Coaching Wizardry

Welcome to Coaching Wizardry

Do you ever feel like you have a different, more powerful, more compelling story inside of you?  A story that you want to express, to write, to bring to life?  Is writing part of your path to a more authentic way of living?

Then Coaching Wizardry is just for you. 

Here you'll find an archive of writing that is inspired by and written for people who want to live differently.

People who want to live a more authentic life.  People who recognise that it's time to wake up.  People who want to find out who they are - and then do it on purpose.

Words, language and writing can help us in that endeavour. 

I work with people who are looking for more confidence in their writing, whether that's writing at work, to promote their business, for self-expression or to communicate powerful ideas. People who want to realise the power of their own words.

Working with a writing coach can help you to shape, develop and express your personal story - and then let it fly.  Follow these links for more information on working with me, Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach. 

For more on my work - and for regular writing tips, questions, challenges and updates on products and services - you might want to follow my Confident Writing blog. 

Although the Coaching Wizardry site started out as a blog, I'm no longer updating it.  The archive remains for all to enjoy though, and I've added some posts at the top of the pile with some sparkling selections:

• Inspirational quotes: living life on purpose
• When it's time for a change
• Singing a different song
• Metaphors to live by

I hope you enjoy exploring the site - and finding the inspiration you're looking for: to find out who you are, then do it on purpose.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Won't you join the dance? An invitation

Some of you might have been intrigued by the question at the top of the coaching wizardry screen:

"Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?"

You might have recognised it as the refrain from Lewis Carroll's Lobster Quadrille - a beautiful gentle poem, and an invitation to join the dance.

I love the idea of offering an invitation to join a different world - whether it be through coaching,  NLP, writing for self-expression or finding ways to tell a different version of your story.

It reminds me of the very famous "Invitation" written by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, a poem that went flying around the world when she first wrote it.  And you can understand why - it's a piece of writing that once read you feel compelled to pass on.   You'll see what I mean from this short extract...

... It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive...

And the invitation opens up another a new metaphor: of life as a dance. 

Dancing as the adventure of being alive.

Which brings us back to the question: will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?

Something to say? Join the conversation

I love the idea of the blog as a shared conversation... or maybe even a story that we create together, that unfolds as we go along.  Well I'm pleased to announce that there's now a new widget on the blog which means you can add your voice to the story that's being told...

I was asking people recently what would make them more likely to leave comments on the blog.  I got some great feedback from fellow blog owners Emma and Claire recommending something called "MyChingo" - which sounds weird but is in effect just a way of leaving voice mail or a phone message on a website. 

I followed this thread to the voice-mail conversation on Mike Sansone's Converstations blog.  There's some interesting discussion there about the pros and cons of the new widget - is it just technology for technology's sake, how does it add to or detract from the rest of the conversation (which is still virtual after all... ) Well you can have a listen for yourself if you're curious. 

Anyway it was the comment from Claire on Mike's voice-mail that got me drawn in - she makes the point that people have different learning styles or representational systems and that we need to be flexible enough to meet those different styles and preferences. 

Which made me think about people that I know - some of whom love writing (like me) but others who would always prefer to chat, to talk on the phone, or even just to leave a message to say "hi".

And if that sounds like you, why not give it a try? 

You'll find the audio comment box under 'something to say' on the left hand side  - scroll down towards the bottom of the screen to find it.  All you need to do is press the button that says 'leave a message' and follow the instructions on the screen.  You'll be asked for your name and e-mail address (which isn't disclosed) then you can record your message.  You can play it back and record it again if you want to, then when you're happy with the message press "send" and it comes through to me.

You could leave a message to say hello, ask a question, make a point or just play back the messages and listen to what other people are saying.

Let me know what you think of the new widget - either by writing a comment or leaving me some voice-mail...

