Since the beginning of time, man is searching for the truth. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors, sat under the stars, and around the campfire discussed and asked themselves the same questions we ask ourselves today. Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a God? Is there life after death? Are we alone in the Universe?

Zen is very pragmatic and down to earth. It is essentially a practice, an experience, not a theory or dogma. Zen adheres to no specific philosophy or faith, and has no dogma that its followers must accept or believe in, but it traditionnally accept the concepts of karma and samsara. For us westerners, this is very different from our Christian religion and its filled with dogmas.

Zen does not seek to answer subjective questions because these are not important issues for Zen. What really matters is the here and now: not God, not the afterlife, but the present moment here and now.

Moreover, Zen firmly believes that nobody knows the answers to those questions and that they are impossible to answer because of our limited condition. Life is a dream, a grand illusion that we perceive through the filter of our personality, our experiences, our ego. This is a great piece of theater in which we do not see all the actors and in which we barely understand the role of those that we see.

Zen gladly accepts the idea that men are only men and nothing more. Man, being what he is, cannot answer life's impossible questions without falling into the trap of illusion. No one knows the answers to the deep questions about life and death.

These questions are impossible to answer, given the limited sphere of knowledge that comes with the condition of being a human being. As Master Taisen Deshimaru said, "It is impossible to give a definite answer to those questions, unless you suffer from a major mental disorder."

Does this mean that Zen closes the door to metaphysical phenomena? Absolutely not! Zen cannot confirm nor deny them, therefore, it is better to remain silent and to live simply in the moment.

What does Zen think of religions beliefs then? As a great Zen Master once said, "Faith is like painting the walls of your room with mud, then trying to convince yourself that it is beautiful, and it smells good". Faith is an illusion, a dream that we strongly consider real, but that in reality only impoverishes the true spirituality of man. The strength of our faith and conviction has nothing to do with the fact that a belief is true or not. The veracity of our faith is in us only, nowhere else.

Religions feel compelled to give answers to everything as a sign of their "great wisdom", but for Zen, not giving any answer at all is actually the great wisdom.

A true religion shows man how to think and not what to think, therefore, we must learn to ask great questions rather than looking for great answers.

Read the rest here:
ZEN BUDDHISM | Beliefs | Buddhist beliefs

The Alan Watts Organization is a descendant of the Electronic University, which Alan and his son Mark Watts co-created shortly before Alans deathin 1973. Our goal is to perpetuate Alan Watts legacy by providing a definitive online resource for information about Alans written and recorded works.

We also maintain and curate the vast collection Alan Watts audio and video works. Theses recordings were created by Alan, and recorded by Alan, Mark Watts, and American sound artist and humorist, Henry Sandy Jacobs. In addition to the original lectures, Mark and his father crafted audio courses guiding listeners throughAlans recordings, and were presently working to complete our digital archive by converting reels, cassettes, VHS, and early digital formats produced by the original Electronic University.

Moving forward, our efforts will go into making Alans work more accessible bycontinuing to develop public synopses, robust search functionality, and linked samples of his recordings. Overall we hope to make Alans work more widely available, and to further enhance the archive that has been maintained since the mid-1970s through remastering and creative derivations.

More here:
Alan Watts - Official Site

Find My Coach

The definition of a life coach is a professional who helps you reach a goal or make a change in your life. They help you to get out of your head and start taking action in the areas of your life that you wish to change. A life coach guides you through the process by asking questions that help you evaluate and decide which steps to take in order to reach your goal or make an important change. Then they play the important roles of motivator, strategist and accountability partner. Their goal is to help you reach your goal in the most efficient, effective and rewarding way possible. Life coaches are more than just a counselor or consultant, they step you through the achievement process from the beginning to the end, from the planning stage all the way through the execution stages.

A life coach is a source of motivation and inspiration that gives you the push you need to reach your full potential. You might hire a life coach for similar reasons that you would hire a personal trainer for. You may already be fit, but have specific goals that need more guidance and pushing to in order to accomplish them, or maybe you are overweight or feeling sluggish and know you need motivation and encouragement from outside of yourself to make a significant change.

Life coaches are like personal trainers for your life goals. They have the professional training and mindset that is needed to coach you towards your dream life. They are with you every step of the way, helping you find ways to stay on track and motivated to accomplish those goals and so much more.

Effective strategizing is something a life coach is really good at helping you with. One of the first things they do when they meet with you is to ask specific questions about what you want to accomplish and help re-focus your thinking to make sure youre going about it in an effective and meaningful way.

Part of what a life coach does is help you reach your goals quicker and with less effort. Efficiency is key to keeping momentum up and creating lasting changes.

A life coach is someone who will keep you accountable for reaching your goals and making positive changes. They maintain contact and make sure to check in with you throughout the process to make sure you are progressing and keeping your momentum up.

You may tend to rely on friends and family to keep you accountable for what youre trying to do but this can often be a strain on those relationships, or people simply let you down because they just dont know how to be an accountability partner. A life coach will not just let your dream fizzle without saying anything about it. They will hold you accountable to what you said you will do, and because of that you will be more motivated to keep progressing toward your goal in order to show them what you have accomplished.

Ultimately, a life coach will hold you accountable to reaching your personal and professional life goals. They will be there with you every step of the way to help you with strategy as well as encourage and motivate you.A life coach will help you through the road blocks along the way, give you the push you need when youre stuck in a rut, cheer for you when you meet your goals and then challenge you to get out there and conquer even more goals.

