Reclaiming Spontaneity

Reclaiming Spontaneity

  Do you have the freedom to "just do stuff" without overthinking? Here's what stopped me, what STRENGTHs came out of it, and what it's like on the other side of this breakthrough in spontaneity.     Watch:   Audio Only: https://languageoflistening.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-08-11CantJustDoStuff_blog.mp3 This is the related blog post I mentioned in the video: Loss...

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Responding to Accidents & Complaints

Responding to Accidents & Complaints

Coaching begins with listening for greatness. Here are two simple Language of Listening® coaching skills that can turn any challenging moment with a child or teen into a rewarding one. 1. Accidents: Validate the intention Your child's greatness can be found in their intentions. When a child makes a mistake or accidentally damages or breaks something, recognizing the child's true...

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Un-Hating

Un-Hating

What if we did not believe in hate? Or in vilifying people for any reason? 50 people in Orlando* and countless more would be alive and uninjured today. We can begin to dismantle hate and vilification now, starting by how we explain to ourselves and our children the heartbreaking actions taken by one man, the shooter. If you hate and vilify him and the group of people to whom he claimed loyalty,...

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How Things Really Work

How Things Really Work

"Do what you should, and things will work out." Does that sound familiar to you? When this belief statement came up in a private coaching session with a client I recognized it immediately because I was raised to believe it, too. "Do what you should, and things will work out," was touted as the basic formula for success and was a close relative of the mid-western work ethic of "hard work...

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Is Positive Discipline Even Possible?

Is Positive Discipline Even Possible?

If you have been struggling with positive discipline, this may be why: the word "discipline" is loaded! It's loaded with childhood associations like punishment and force. Those associations can make positive discipline the proverbial "square peg" that you have been trying to fit into the "round hole" of discipline — the receptor in your brain has already decided what discipline is, and positive...

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Helping Parents Who Haven’t Asked

Helping Parents Who Haven’t Asked

"If you want to be part of this family, then you'd better..." Imagine you saw your neighbor using harsh criticism, public scoldings and coercive statements like that with her 9 YO adopted daughter to "make her behave." If you knew a better way to work with children and even had a book that could tell her not only how to create willing cooperation but how to do it in a way that would improve...

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