Category: Coaching

I have collected quotes, and created my own quotes, for a long time now. The quotes below are a collection of both my personal transformational quotations, and a mix of some of my favourites. I am a big believer, and a strong advocate of using powerful language and phrases as part of the approach to authentically transform our lives in alignment to who we are.

As a Professional coach and lifestyle mentor, I know the power of alignment, and the role that these quotes can have in transforming peoples lives. I hope some of these quotations resonate with you, and help you in your life.

"We often see 'the law of this...'or the law of that...' in life. I have found 'guidelines' to be much more life affirming than laws will ever be."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Belief traps and narrow paradigms don't make you stupid; they simply limit your capacity and ability to understand."
- Thomas Campbell (Author - My Big Toe)

"The most valuable lesson in life, is that life is the lesson."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Happiness is greater than, or equal to, your perception of the events in your life minus your expectation of how life should be."
- Mo Gawdat (Equation for happiness)

"No artist tolerates reality."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

"You are only as strong as your readiness to surrender. In the end perhaps, being human is much more important than being fully in the know."
- Pico Lyer

"No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind."
- Napoleon Hill

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

“People come and people go in your life - don’t let ‘you’ be one of them”
- Craig W. Hedge

"Is it not curious, then, that the most significant intellectual skill available (questioning and inquiry) to human beings is not taught in schools?"
- Neil Postman

"Live life as if everything is rigged in your favour."
- Rumi

"Forming questions helps us to organise our thinking around what we don't know."
- Steve Quatrano

"A donkey carrying a pile of holy books is still a donkey."
- Zen Proverb

"To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fears in our minds."
- Gerald G. Jampolsky

“Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense, rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.”
- Daniel Kahneman

"I know more about my ignorance than you know about yours."
- Richard Saul Wurman

"Museums are the custodians of epiphanies."
- George Lois

Nothing is easier or more natural - or more difficult to see - than self delusion."
-Thomas Campbell

"There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there."
— Albert Einstein

"As you begin to walk out on the way, the way appears."
- Rumi

"Once you step across that self imposed or others imposed line that says "you can't" - you start the journey towards finding you."
- Craig W. Hedge

"The new world demands self learners, who are creative and resourceful, who can adjust and adapt to constant change."
- Tony Wagner/John Seely Brown

Vuja de:
"Seeing something that is familiar and looking at it in new or fresh ways like you are seeing it for the first time."
- Bob Sutton

"If your conscious mind puts a big question out there, chances are good that your unconscious mind will go to work on it."
- Chen-Bo Chong

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
— Dorothy Parker

"If you are able to find a problem before others do, and then successfully answer the questions surrounding that problem, you can create a new venture, a new career, a new industry."
- Min Badasur

"Is it not curious, then, that the most significant intellectual skill available (questioning/inquiry) to human beings is not taught in schools."
- Neil Postman

"The mind of the beginner is empty, free from the habits of the expert - open to all possibilities and can see things as they are. In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are a few."
- Shunryu Suzuki

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

"Sometimes people feel like they have nowhere to go and they've run out of options, my point is, there is always another possibility, if you keep looking for it."
- Srikanth Srinivas

"When we've lost our keys and are searching for them, why do we keep looking in the same places, over and over."
- George Carlin

"It seems the main rule that traditional schools teach is how to sit in rows quietly, which is perfect training for grown-up work in a dull office or factory, but not so good for education."
- Matt Groening

"The comfortable expert must become the restless learner."
- Warren Berger

"People think of questioning as simple, but when done right, it is a very sophisticated, high level form of thinking."
- Dan Rothstein

"Coaching is a profound personal relationship in pursuit of life changing results."
- David Buck

"Our culture and habits of thinking insist that we always move towards certainty. We need to pay equal attention to possibility.
- Edward De Bono

"White picket fences look great - on a cricket field. Be careful not to trap or lock yourself within one."
- Craig W. Hedge

"The future is NOT something we enter. The future is something we create."
- Leonard I. Sweet

"A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something - and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change."
- Warren Berger

"Ask yourself an interesting enough question and your attempt to find a tailor made solution to that question will push you to a place where, pretty soon, you'll find yourself all by your lonesome - which I think is a more interesting place to be."
- Chuck Close

"People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because <em>things are being loved</em> and <em>people are being used</em>."
- Dalai Lama

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- William Bruce Cameron

"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever.
Is that good news?"
- Dr Robert Anthony

“Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle or end.
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity.”
- Gilda Radner

"Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know."
- Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

"Don't get ahead of yourself...but don't leave yourself behind either."
- Craig W. Hedge

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has of course, powerful muscles, but no personality."
- Albert Einstein

"Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret to success."
- Swami Sivananda

"Self-importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it - what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of
our fellowmen. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone."
- Carlos Castaneda

“Money is an excellent motivator for a great piece of art.”
- Michel Houellebecq

"The power of belief (is) to insulate the believer from additional knowledge or finding a larger truth."
- Thomas Campbell (Author - My Big Toe)

"Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from."
- Seth Godin

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou

"Remember that well meaning people are not necessarily well understanding people."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand."
- Shel Silverstein

"He had such a perceptive mind - like a clear lake....his questions were like answers too."
- Richard Woodhull (TURN TV series)

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

"We are trapped in quantified, measured, analysed knowledge, unaware of the wisdom within us."
- Satish Kumar

"Judging is a preemptive attack against that which you most desire - intimacy and acceptance - that is launched before you can be rejected or refused."
- Gary Zukav

"Endless possibilities exist...just beyond your belief system."
- Emilys quotes

"In todays business world, answers are transitory and increasingly short lived."
- Warren Berger

"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful."
- John Maeda

"Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?"
- Groucho Marx

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

"Remember that any 'expert' or 'guru' is merely a guide for you to access, or to use, to connect you to your own inner guidance."
- Craig W. Hedge

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
- Carl G. Jung

"Everybody in their lives is really waiting for people to ask them questions so they can be truthful about who they are
and how they became what they are."
- Marc Pachter

"Love in such a way that the person you love feels free."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Questioning is now the number one thing I spend time on with my clients."
- Dev Patnaik (Business Consultant Jump Associates)

"The time is now, the place is here. Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will
never come exactly as you plan or hope for."
- Dan Millman

"What, then, is the right way of living? Life must be lived as play."
- Plato

"Play is the glue that binds us together. Play requires trust and it creates trust. Play is the secret to creativity and greater cooperation."
- Isabel Behncke

"Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition, they somehow already truly what you want to become."
- Steve Jobs

"The pressure on short term results tends to drive questioning out of the equation."
Tony Wagner

“If you think about it, when you choose to forgive someone, it is
nothing more than an ego trip. When you say "I forgive you",
what you are really saying is you have some sort of hold over them.
By saying "I forgive you", you decree that you are pronouncing
them "free" of your resentment. That isn't forgiveness. That's an
ego trip - realize there is nothing to forgive. You just have to release it and move on.”
-Dr Robert Anthony

"Opportunities for personal growth are all around you. Set the intention to grow and ask for guidance."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Question authority; think for yourself. Talk to people, do things unrelated to school — to come up with your own framework
for living. The world is too complex and people are too different to be overly prescriptive about the details.
- Joi Ito

"Safety is dead. The fact is you can’t play it safe any more."
- Scott Pape (The Barefoot Investor)

"Work with yourself - not against yourself."
- Craig W. Hedge

"The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious."
- P.D. Ouspensky

“You will have to leave the city of your comfort to go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you will discover will be wonderful. What you will discover will be yourself.”
- Alan Alda

"Transformation comes when i'm not in charge, when I don't know what is coming next, when I can't assume when I am bigger than everything around me."
- Pico Lyer.

"Every human being needs to listen consciously to live fully. Conscious listening creates understanding"
- Julian Treasure

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of eighteen."
- Albert Einstein

"The best questions are the ones that create the most uncertainty. What is evolutions answer to the problem of uncertainty? Its play!."
- Beau Lotto

"When we ask for advice, we're really looking for confirmation of what our soul already knows."
- Suzanne Giesemann

"The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
- Chinese Proverb

"Contrary to popular opinion, ignorance is not bliss, it is just ignorance."
- Thomas Campbell

"One hour of compassionate deep listening can bring about transformation and healing."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”
- Ralph Nichols

“It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.”
- Elbert Hubbard

“To make a game changing move you have to start with a blank canvas.”
- Erik Wahl

"Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity."
- Albert Einstein

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."
- Plato

"The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."
- Albert Einstein

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

"Focus on the process. Don’t focus on your output. Output will come with consistency."
- Alex P Coleman

"People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others."
- Blaise Pascal