Identifying your goals is one of the hardest things you do when youre trying to make a change and get started on something new. A life coach is great at helping you interpret your dreams and ideas, and organize them into tangible goals. In a way, they help you to connect what your head is saying and what your heart is saying to find some agreement between the two that points toward your passions.

Identifying, redirecting and managing goals to make them more realistic are what life coaches do best. You may have an idea of what you want but are having a hard time making it into a solid goal that you can work toward. Or you may think you have a solid goal but then you begin to realize that it isnt what you want or it is less doable than you thought. This is where a life coach comes in and helps you reevaluate those ideas and goals in order to turn them into smart goals that encourage real lifestyle change and forward motion.

A life coach helps you to accomplish your goals, make new changes, and live your dreams. A coach helps you get from where you are in your life now, to where you want to go. In other words, their job is to help you get from Point A to Point B in your life, whatever that may be for you.Your coach is someone who supports you, motivates you, and holds you accountable for achieving your vision for yourself. Whatever it is that you want in your life, they will help you get there.

A life coach helps you to move your life forward and to find meaning, fulfillment, success, well-being and happiness. They can help you to pinpoint the blocks or obstacles that are making you feel stuck and help you to move through them.

They may also guide you through a life transition, such as finding a new career, or looking to start a new relationship. You might call them a change facilitator or a courage catalyst.

You may be searching for validation and approval before you truly feel justified in taking that big first step towards following your dreams or reaching your goals. The advice and feedback from family and friends can be helpful but it isnt professional, and rarely is it unbiased. A life coach is someone who is separate from your personal life and can truly look at your ideas and goals objectively, and therefore they are much more capable of giving you the right validation that you need to get started on making your big move.

When you seek out a life coach, it usually means you need help making a decision. The decision might be which goal to prioritize, what step to take first, or to find out if you should even pursue that goal in the first place.

One of the best things that life coaches do is to equip you with methods and tactics that will help you make the right decisions for yourself and your future. They walk you through these processes regarding whatever you are working towards, and eventually you will start developing that problem solving mindset that they are working on with you. This mindset will start to work its way into your everyday life and change how you make decisions on a daily basis because it simply makes sense.

What Does a Life Coach NotDo?

Coaches usually dont give advice or tell you what to do.They try to help you find what feels right for you by helping you reveal the answers to yourself through discussion, suggestions, brainstorming and reflection.

It is understandable that you may be wondering what the difference is between a life coach and a therapist, but there are quite a few key distinctions that separate the two. Mainly, life coaches do not treat issues like depression, anxiety, or mental illnesses. Its really important to realize that when you sign up for life coaching, you will not be getting a therapist.

A life coach will focus mostly on looking toward your future, rather than dealing primarily with your past.While they may offer you suggestions, new ideas or action steps, they are not advice-givers. Instead, they listen to you and ask you the right questions to help you find your path, your truth, and your answers. Then they help you to align your life with who you are and what you want.

If you come into a life coaching session without having resolved, or at least started to deal with a past issue, it is likely that the life coach will refer you to a therapist or request that you look into this issue more. Life coaches can help you deal with mental blocks but many past issues are beyond their realm of expertise.

Another key difference between life coaches and therapists is their focus. A therapist tends to be more focused on a certain problem you are dealing with and what got you there in the first place. This is why many people go to therapy: to solve a problem or work through an issue.

A life coach on the other hand, is going to be more focused on solutions that get you from point A to point B. You should sign up for life coaching if you want to figure out how to get to where you want to be in life. Although your coach will help you deal with problems along the way, the focus of the coaching sessions will be on finding new ways of acting and thinking that will help you reach your goal.

In fact, the effectiveness of solution-focused approaches to accomplishing goals has been proven to get you closer to those goals, faster.

Among other things, you cannot expect a life coach to be a consultant, athletic coach or best friend. Although life coaches are someone you consult about strategies and goals, they are life specialists not specific specialists like a business consultant or an athletic trainer. They may specialize in certain areas that benefit your performance in these areas, but they are helping you reach your goals, not giving you data on how to grow your business, or how often you need to eat to reach your weight goals.

Life coaches may also seem like a friend at times because they are encouraging, inspiring and fully invested in helping you reach your goals, but this does not make them a friend nor does it replace the importance of having friends.Your life coach may be demanding and hard on you sometimes because it is a goal focused relationship and when you succeed, they succeed.

Simply put, the people who hire life coaches are people that want more. They are people that desire growth in their personal or professional lives (possibly both), and they want that growth to come faster or easier. Anyone in any walk of life can hire a life coach for almost anything they want to improve upon in their lives.

You will find that many businesses have begun giving their employees access to life coaching to help them excel in their professional lives and careers. There are also many very successful business owners, CEOs, and professionals that hire a life coach to help them set goals and stay accountable so that they are able to reach that next level of productivity, efficiency or success.

Many people have begun turning to life coaches to assist them in their personal lives as well. These people can be anyone from students professionals to stay at home moms. Almost everyone has personal goals they want to meet and often, they just need the push that comes with the wisdom and encouragement from a life coach.

