeing the line for a few weeks, or possibly a month or two at best. Intentions feel much kinder to me. I like the concept of intentions so much, I set intentions at the start of any…