How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 319

deflate the story and cultivates wise understanding in the recognition
that the emotion is just another passing mind state and not a definition
of who you are. Just like seeing a movie, standing back and watching the
actors play out their dramas, by non-identifying with your story and
seeing it as impermanent, this will help assist in loosening your own
tight grip of identification. Utilizing R.A.I. N. as a practice can help you
bring space to be with things as they are and grow in deeper
understanding of what drives, underlies or fuels our fears, anger, and
sadness.
Turning into our emotions can feel a bit foreign since most of us live in
such a pain denying culture. Isn’t it time to begin acknowledging stress,
anxiety or pain rather than suppressing, repressing, or all-too-quickly
medicating it? Can we learn to view these challenges as a rite of passage
instead of running away from them?
2. STOP.
Another tip to weave mindfulness into your daily schedule: before
work, during lunch, before you walk into your home in the evening, or
after you get the kids to bed at night. Writes Goldstein in his post
“Stress Got You Down?”:
Creating space to come down from the worried mind and back into the
present moment has been shown to be enormously helpful to people.
When we are present we have a firmer grasp of all our options and
resources which often make us feel better. Next time you find your
mind racing with stress, try the acronym S.T.O.P.:
S - Stop what you are doing, put things down for a minute.
T - Take a breath. Breathe normally and naturally and follow your
breath coming in and of your nose. You can even say to yourself “in” as
you’re breathing in and “out” as you’re breathing out if that helps with
concentration.
O - Observe your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. You can reflect about
what is on your mind and also notice that thoughts are not facts and
they are not permanent. If the thought arises that you are inadequate,
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