In general, people who hire a life coach tend to be people that want the following:

There has been quite a big surge in the popularity of life coaching both in the professional world and in peoples personal lives as well. A simple reason for this is the mere fact that as humans we tend to get stuck in certain places in our lives whether it is due to comfort, fear, ignorance or something else. We all tend to need a push and some guidance to get us moving and heading in the right direction again, and this is exactly what life coaching does.

Life coaching is a very versatile field because there are coaches that can help people and businesses with a wide variety of things. Many coaches specialize in certain areas which can be helpful when youre trying to reach certain goals, but most coaches are trained to help you help yourself by using methods and tactics that work in all kinds of situations, and toward many different purposes.

Where there is a lack of focus and direction in the workplace or in your personal life, a life coach is really good at tackling that problem and helping you re-think and re-evaluate where you are heading. This is a major asset to companies that need motivated and skilled workers because it helps to encourage employees to reach their goals within the company which benefits everybody.

Many companies and individuals have to face a lack of motivation in the workplace which translates into low productivity. Life coaching has been proven to improve work performance by 70%. It is also shown to improve other important factors such as: self-confidence, relationships, communication skills, life/work balance, team effectiveness, time management and more.

You can definitely learn how to reach your goals on your own and maybe you already know how. There are many top performers in the workplace and in life that still hire life coaches. Why is that? Because they want to be more efficient in how they tackle their life goals. Motivated and unmotivated people alike can benefit from the efficiency and expert direction that a life coach can bring to their lives.

Studies have been done on how effective life coaching is and some are based on ROI, some are based on the satisfaction of the client and their willingness to return. Both types of studies have proven the effectiveness of life coaching. Approximately 86% of the companies studied said that they at least made back what they invested in using life and professional coaches. 99% of the companies and individuals who used life coaching were at least satisfied with the experience and 96% said that they would use a life coach again.

Initially and throughout the coaching process, coaches will use an exploratory approach to help you uncover what it is that you want, what it is that is blocking you, as well as why and how youre going about achieving your goals. To help you find your purpose or path in life, as well as your ideal career, coaches may use personality tests or assessments to help you uncover your personality traits, strengths, and alignments.

Offering new perspectives and different ways of looking at a situation to reinterpret the current situation in a new way allows you to make dramatic discoveries in where and why you feel stuck. By exploring how you got stuck and whats behind your frustration, coaches help you to first identify the deeper causes beneath your situation. By guiding you with new approaches and powerful exercises, coaches are able to offer new tools and techniques to help you achieve your goals and find solutions.

By having a life coach echo back what you are saying, you become more mindful of your current belief system and perspective on a situation. Mindful awareness of your current way of thinking sets the stage for adopting new ways of understanding, and new ways of conquering your goals.

By listening without judgment and bringing this awareness to your current life issues, you can see those issues in a whole new light. As a fish doesnt recognize the water that its swimming in, sometimes we too dont recognize the deeper beliefs and assumptions were living under. By offering new ways to look at your situation and revealing new meanings behind it, your coach will often help you find relief and new beginnings in where you currently stand in life, and in relation to your goals.

A big part of the life coaching process is finding out where you are now, where you want to go in life, and finding the best process of getting you there.

A coach helps you to take action in places where youre feeling frozen or stuck. It can be fear or anxiety, uncertainty or stress. Sometimes you just feel lost, and a coach will help you get re-oriented with your goals by helping you to find the right direction to take.

By asking you deep and meaningful questions, a life coach can help you find a vision for yourself and turn it into reality. By doing this and guiding you through the necessary changes and hurdles, they help you reach your potential and find your purpose.

Some people confuse their coach for a friend who is just there to cheer them on, but its best to look at a coach as more of an advocate than a friend. Yes, they are there to encourage and support you, but more importantly, they are there to keep you moving in the right direction. Dont expect them to start applauding when you dont do what youre supposed to do. They are there to push you, challenge you and make sure you extend yourself beyond where you are now.

You can expect a life coach to hold you accountable for doing whats necessary in order for you to make the changes you desire. By having someone make sure you take responsibility, you have to face the excuses that you keep telling yourself and thereby realize that you really do have the ability to make the changes that you need to make.

During the time that you are investing in life coaching, you should be consistently taking action steps in your life toward reaching your goals. Your life coach will keep you motivated by making sure you have a clear purpose, direction, and more importantly that you keep making steady progress. The different techniques and methods they use that help you find the right goal as well as to stay on track will help create the rewards of achievement that you need to keep going. The life coach is directly invested in your success so you can expect to be motivated and mentally fueled up to take on lifes challenges.

Coaches use a variety of different techniques, methods, and processes to help you reach your goals. There are countless different training and educational programs that coaches learn from, so there are many ways they can use to help you succeed.

The first meeting with a life coach usually lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. It is often used as a discovery session where they learn more about you and your aspirations. This may be an initial consultation to see if life coaching is right for you, or it could be a time to figure out what you want to focus on, or it could be both.

In this initial session, the life coach will be asking a lot of questions and probably having you take various tests and going through certain exercises to find out what the best method is to go about conquering your goals. Some of the questions they may ask might include: What are you passionate about?, what do you avoid?, what is holding you back?, where will this get you?, whats another way to look at this situation?, etc.. You should walk away from the first meeting with an initial game plan and an idea of what you will do next or something to explore that will start getting you on track.