 

Joining the conversation: how to comment on a blog

Lots of people have been asking me why I went for a blog site rather than a conventional, static website to promote my business.  One of the main reasons is that a blog is so much more dynamic - that's partly because the content changes as often as the author writes it, but also because there's the space for readers to chip in with comments, ideas, questions, challenges, information on other resources, blog sites, web material and so on. 

And I don't know about you but I think a blog site with comments looks a lot more friendly and lived in too. After my first five days of live blogging the place already looks a lot more complete - so thanks very much to my early callers :)

I'm guessing though that there are lots of people out there who'd like to chip in but aren't used to leaving comments, may not know how to go about it or might not be sure what to say.  If that sounds like you then keep on reading to find out how to join the conversation...

Do you want to let your story fly?

Maybe you’re here because you already know your story – of your business, your organisation or maybe a cause that you're passionate about - but you don’t have the words or the confidence to write it, to tell it, to say what you mean and mean what you say.

Or maybe you’re here because you’ve got lost in your own story.  You’ve come to a dead end. Or hit a brick wall.  You feel like you’ve lost your way or lost sight of the meaning or just plain lost the plot.

Coaching can transform the story that you know you want to tell: with confidence, with cleaner sharper words, with new material that is just what you wanted to say.

An invitation to the world of coaching

And I don’t know if you’ve ever wondered if coaching, or NLP, or some of those other things that you read about, if those might be things that could help you to change the way that you feel, to get more out of life, to move on from the stalemate you find yourself in...And have then gone looking for some information on coaching or NLP or some of those other things and felt that they were talking to...other people somehow, people that responded to pictures of total success and instructions to “take control of your life” and “master your emotions”.

And have put the information away again, thinking: that can’t be for me...and yet the voice, inside, keeps nagging...there must be something, I have to do something...

Down the rabbit hole: finding yourself on a new website

I don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself on a new website without having the faintest idea how you got there, landing with a thump maybe like Alice at the bottom of the rabbit hole... Or maybe you are at the end of a long thread, like a ball of wool that you have slowly unravelled (and perhaps if you were wise you will still be holding the thread, so you know how to get back).

Or perhaps you are just following a crooked path through a mysterious wood, not knowing where you are going but hoping there might be a piece of magic at the end.  Or maybe you knew exactly what you were looking for and came straight here…

However you found yourself in this space I hope you enjoy exploring and find something of the thing that you might just have been looking for...

Welcome from an Edinburgh life coach

This blog is all about the power of stories and metaphors and how those stories can help us through periods of change - or how we change just in the instant of telling and re-telling our story...

As you'll see I also want to explain some of the key principles and ideas in coaching and NLP - things that you might have heard about but weren't too sure of the meaning.  And who knows what connections you will be able to make then with your own story...

It's also part of my story - people I meet, work that I do, conversations I hear, connections I make, stories that start to tell themselves.  And it's partly the inspiration I get from the places I go, the journeys I make: from the narrow streets of Edinburgh's old town to the wild landscapes of the Scottish highlands.  I hope you enjoy some of these connections too.

At a practical level there's also information on the services I offer like leadership coaching and managing transitions as well as the core life coaching service.  I've tried to signpost everything as clearly as possible and I hope it's easy and enjoyable to have a browse (or even a rummage!).  Any queries or questions please feel free to e-mail me at joanna@coachingwizardry.com

A warm welcome to new visitors

I don't know about you but I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I find myself on a new website - unsure what's going on, what it's about and whether it might be 'right for me'.  The great thing about blog based sites is that you can get an instant 'feel' for the personality of the author, the site and even the other people who are dipping in. 

It also creates the chance for us to have more of a 'conversation' so if you're new to the site: hello and welcome.  I hope that the words and ideas that you find here will tell their own story......and that it's a story you enjoy and want to keep on exploring.

I guess if there's one small downside to the blog approach is that you can feel like you're joining the conversation, you're picking up the story, sometime after it began.  I'm sure you'll soon pick up the thread, but I thought it might be an idea to include a little blurb on what's going on, what kind of stories to expect and who else you might find here.

So, what is coaching wizardry all about?