"The answers have to be yours."
- Peter Drucker

"A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility."
- Aristotle

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
- Stephen R. Covey

"Don't become a seeker of success. Become a person of value."
- Albert Einstein

"Forget the failures. Keep the lessons."
— Dalai Lama

"20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do
than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the
safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover."
- Mark Twain

“A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.”
- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Let me listen to me, and not to them."
- Gertrude Stein

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves"
- Sir Edmund Hillary

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being
perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
– Anna Quindlen

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his own dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
- Thoreau

"The meaning in life is not out there but inbetween our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation."
- Stephen Hawking

"We cannot transform what we refuse to engage"
- Elizabeth Kucinich

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
- Plato

“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.”
- M. Scott Peck

In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then, to hang a question mark on the things you take for granted."
- Bertrand Russell

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."
- Voltaire

"Rather than trying to mimic 'doing' someone else - try 'being' who it is you are instead."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Clarity comes from engagement, not thought."
- Marie Forleo

"Make an agreement with yourself today that you will embrace the opportunity and the energy of 'possibility' in your life."
- Craig W. Hedge

"Filter thoughts from your mind through your heart. Your heart doesn't judge."
- Veronica Entwistle

"I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say."
- Auschwitz Survivor speaking about the last words she said to her brother. She never saw him again after chastising him about losing his shoes. He died in the gas chambers.

“All humans, somewhere within, have the urge to be heroic; to transcend circumstances, to develop one’s powers, to overcome adversity, to stand up and be counted.”
- Dennis Saleebey

"You have to take risks. We only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen."
- Paul Coelho

“The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.”
- William James

"The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting."
- Fran Lebowitz

"The best investment you will EVER make is in YOU. It really is that simple. Understand that you must move closer to you."
- Craig W. Hedge

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
- John Heider (The Tao Of Leadership)

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
- Thoreau.

"The really valuable method of thought to arrive at a logically coherent system is intuition."
- Albert Einstein

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't."
- Robert H. Schuller

"Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them."
- Einstein

"Wearing a mask wears you out. Faking it is fatiguing.The most exhausting activity is pretending to be what you know you aren't."
- Rick Warren

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

"Your ethical framework in life can be tested easily: - how do you 'feel' about the decisions you make?"
- Craig W. Hedge

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."
- Carl Gustav Jung

"A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want."
- Madonna

"The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives."
- Albert Einstein

"A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself."
- Oprah Winfrey

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
- Emerson

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.”
- Steven Furtick

“Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”
- Eckhart Tolle

“You were born an original. Don’t die a copy.”
- John Mason

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
- George Bernard Shaw

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life. “
– Socrates

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
– Lao Tzu

"You are your choices."
- Seneca

"Whatever happens, take responsibility."
- Tony Robbins

"Talent works, genius creates."
- Robert Schumann

“Embrace the opportunity and the energy of ‘possibility’ in your life.”
- Craig W. Hedge

"Wisdom begins in wonder."
- Socrates

"Follow your dreams. They know the way."
- Kobi Yamada

"Sometimes, when you don't know the answer to a question, its because you're messing with the wrong question."
- The Universe

“Be like melting snow -- wash yourself of yourself.”
- Rumi

"Your reputation is what you are perceived to be. Your character is what you really are."
- John Wooden (UCLA Basketball Coach)

"I'm not interested in your limiting beliefs, i'm interested in what makes you limitless."
- Brendon Burchard.

"The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child."
- Thomas Edison

"Fewer people are bent from hard work than are crooked from avoiding it."
- Zig Ziglar

"There is no beginning. There is no end. There is only change."
- Robert A Monroe

"Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."
- Albert Einstein

"A <em>rational argument</em> rarely has any effect on an <em>irrational belief</em>."
- Thomas Campbell (Author - My Big Toe)

"The intellect is no longer the chairman of the board - it is an employee. It becomes a tool in the service of the heart."
- Gary Zukav

"Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you do to yourself. Focus on being connected, always learning, fully aware and super present."
- Joi Ito

"If you realized that the nurtured spiritual part of yourself would accompany you on your eternal journey and that
everything that you have laboured so hard to accumulate would vanish the instant you depart this world,
would it alter your daily agenda?"
- Walter Cooper

"We see questioning as being critical to growth and expansion. With a culture of questioning, there's always more possibility."
- W L Gore

"Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life."
- Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)

"The opposite of knowledge isn't always ignorance. It can be wonder, or mystery, or possibility."
- Pico Lyer

"Create possibilities and opportunities in your life - then choose to live into them."
- Craig W. Hedge

*Craig W. Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and is Author of the Instinctive Living self help book series available on Amazon.