Some of the common processes that coaches employ include: visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, meditation, relaxation, emotional freedom technique, finding limiting beliefs, and many others. Sometimes discovering your ultimate intention and clarifying how you want to feel helps to kick-start a new process of realignment.

A coaching session will look slightly different depending on what methods your life coach uses and what stage of coaching youre in. This relationship is dynamic and it will change over time because you will start getting used to how you work best with them, and they will accommodate their methods to fit your strengths as time goes on.

Life coaching sessions will gradually reveal whats holding you back and what exactly you get stuck on so that you can identify and break down the mental and emotional blocks or limiting beliefs that stand in the way of your success and progress. A life coach is great at helping you see whats in your blind spots and getting you to look at things from a different perspective. The importance of this is that you can only truly get this through the help of another person like a life coach who is helping you examine your life and goals. This isnt something you can simply learn from a book and thats why life coaching sessions are extremely valuable.

The outcome of a life coaching session is a feeling of direction and purpose. Instead of those feelings of being lost or constantly frustrated by either not being able to reach your goals, or just disappointment in failing to try, you will feel energized and mobilized. When you are finally able to crack the code on setting doable goals and taking the correct steps to follow through, it is an incredible feeling. Your life coach is there to get you moving as soon as possible so that you begin to feel more confident and productive right away and carry that energy into the rest of your life. The happiness that comes with having a clear vision and actually witnessing yourself achieve your goals is validating, and the best thing that comes out of life coaching sessions.

A life coaching session will generally include a discovery time near the beginning to figure out where you are, what youre doing and what you should do. After that, the sessions will be more about holding you accountable to the steps you should be taking to get where you need to go, and tackling problems that may pop up along the way. A coach is focused on three main things: taking action, staying accountable and following through. These three things guarantee success and will be an integral part of how your coaching sessions are handled.

You may initially be unsure about what your relationship with your coach should look like. The relationship should be based on trust and be something that is constantly challenging you. The ultimate goal for a life coach is not to tell you what to do but to ask you the right questions so that you tell yourself what to do. Then they are responsible for holding you accountable for the decisions you make, and goals you set.

A life coach can be similar to a lot of things like a consultant, advocate, friend, facilitator, navigator, and more but ultimately they are there to get you to take action. The relationship is bound to fail if you expect them to be just a friend who cheers you on, or just a consultant who gives you all of the answers and data you need. They are there to help you succeed so they will push you and challenge you to look at things differently and stay on the right track. This is a relationship that is a partnership. You can trust them to be a non-judgmental party who is looking out for your best interest with no ulterior motive except to see you succeed.

Life coaches can help you inany area of your life including, but not limited to:

The list of things life coaches can help you with is pretty much endless. Since there are so many aspects of life, any area can be worked on. You should ask yourself, What do I want to do with my life? Where do I want to improve myself? Its up to you to decide what you most need help with, or you can find out exactly what it is that has been bothering you, together with the help of a good coach.

You may think youre alone in wanting to improve upon a certain area in your life or reach a certain goal when in reality there are thousands of others who are pursuing change in those exact same areas with the help of a life coach. You might be surprised at how many people are seeking help in some of the same areas you are.

When clientsrequest a coach through Life Coach Spotter, according to our proprietary data, the top reasons they provide are:

Simply put, no. Life coaching in and of itself is not spiritual unless the life coaches themselves are specifically using a spiritual basis for all of their clients. You may have been given the false impression that life coaching involves meditation, prayer and other various spiritual practices, but unless you seek out a professional who specifically uses these practices, you will find that life coaching is more about your thought process than about your spiritual leanings.

There are some incredible spiritual life coaches who you can link up with if you desire a more spiritual approach to reaching your goals. The most important part here is finding the right coach whose beliefs line up with or coexist with your own spiritual beliefs. This way, finding solutions and overcoming obstacles will be much more of a rewarding and effective process. Learn more about spiritual life coaching here.

Want to make a big change in your life? Want to reach a goal? Feeling stuck? Going through a life transition? There are an infinite amount of reasons why people hire a life coach to get them on the right track toward success. You simply have to ask yourself a few questions to evaluate where you are, where you want to be and how you feel about it. This will ultimately help you reveal those burning desires that are truly worth going after and finally doing something about.

For example, you might decide to hire a life coach forANYof the following reasons:

If you feel like youre stuck in the same place and want to start moving in the right direction to accomplish your goals, a life coach would be very helpful. Also, if you feel some kind of mental or emotional block that you cant seem to get past on your own, a life coach will help guide you out of that mental state and into one where you can finally make progress.

If you have a feeling of uncertainty or like youre lost and dont know where to go or what to do to get what you want in life, this is a great opportunity to recruit a life coach to help you find purpose and direction in any area of your life.

If you want to grow, build your confidence, find your happiness or just start making some positive changes in your life, life coaching is a great solution. Feeling like something is missing in your life is a great opportunity to start making changes by transforming your life and your mindset.

Life coaching isNOTright for you if

There are some situations where life coaching is not going to be the right thing for you. If youre in need of therapy or serious counseling for a mental illness or issue in your life, you may want to consider resolving this or at least starting the resolution process with a counselor or therapist before seeking out a life coach.

Also, if you just want to be told what to do, this may not be the solution for you. A life coach is going to guide you and help you make your own decisions rather than get out a step by step play book and tell you exactly what to do.

Finally, you have to be willing to actually carry out the change. Life coaching isnt right for you if you are not able to commit to working on yourself, stretching your thinking and taking action in your life. A life coach expects you to be involved in your solution and you will not gain anything from the experience if you do not want to change.

If you have begun asking the right questions and evaluating what areas in your life need improvement, the decision to hire a life coach will be much easier. Going through the lists above will also help highlight those areas of your life that could use some extra work and a little extra accountability.

If youre ready to make an action plan rather than just explore your various issues, a life coach is definitely a great option for you. If you still have some past issues that you need to deal with or you arent sure that youre quite ready to start making serious changes, you could consult with a life coach to see if you should seek out help with a therapist or counselor first. It is extremely important to be in the right place mentally and emotionally to get the most out of the coaching experience.

Ultimately, life coaching will be worth your time if you are determined to be open to new ideas, tactics and are willing to put in work to implement changes. You dont even need to have a specific goal in mind before you go to a life coach, as long as you know you want more from life they can help you pinpoint whats next for you. A coach will improve your self-awareness, widen your thinking and help you become more focused. They are great people to go to when you want help accessing the talent and motivation you already carry within yourself.

Most life coaches will specialize in certain areas. For instance, some coaches might be more skilled at helping you find or make a career transition, while others might specialize in helping you find a life partner, or finding your true purpose. While there are no limits to what area a life coach can help you in, most of them are more skilled in some areas than others. If possible, it is best to find a life coach who specializes in one of your priority or goal areas.

Many life coaches can help you in multiple areas of your life but many coaches are great for your goals because of their specializations. Here are some of the most common types of life coach specializations that youll have access to:

If you have one clear goal in mind that you need help with, you can find a life coach that has a specialization that is closest to that goal. If you arent so clear on what you want to focus on, you could try a few different methods to finding a life coach. Ultimately, you want to focus on choosing a life coach who feels right for you and that you connect well with. Confidentiality is also key. Whatever coach you choose should keep your sessions private and strictly between the two of you. It will be hard to have a positive coaching relationship if you dont trust them or have good synergy.

One method you could use is to consult with a life coach that either doesnt have a specialization or one that has a specialization that is among your top interests. Make sure to mention to them that you have multiple goals youre going after and they will be able to help you narrow them down or pick one to work on first. They may even be able to refer you to another coach who works more with whatever specialty area you end up choosing.

Another method is to work with multiple life coaches. This could look different depending on how you go about it. If you have two strong goals, you could work with one life coach on one and another life coach on the other one. You can do this at the same time or one after the other depending on what you want to focus on and your time restrictions. You could also find one main coach who helps you with your more general goals and another coach who helps you with a more specific goal that needs their expertise.

Make sure to find the right fit for you. Go with your gut and use your intuition during the selection process. Dont be afraid to consult with a few different coaches because not all of them are going to be what you need.Coaches have different techniques they employ and you will need to feel motivated and inspired by them in order to succeed, so take your time to make this decision.

Life coaching costs will differ depending on quite a few different factors. You may be able to find coaches offering rates as low as $50 per hour and many coaches understand that finances are a struggle and are willing to work with their clients by offering low rates or packages that make payment less of a financial burden.Ultimately it will depend on the length and frequency of your sessions as well as the variety of types of coaching and the pricing differences in certain areas and regions.

If someone could help you make a very significant change in your life, how much would you pay for that? How much is it worth to you to be relieved of feeling unfulfilled, unhappy, and lost? Whats attaining your dreams worth to you?

Some people have been struggling with one issue their whole life. Others still dont know what they really want, but they feel that their current life isnt right. So is that worth a million bucks? Well probably, but most of us dont have that kind of cash laying around. Others would say this is too much or that is too much. $2,500?$5,000?$10,000?

It all depends.

Coaching is no more expensive than good, quality therapy. You can get low-end therapy, low-end dental services, and low-end coaching services. Or you can go for quality. And is it going to deliver something youve always wanted? Then probably a million dollars if you had it would be inexpensive.

A healthy relationship? Love in your life? Healthy balance? Living an incredible, dream life? Financial well-being? The accomplishment of a dream almost forsaken?

Try to put a price on any of those things. Its challenging, perhaps impossible. Thisis the best dollar youll ever spend. This is an investment in yourself; in your life which youll only live once. Putting your money consciously into your own growth and education to me is some of the best ways you can allocate your resources.

Based on a study, the amount of coaching sessions needed will vary greatly based on your specific goals and current situation. It will be up to you and your coach to determine the length of the engagement. You may want to initially sign up for a certain amount of time and then choose to extend later on. Coaches tend to be flexible and willing to work with your schedule and whatever plan works best with your goals.

Coaching sessions will be determined based on a number of different variables such as your schedule, the coachs schedule, the contract length and the needs of your specific goals. The average amount of coaching sessions ends up being around 2-3 per month. Most coaching sessions last around an hour and many coaches offer support and follow up between sessions as well.

Finding a life coach is probably simpler than you think. There are tons of resources available that will help you search for and find life coaches that specialize in your interest areas and are available when you are.

The convenience of finding a life coach is incredible through Life Coach Spotter if you are looking for life coaches that are online and easily accessible. Or you can use search engines and local directories to find life coaches who you can meet with in person. Another way to find the best life coach is through a referral. If you have a friend who has used one and wants to refer you to that person, that is a great way to go. Learn more about finding your life coach here.