Coaching in and around the Hobart community as I do, it is often assumed that I always do this in person. Since my service delivery is flexible, it involves any number of options to find either a suitable public place, the clients home, or an arranged appointment in a rented office. The options I provide certainly enable people to have choice in relation to how they want to be coached. Another option, and one that is all too often overlooked locally here in Hobart, are my online (telephone) life coaching sessions.

Working face to face with someone is something I really enjoy, and in Hobart, there are plenty of places to do this. Nothing matches, yet alone beats, this personal kind of approach ... or does it?

I remember during my training, that I was circumspect about the online life coaching method. I was comfortable with this kind of communication in other areas - but coaching? Would it be effective I thought? I had my doubts, particularly since I knew the benefits of working with people in person. I mean with no physical cues, eye contact, and everything that goes with it, how could that not be the best way to do it?

Fast forward a few years, and hundreds of hours of telephone and online life coaching sessions later, my attitude has changed considerably. The fact is that both ways (physical and online) present powerful opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Coaches require excellent, well developed listening skills. The better the skills ... the better the experience so to speak. When you take away physical presence, and peripheral noise and visual distractions, the level of focus and quality for better listening increases considerably.

When I conduct my life coaching online, my ability to listen, and to hear what is being said, and not said, is often enhanced ... considerably. My focus is on what is spoken. I do not have physical cues to rely on. There are no distractions - my focus is entirely on my client. In fact, my listening is so enhanced, that it helps me discern mood, body movements (hands rubbing together, writing, tapping, and fidgeting for example), silence, pauses, background distractions, and breathing.

Online life coaching also enables me to take notes during the session - something I do not usually do during a session when I coach face to face in and around Hobart.

Note taking during sessions is a powerful way to hone in on what is being said. It can be a great reference to reflect back on, both during and post session. Feedback as a result can be more exacting, as things are picked up and documented that sometimes are not acknowledged during a session.

Sometimes online life coaching provides more content for the client - sometimes much more. A lot can be said in a session, and the more notes taken can help to piece things together, and be a handy reference throughout the relationship.

Conclusion:

Whatever approach you choose, keep an open mind to the ways your coach can work and play with you. By choosing an online life coaching option, you open up to another medium. A mixture of both ways can help you discern what combination or approach works best for you, it can also ensure you get to experience both methods.

To find out more, or to book online life coaching, or in person meet ups, simply go to the contact me tab at the top of the page, or contact me via my facebook page.

 

*Craig Hedge is an accredited and credentialed life coach based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. He is also the author of the Instinctive Living self development book series available on Amazon. Author.to/craigwhedge

 

 

How Do You Find Your Best Fit Life Coach In Hobart?

Life coaches, and indeed life coaching, covers a lot of very different areas and understandings. These days, many professionals, and those aspiring to become, or appear to be professional, like to use or attach the label of 'coach' to their services and what they do, to promote themselves and their businesses.

It is this generic and universal approach, that can distort (let alone dilute and undermine) what coaching really is. And to be direct, many with these self appointed labels, do not understand, or practice, what coaching actually is.

Inadvertently and indirectly, some of these people can damage the reputation and the perception of coaching, as their lack of knowledge, let alone the true application of it, may have provided negative experiences for clients who then assume coaching does not work.

So how would a person, like yourself perhaps, know the difference? Often people do not know. My blog article here discusses it further.

This is why it is so important to know why you are seeking any kind of professional help. Helping professions of all descriptions abound in Hobart. If you ask for, or seek help, you will be inundated with any number of approaches. This can be daunting and confusing.

To simply seek assistance from just anyone is not a good move - to get the best out of any service you are seeking, you need to ask yourself (and the associated professional/services) what they do, and how they go about doing it. I have written a Facebook post explaining this even further so click here to learn more.

Are you looking for advice? Looking for personal growth perhaps? Change of lifestyle? Career challenges? Maybe you are tired of the usual expert/client approach and how you always seem to be on the receiving end of someone else telling you how to live?

Maybe you have used certain types of services and approaches that haven't worked for you?

Barking out instructions and setting goals for people rarely stick or last long? Why? They are given from someone else; their values, their motivations, their beliefs - not yours!