Yes! Coaching online is probably one of the easiest ways to find a life coach that is perfect for your needs. You may be unsure of the effectiveness of an online coach but has proven to be just as effective as other methods of coaching. Whats important is the rapport between coach and client, and online simply give you more options for finding the best fit. Although the personal experience may be best for some people, the benefits of hiring an online life coach actually tend to outweigh the benefits of meeting in person.

The convenience of hiring a coach online is apparent because you can meet almost any time and not have to worry about the commute time and scheduling it around other things. You can meet for 30 minutes on your lunch break or take an hour on the weekend no matter where you are to sit down and consult with your life coach.

The options are endless when it comes to online life coaches. Since you dont have to worry about where they are located, you can choose a life coach whose experience and methods work best with you rather than being forced to settle on a coach who is closer in proximity.

You will also find that life coaching online can be significantly more affordable because of the reduced overhead costs. If the life coach doesnt have to have an office or commute, their overhead goes down, and so does the cost that you have to pay to meet with them.

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Continued here:
The Complete Guide to Life Coaching

Conscious evolution refers to the ability of the human species to choose what the species Homo sapiens becomes in the future, based on recent advancements in science, medicine, technology, psychology, sociology, and spirituality. Most leading thinkers in this area have focused on the conscious evolution of how we think, live, organize ourselves, work together, and address issues, rather than to biological evolution.

The idea of conscious evolution is not a specific theory, but it has loose connections to integral theory, Spiral Dynamics, and noosphere thought. It is also sometimes connected to the theory of the global brain or collective consciousness. One of the earliest uses of the phrase "conscious evolution" may be that of Mary Parker Follett in 1918: "Conscious evolution means giving less and less place to herd instinct and more to the group imperative. We are emerging from our gregarious condition and are now to enter on the rational way of living by scanning our relations to one another, instead of bluntly feeling them, and so adjusting them that unimpeded progress on this higher plane is secured." (The New State, p. 91)

Writers and thinkers on conscious evolution include Erich Jantsch, Teilhard de Chardin, Jonas Salk, Ervin Laszlo, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, Bela H. Banathy, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Andrew Cohen, and others. Tobias Tripler made some important contributions in his widely appraised treatise "Common Sense and other Things Mankind has not yet achieved", Fnord, 1991.

Conscious evolution suggests that now that humanity is conscious of its history and of how things evolve (evolutionary consciousness), and given the rapid pace of change in society and culture, humanity can (and should) choose advancement through co-operation, co-creation and sustainable practices over self-destruction through separateness. competition, and ecological devastation.

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Conscious evolution - Wikipedia

GurdjieffLegacy.Org - Trailer for The Life & Significance of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, Part II Gurdjieff's Mission: Introducing The Teaching to the West, 1912--1924. Shot on site in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Constantinople, London, Fontainebleau-en-Avon, New York and Lascaux, this documentary videonarrated by William Patrick Patterson and based on his book Struggle of the Magiciansretraces Gurdjieff's mission to introduce the teaching to the West. P.D. Ouspensky's and J.G. Bennett's enigmatic relationship with Gurdjieff are explored. Particularly stressed are the "St. Petersburg Conditions" and Gurdjieff's technique of "divine acting." The video vividly demonstrates Gurdjieff's warning to America of the rise and challenge of the East with footage recalling the 9/11 attack and its aftermath.

William Patrick Patterson, a leading international exponent and teacher of The Fourth Way is the founder/director of The Gurdjieff Legacy Foundation and has led groups, as well as given seminars and talks throughout the United States for many years. He has written nine books on the teaching and directed, written and narrated the award-winning video trilogy The Life & Significance of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, Introduction To Gurdjieff's Fourth Way: From Selves To Individual Self To The Self and the just released Spiritual Pilgrimage Mr. Gurdjieffs Fathers Grave. He is also the founder/editor of The Gurdjieff Journal (est. 1992), the first domestic and international Fourth Way journal.

If you are interested in Gurdjieffs Fourth Way Teaching or have questions please contact us. Come experience the Teaching firsthand at a public seminar or event. For a listing of current events visit http://www.gurdjiefflegacy.org/20anno.... For those not in a geographical area where The Gurdjieff Legacy Foundation groups exist, the Online Fourth Way School is offered. To apply visit http://www.gurdjiefflegacy.org/ofws/o.... Alternatively, you can email us at Arete@GurdjieffLegacy dot org.

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Abingdon Abingdon (population about 8,000) is an historic and charming small community nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia. It has a thriving arts community and far more cultural opportunities than most small towns. It is home to a community college with over 3,000 students, and one of the oldest professional theaters in the country. Vast areas of unspoiled lands with magnificent views and outstanding recreational opportunities surround it. (Click here to view full report)

Charlottesville Charlottesville (population 45,000) is an historic and charming city in the rolling hills of central Virginia not far from the Blue Ridge mountain range. As home to an outstanding public university (University of Virginia), it is culturally rich and offers a great many amenities. (Click here to view full report)

Lexington Lexington (population 7,000) is a college town located in west-central Virginia, due west of Richmond and just two miles west of north-south route Interstate 81. It is an historic community with a rich history and a good number of amenities. The city is surrounded by vast areas of protected land with outstanding opportunities for outdoor activities hiking, horseback riding, fishing, camping, scenic touring, and more. It is home to Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. (Click here to view full report)