And often that someone else is thinking and operating from a position of wanting to help someone. They are operating on a completely different wave length, and often, the advice is mostly about them, and their level of expertise or knowledge... in other words, what they think is best for you.

The approach above, by a well meaning person, can be downright damaging and dangerous and impede a persons growth.

Many experts are a little too attached to their own knowledge and expertise, and how clients should listen to them....because they are the expert, and you are the client. There are degrees of this of course, and expressions and evidence of how a professional might like to superimpose themselves in a client relationship.

Chances are if you feel a power imbalance as a client, or somehow feel like you are in the presence of greatness, or that you are being dictated to, it may be a good indicator that you are working with an expert.

I might add that I am a big fan of skills, expertise and knowledge across any number of professions. All professions offer value in the context of what they do - to state the obvious. Unnecessary barriers and elitist approaches are another thing entirely however... my coaching approach is centered around clients empowering and enabling themselves.

There is no room for ego here - this is all about the client. The best trained life coaches know this.

To be clear, empowerment is not something I give - it is something the client steps up to, in an environment where they are encouraged to do just that.

Competent coaches understand that telling people what to do, and giving advice to them, is often counterproductive. It has a place when the time is right perhaps, but coaching is not that.

The good news is that life coaching (with me at least) is not about an expert giving you advice. I see you as the expert in your own life. We meet, and coach, as equals in a process of co-creation. I am focused on helping you move forward in your life in alignment to who you are, and where you want to go.

In short speak, that means that I guide you to get clear on where you stand, and how you can create a life, and behaviors, that are personally transformational in nature - you create change that is meaningful and congruent for you. Makes sense doesn't it?

Life coaching is a powerful way of initiating change, and enabling people to become more aware of themselves, and the lives they want to live. It's about being the best you that you can be.

Are you in Southern Tasmania and would like to find an experienced and competent life coach based in Hobart?

Would you like to learn more about what I do, and how together, we can help you move forward in your life?

As a starting point, simply take the time to read my blogs, listen to my podcasts, and get a feel for what it is I do, and how I choose to do it. This will help you determine what coaching is, what it isn't, and how I coach and can help you move forward in your life.

If you would like to arrange a life coaching session, simply contact me via the website, or connect with me via my facebook page.

*Craig W.Hedge is a professional life coach based in Hobart (nipaluna), Tasmania, Australia. He is author and narrator of the Instinctive Living self development ebook and audiobook series available on Amazon and Audible.  

"I help people identify their strengths, build confidence, & find new ways to live & love their lives."

We are often reminded by our well meaning friends and families about the power of positive thinking in our lives. Unfortunately these words, and the sentiment attached to them, have little comprehension of how to actually make these things work for us. Understanding the concept, and being able to apply real and effective strategies to move closer towards achieving real and aligned results in your life, is a completely different thing altogether. To create powerful affirmations you need to understand the key components in aligning your vision to the desired conditions or outcome you are hoping for.

A common theme that you may have picked up with my blogs and my programs is my focus on the importance of alignment in your life in all you do. That is, ensuring you are clear on what you really want - and being clear on the best actions, feelings and thinkings in being able to move closer towards that. Put simply you can't say one thing and do another and expect a congruent or desired result. Why? Because you are sending out and projecting mixed messages both to and from yourself - and importantly the world/universe out there. The right affirmations move you closer towards alignment.

For example, you might say one thing, think something else and feel completely differently again. That is hardly a recipe for congruence or alignment - in simple terms it is a recipe for confusion. If you are not sending out a clear message how do you expect to receive one? Before you decide to create any personal affirmations you need to make sure you are as equipped and aware as you can be (and this is always a work/play in progress towards refinement) to give yourself the best chance of success.

Here is my guide/checklist (in no particular order) to help you move closer towards creating more powerful personal affirmations and living a life more in harmony and alignment:[green_tick_1_list width="100%"]

• Get clear on your what and the why of the things and conditions you are affirming and hoping to experience - you are an affirmator!
• Are these things in alignment with your beliefs and values and opinions about what is possible for you?
• Are these things being generated from (in simple terms) fear/insecurity, or love and abundance?
• Start feeling what you would like to experience and affirm.
• Start thinking about what you are affirming and what you want to experience.
• Start using the language that supports your vision or goals...this is affirmation in action.
• Start acting and operating in your world like what you want is already moving towards you.
• Use gratitude in your life whenever and wherever you can - for ALL things and experiences.
• Trust more in the process of your life and where and what you are moving towards.
• Ask for guidance in your life - wherever you find that in whatever form or structure that makes sense for you.
• Visualise the conditions and the things you want to experience and affirm.
• Focus on what you do want to experience...NOT the ones you do not want to experience.
• Another option that many people use is the use of visualisation audios and abundance programs to program their minds. If this interests you, you can click the following link to find out more about such programs - Mind Movies are a powerful way of helping you to create your own visualization sequences. You can take a closer look at the program, or you can create your movies with free software available on the internet. Affirmations are magnified with this approach.
• Importantly, if you are struggling with this, enlisting the services and the support of a competent and qualified life coach is a great way to help you further understand and integrate the above. A good coach can help you build your affirmations by helping you find what is important to you.

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The list above are the basic foundations to living a life more in alignment. Are you starting to see how limiting beliefs, false beliefs, and sending out mixed messages does not help you achieve or attain those things in life you aspire towards?

You Can Magnify The Power Of Affirmations With A Copy Of My Book 'The Affirmation Matrix' Right Here!

This is where life transformation coaching with me can really help you. There is an old adage that states that you don't know what you don't know. It is so easy to get stuck in old ways of thinking and doing. With that approach and mindset, is it any wonder that trying to think through these things and improve your life with that limiting and incongruous way of seeing your world is often plain difficult and indeed futile?

I have lost count of the people I have spoken to or overheard over the years saying things like positive thinking doesn't work, or affirmations are a waste of time. They are correct. For them this is their experience. It is an experience based on a limited perspective and a way of seeing the world that does not, cannot, and will not see beyond that.

Personal growth and awareness is a process. It is often about learning - and importantly unlearning. Enlisting the help of a competent, qualified, and proven life coach, can help you become much clearer about what it is you want, why you want it, and importantly, how you can move closer towards getting it. Affirmations, used correctly, are a powerful way to move towards the life you want to experience.

If life coaching with me sounds like something that may work for you, please go to the contact me page to arrange a session. Please note, I am currently based in Hobart Tasmania. If you live outside of that region, I offer coaching via Skype sessions. To find out more about what I do, I strongly recommend you make the time to read my blog to get a feel for not only what I do, but, importantly who I am, and how I can help you move forward.

Life coaching can be the ultimate affirmation - it sends a very strong message inwards, and outwards, about your intention to grow and improve.

*Craig W.Hedge is a Professional coach based in Hobart (nipaluna), Tasmania Australia. He is author of the Instinctive Living transformational self development book series available on Amazon. Author.to/craigwhedge

I am a big The Walking Dead (TWD) fan. In short, it is my favourite TV show. The series ticks all the boxes for me (and one of them is not just necessarily zombie culling..) as I see parallels between the show, and life as we know and live it now.
Hardly a revelation but read on...

Survival is obviously one of the key themes of the series. So many of the characters in this TV show fall back into old patterns of living and thinking...or more to the point, existing and living in fear (fair enough I guess when you are surrounded by zombies and lunatics with guns who are all hungry and want to kill you..).

The latest TWD season (2016) sees the arrival of Negan and the Saviours, and how they have created a culture and a network of fear, greed and oppression.
The result has been, at least to this point, that the people who have been oppressed and pulled into this regime, have given up on their lives as they were. Their hopes and aspirations have all but been forgotten, as they fit into this reality of fear, under the illusion that they are somehow safe or secure - that this is now their best or only option of how to live their lives.

Sometimes this approach is necessary in life. There are times when we simply have to do what needs to be done, to conform, or to just get on with things as they are, or as they appear to be, as we move towards creating opportunities and a life that is more in alignment to who it is we are, and what we want or need.

These times can be character building and are important.

From a coaching perspective, it is a great example of how many of us live our lives - at least to varying degrees.

We fail to see options. We stay in a relationship or a situation because it appears to be the best...or only option for us. We stay in a job because we see it as the best or only option for now.

But back to the TWD series. At the halfway point of this new series there has been a shift - a consciousness shift. A living situation that was deemed to be impossible or hopeless or unworkable, has now opened up to a possibility that things could change. At the end of the last episode, we see a group of people who embraced each other and realised that they are/were indeed not living with hope - they were simply existing and spiralling into fear based living.