Roanoke Roanoke (population 96,000) is located in the western, mountainous region of the state. It is situated along interstate 81 and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The area offers great scenic beauty and outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities. The city offers a great number of amenities, including cultural events, entertainment, and outstanding healthcare. It also has a below average cost of living. Roanoke has repeatedly been chosen as an All-American City. (Click here to view full report)

Williamsburg Williamsburg (population 12,000) is located about 150 miles south of Washington, D.C., mid-way between Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. Steeped in history, it is home to Colonial Williamsburg, a restored colonial village, and The College of William & Mary. It has wonderful charm and a great many amenities. This popular tourist destination is among the 10 fastest growing areas in Virginia. (Click here to view full report)

Find Virginia retirement communities, including active adult communities, independent living, assisted living, memory care, nursing care and more.

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Many of the most influential people our world has seen have exposed truths, wisdoms, and controversial viewpoints that have earned them both respect and fear from the masses. Osho Rajneesh was one of those people.

An Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher, he had millions of followers worldwide, along with thousands of detractors. Confident and outspoken, heshed light on topics often considered taboo by mainstream society.

Born in 1931, Osho grew up questioning the existing religious, cultural, and social normsof society, eventuallyhavinga mystical experience that led him to what he calls his enlightenment at the age of 21. He came to prominence as a spiritual guru not just in India, but also internationally. His teachings focuson the necessity for meditation,awareness, love, celebration, courage, creativity, and humor, all of which he believed to be suppressed by traditional belief systems, religious tradition, and socialization. His teachings have greatly impacted the Western New Age movement.

Osho died in 1990, but his work continues to bepublished by over 200 publishers worldwide and in over 60 languages. With that said, here are 15 incredible quotes by the influential guru:

1. Love knows no boundaries. Love cannot be jealous, because love cannot possess. It is ugly, the very idea that you possess somebody because you love. You possess somebody it means you have killed somebody and turned him into a commodity. Only things can be possessed. Love gives freedom. Love is freedom.

2. Remain continuously on a honeymoon. Go on searching and seeking each other, finding new ways of loving each other, finding new ways of being with each other. And each person is such an infinite mystery, inexhaustible, unfathomable, that it is not possible that you can ever say, I have known her, or, I have known him. At the most you can say, I have tried my best, but the mystery remains a mystery. In fact the more you know, the more mysterious the other becomes. Then love is a constant adventure.

3. When you dont need a person at all, when you are totally sufficient unto yourself, when you can be alone and tremendously happy and ecstatic, then love is possible. But then, too, you cannot be certain whether the others love is real or not you can be certain about only one thing: whether your love is real. How can you be certain about the other? But then there is no need. This continuous anxiety about whether the others love is real or not simply shows one thing: that your love is not real. Otherwise, who bothers? Why be worried about it? Enjoy it while it lasts, be together while you can be together! It is a fiction, but you need fiction.

4.Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You cannot be improved. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it.

5. I love this world because it is imperfect. It is imperfect, and thats why it is growing; if it was perfect it would have been dead. Growth is possible only if there is imperfection. I would like you to remember again and again, I am imperfect, the whole universe is imperfect, and to love this imperfection, to rejoice in this imperfection is my whole message.

6. If you can bring your consciousness, your awareness, your intelligence to the act, if you can be spontaneous, then there is no need for any other religion, life itself will be the religion.

7. Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something inside to be realized.

8. Just being alive is such a gift, but nobody ever told you to be thankful to existence. On the contrary, everyone was grumpy, complaining. Naturally, if everything surrounding your life from the very beginning goes on pointing out to you that you are not what you should be, goes on giving you great ideals that you have to follow and you have to become, your isness is never praised. What is praised is your future if you can become someone respectable, powerful, rich, intellectual, in some way famous, not just a nobody.

9. If you want to learn anything, learn trust nothing else is needed. If you are miserable, nothing else will help learn trust. If you dont feel any meaning in life and you feel meaningless, nothing will help learn trust. Trust gives meaning because trust makes you capable of allowing the whole descend upon you.

10. Listen to your being. It is continuously giving you hints; it is a still, small voice. It does not shout at you, that is true. And if you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. Be the person you are. Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, thats what maturity is all about.

11. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised.

12. Life is a balance between rest and movement.

13. Fools laugh at others. Wisdom laughs at itself.

14. All that this world needs is a good cleansing of the heart of all the inhibitions of the past. And laughter and tears can do both. Tears will take out all the agony that is hidden inside you and laughter will take all that is preventing your ecstasy. Once you have learned the art you will be immensely surprised.

15. That is the simple secret of happiness. Whatever you are doing, dont let past move your mind; dont let future disturb you. Because the past is no more, and the future is not yet. To live in the memories, to live in the imagination, is to live in the non-existential. And when you are living in the non-existential, you are missing that which is existential. Naturally you will be miserable, because you will miss your whole life.

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15 Quotes By Osho That Will Touch Your Heart & Make You Think ...

Get staffers excited about their jobs.

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Employee motivation and performance are key factors in moving a small business forward. Owners, managers and supervisors know positive motivation leads to better performance and higher productivity but may rely on the wrong tools. Microsoft Business states the conundrum as "using monetary and other rewards to improve motivation is a simple idea, but doing it fairly and effectively can be challenging."