This fear closed them off to possibilities. It made them weak. Their self esteem and confidence diminished. They kept working harder and longer for less reward....until finally something happened...something clicked.

Life is like that. We can hold back in our lives. We can be too cautious or too security centric. We live in fear without understanding that while we do that..we will still be living in fear. Something, or more to the point, someone, has to change to flip the switch and see life in a different light or a different way.

Coaching helps people see beyond their current world/reality view. It helps people see the existing possibilities and probabilities in their lives, and it unearths new ones. There comes a time in all of our lives, when we understand that we have self imposed limitations, that we have blind spots, that we have beliefs and opinions that no longer serve us -  they hold us back from experiencing a better life.

It often takes a catalyst, an awareness, or one of those aha! or eureka moments that awakens us to a wider view. Richard Bach once said that; "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly."

On a parting note, in the world of The Walking Dead, I see the zombies as being those among us who have not awakened to, or acknowledged, our true selves or calling.

We wander aimlessly through life, slowly decaying, always searching, following each other endlessly - without the knowledge or awareness that we are much, much more than that.

Are you flying yet as Bach intimated..or are you still wrapped up safely in your cocoon somewhere...?

As this attached Walking Dead video excerpt and Negan annotation clearly illustrates and echoes;

"Not making a decision is a BIIIIIIIIIIIG decision."

Are you curious about how life coaching can help you move forward and create more opportunities in your life? For information, or to make an appointment, simply go to the contact me tab on the home page.

Craig Hedge is a Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart (nipaluna), Tasmania, Australia. He is author of the Instinctive Living self-help book series available on Amazon.

When you are considering any kind of professional help or assistance, you need to be cognisant of the fact that those with a hammer tend to think that everything is a nail. What do I mean by that? A high percentage of professionals, and an even higher percentage of pseudo professionals, really think, believe, and advocate, that their way is the best way forward for you. Thankfully I disagree with that kind of thinking or approach. So lets take a look at my perspective on the benefits, and the differentiation, between coaches and mentors.

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Firstly, we need to acknowledge there are 2 different skill sets here - completely different approaches with very different outcomes. This acknowledgement is important, because both will bring very different tools and perspectives into your life.

A Mentor generally has the knowledge, information, and the experience, a client/professional requires to help them along a particular pathway to further develop and to grow into. In short, the professional will be able to utilise and leverage the Mentors life and working experience in that particular area of expertise. So for example, a new CEO may choose to enlist the services of a former (experienced or retired) or current CEO that can guide them along that journey within that role. The Mentor is the expert helping another expert.

A Coach acknowledges that the professional concerned is indeed the resource. There is no giving/telling of information, or a directive where the coach is imparting knowledge or information to the client/professional concerned. Generally speaking, the coach focuses on the bigger picture. The coach is concerned with the opportunities and the capabilities that are already evident, and the opportunities and resources that can be further acknowledged and developed. The Coach sees the professional as the expert in their own life. This is an inquiry (question) based model and approach. The coaching process is about exploration and helping a person move forward.

To summarise, Mentoring often guides with direction by providing expertise and answers. Coaching is inquiry based, and seeks to help a client fulfill their potential, acknowledge capabilities, and to find alignment with values, beliefs and behaviours.

Can you see the value in enlisting the help of both a Coach and a Mentor? It is a powerful combination. Both independent of each other, but with enough benefit and some synergies to be a powerful and potent mix for a client or professional to help them reach new levels of performance and awareness.

So the question for the thinking professional is not so much;

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• "Should I consider enlisting a coach, or should I enlist the services of a mentor?"[/green_tick_1_list]

It could be more along the lines of;[green_tick_1_list width="100%"]

• "How can I utilise the best available resource in my particular field of expertise (Mentor), and how do I get the very best out of myself, and become more aware of those things that not only hold me back in life, but those things that can improve my life?" (Coach).[/green_tick_1_list]

Do you see the differences here? Both approaches are very different indeed. Both are valuable.

As a coach, I am interested in the whole person. What they do, whilst important, is only part of the equation.

For example; What is their story? Where are their challenges? Where are the present or hidden opportunities? Where are their strengths? What really motivates or inspires them? What isn't being seen or identified here? Are their blind spots that might be clouding perspective or hindering growth opportunities? And so on...

If you are a professional person, and you are looking to achieve more perspective, more work life balance, and a better quality and appreciation of life, coaching can help you.

I love the old adage that says; "If you are what you do, then when you don't, your aren't." Its something I like to remind highly driven professional people about. Sometimes they strive almost tunnel visioned and focused towards being the best professional that they can be - to the detriment of the rest of their life, and the people within and around it. This isn't a smart approach - life is much bigger than that. Balance and awareness is required.

You are much more than what you do. A competent and experienced coach understands that.

Are you curious about how coaching may work for you? Simply go to the contact me tab on the home page to arrange a session.

Craig Hedge is a Certified, Accredited and Credentialed Life Coach currently living in Hobart Tasmania.

When it comes to personal transformation, it is incredibly important that you get a sense of who it is you are right now, and who it is you are choosing or wanting to become or grow into. You need to make what I call those necessary connections in your life to move beyond (to transform) your current situation. [green_tick_1_list width="100%"]

• How do you define yourself?
• What (or who) makes you the person you are?
• Why do you choose to live the way you do?
• Are you consciously aware of who you are, the decisions you make, and the things (stuff), brands, images and structures you attach yourself to?
• What do you need to do, and who do you need to become, to get your life more into alignment, to the person, and lifestyle, you truly want to experience?[/green_tick_1_list]

Take a moment to think about the labels that define you, the paradigms you live and work within, and the brand, and daily billboard that is you.  How much of what you believe, what you value, and what you do, has congruence or meaning for you? Are you living authentically - a life that you feel reflects who it is you truly are? Knowing these things gets you closer to the personal transformation you may be seeking.

Those labels and paradigms I speak of include; your gender, sexuality, workplace, the car you drive, the house you live in, your clothes, shoes, favourite brands, music, friends and associates, family, where you live, partner, political persuasion, religious or spiritual beliefs, your clubs, the school you attended, your assets, money etc etc.

These labels and paradigms can liberate you and/or hold you back and restrict you.[green_tick_1_list width="100%"]

• The question is how do these things serve you?
• Do they help you or hinder you in your endeavours towards transformation?
• Importantly how would you know anyway?[/green_tick_1_list]

The fact is that our subconscious mind is predominantly running the show and superimposing its beliefs and values over what is in effect a relative inept conscious mind.

Renowned scientist Dr Bruce Lipton (Stem cell biologist and bestselling author of The Biology of Belief and recipient of the 2009 GOI Peace Award) states that; “The major problem is that people are aware of their conscious beliefs and behaviors, but not of subconscious beliefs and behaviors. Most people don’t even acknowledge that their subconscious mind is at play, when the fact is that the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful than the conscious mind and that we operate 95 to 99 percent of our lives from subconscious programs."

So what does this suggest? In simple terms it suggests that there are two programs running in ... and they often contradict each other.  So for example you might be consciously making real and concerted efforts to make changes, only to see a lot of those efforts come to nothing. Chances are the subconscious programs you have running in the background contradict and superimpose themselves over and above the conscious ones. Transformation show stoppers abound ...

Understanding this is the first step - doing something about it, or more to the point being someone about it, is the next.

Coaching, and in particular Life Transformation Coaching, focuses on action in alignment with your beliefs and values.

Are you starting to see the value perhaps, in exploring both your conscious, and subconscious beliefs, to better understand and calibrate your life?

Mindfulness, meditation, introspection and self/spiritual exploration are great ways to start the journey towards you. Enlisting the help and guidance of a competent qualified life transformation coach is another effective way to further understand you.

Having a coach as an accountability partner and a fellow co-creator can help you dig deeper and further understand what serves you and what doesn't. Transformation coaching is a great way to work on you in a totally supportive, friendly and professional space that is all about you.

If you are genuinely seeking and aspiring to change and transform yourself, ensure that you are aware of these subconscious programs that are effectively (and not effectively) running on auto pilot. Identifying what you believe and why you believe it is incredibly powerful and liberating.

Start becoming more aware of your thoughts and your behaviours. Are they in alignment with your beliefs and values? If not, its a sure sign that things need to change - or more to the point, you need to start getting curious and committed about being your best you.

Are you curious about how coaching with me could help you with your own personal transformation?

Simply go to the Home Page and the contact me tab to arrange an appointment, or to seek further information.

*Craig Hedge is an Professional Coach and Lifestyle Mentor based in Hobart (nipaluna), Tasmania, Australia. He is the author of the Instinctive Living transformational self development book series available on Amazon. Author.to/craigwhedge