Essentially the two types of reinforcement are positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is using beneficial incentives to boost morale and productivity, such as performance based bonuses, sales commissions, achievement rewards, pay raises and promotions. Negative reinforcement is using unfavorable tools to achieve desired results, such as bad performance reviews, verbal and written warnings, suspension, pay reduction or dismissal warnings.

Benefits as motivators can boost job performance. Pay raises, bonuses, stock options and profit sharing are examples of positive motivators. These motivators reward employees for not only doing their job, but doing it well and with enthusiasm. However, these motivators are to retain normal levels or morale but do not necessarily increase overall motivation levels. Management Help includes money as a myth of motivating small business employees as "things like money, a nice office and job security can help people from becoming less motivated, but they usually don't help people to become more motivated."

An important part of improving employee motivation and performance is clear, attainable goals. Informing your employees of goals you have set for your small business improves focus and team cohesion. Business consultant Harvey Wigder states, "if people are communicated to and if they understand the ground rules, they know that if things don't work they're not going to get incentives."

Regularly engage your small business employees on issues that effect productivity and morale. Being engaged imparts parity and demonstrates your ability to be an effective leader as one in touch with employee concerns. NOLO suggests asking employees for ways to improve working conditions: "if the answer is better lighting, or a more efficient computer, or a chance to work at home one day a week, you can often reward the employee by following through on the request."

According to Accel Team, research consistently shows that employees who are well motivated perform better and add value to a small business. However, "the inverse also holds true." Meaning unmotivated employees produce less and do not substantially contribute to businesses.

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Motivation & Employee Performance | Chron.com

It may seem like a subtle distinction, but the worlds of motivation and inspiration are millions of miles apart.

A lot of people use the words motivated and inspired interchangeably. But Ive found something different to be the case.

When I try to motivate myself, nine times out of ten Im pushing myself to do something I dont really care about.

Motivation is about psyching yourself up. Chest-pounding. Fire-walking. Heavy-metal riffs. You get the point.

Inspiration comes from a completely different place. The word inspiration means to be in spirit. When youre tuned into your spirit, you are naturally drawn to do whatever feels best. You may do things that arent outwardly productive. Or you may write a book in 30 days. Either way, its all good because fulfillment is the end result.

Motivation, on the other hand, usually has a lot to do with fake growth. You think you should be doing something (without thinking about why) and it often leads in the direction of something that doesnt really matter. Its what youre supposed to be doing. Its just a good idea, not a passionate, burning desire that emanates from the core of your being.

So, motivation is about things that you think you should do or that youre supposed to do. Inspiration is about being called to act because youre in direct alignment with the magnetic, luminous marrow of potential that is you.

When youre inspired you know because

I asked a few people on Twitter what their thoughts were, and here were some of my favorite responses:

Motivation is required when youre not aligned with your highest values. Tony

Motivation is not always positive. Haidn Foster

Motivation is external, inspiration is internal Simon Lawry

Motivation is inner drive to fulfill goal. Inspiration is having a glimpse of who you really are. Bambooforest

Motivation is the push. Inspiration is the pull. (I love this response!) Natalie DeBruin

Its interesting to me how everyone sees inspiration and motivation differently. But how do we actually stay inspired?

You might be thinking How do I get inspired? Well, you cant. Inspiration isnt something you get, it comes from within, it comes from your core.

So being inspired isnt about doing something external to bring something in. Thats motivation, remember?

Being inspired is about a constant process of realignment. Whenever youre feeling like you have to push, its time to realign. Whenever youre feeling like youre not enjoying life, its time to realign. Whenever you feel like youre trying to fulfill a quota or expectation, its time to realign.

Realignment isnt anything complicated. Its very simple, actually. All it involves is drawing inward and exploring what you really want. Your home cosmography, as Thoreau put it.

So, what do you really want? Not what should you want, not what you think might be a good idea for you to want. What lights you up? Once youve got a grasp on that, stay with it for a little while. Bathe in it, savor it. Taste it on your tongue. Feel it tingling down your spine.

It feels good, doesnt it?

If it doesnt feel good, youre still not there. Keep going.

Once youve come to that state of anticipation, youre inspired. Youre In Spirit. And youd rather have that than trying to motivate yourself, right?

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Inspiration vs. Motivation - Paid to Exist

Humans have the remarkable ability to get exactly what they must have.But thereis a difference between a "must" and "want." Jim Rohn

The best motivating is self-motivating.The guy says,"I wish someone would come byand turn me on."What if they don't show up?You've got to have a better plan for your life.

When you know what you want,and you want it badly enough,you'll find a way to get it .

Motivation alone is not enough.If you have an idiot and you motivate him,now you havea motivated idiot.

If you wish to find,you must search.Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.

Without a sense of urgency,dersire loses its value.

Give a lecture to a thousand people.One walks out and says,I'm going to change my life."Another one walks out with a yawn and says,"I've heard all this before."Why is that?Why wouldn't both be affected the same way?Another mystery.

The millionaire says to a thousand people,"Iread this book and it started me on the roadto wealth."Guess how many go out and get the book?Very few.Isn't that incredible?Why wouldeveryone get the book?A mystery of life.

Mysuggestion would be to walk away from the 90% who don't and join the 10% who do.

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Motivating Quotes