Blog

August 27, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Do you remember Groundhog Day? The movie in which every day starts and ends the same way. Our lives have been impacted since February; it's now August. Do you feel like every day is the same? Is it really, though? As with any coaching engagement, you have two main journeys that happen in parallel but not necessarily simultaneously. ?The practical achieving goals journey - the skills you’ve developed and the actions you’ve taken to reach your goals. Achieving goals is rewarding and pays off for all the hard work you've put in. ?The personal growth...

August 20, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

2020 is a year of learning new ways of working, parenting, recharging… and communicating. Pre-Covid, we relied on verbal and non-verbal forms of communication to determine someone's meaning. A warm smile, compressed lips…  these were once powerful ways to make sense of what a person really thought or felt. But, in our masked-faced reality, we are now more dependent on the eyes - ‘the visual gateway to the world around us’, according to Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent and body language expert. Our eyes show love and compassion as well as fear...

August 13, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Intuition - one of the greatest gifts you have to guide you in times of doubt and uncertainty. Arianna Huffington describes it as a hunch: the inkling that your inner voice is telling you to do or step away from something. Our ancestors used it to survive; can you access your intuition too? Imagine you have antennas that pick up on frequencies within the environment and from people. It picks up on people's intentions and emotions too. But there are other frequencies causing interference: digital devices, the internet, TV and more....

August 6, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

What do you do when you have an AHA moment? That lightbulb moment – the one that brings clarity to a confusing situation. The International Coach Federation calls this moment ‘Evokes Awareness’. It’s a core competency of coaching that  - through the use of powerful questioning, silence, metaphor or analogy – facilitates client insight and learning. When you have your Aha moment, do you Use it to create change where needed, or Retreat because you’re not ready for change? More than often I see resistance and retreat rather than readiness for change....

July 28, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Did you know that the fear of coronavirus is changing our psychology? It's driving us to be more conformist and tribalistic; our moral judgements are becoming harsher and our social attitudes more conservative. We’re afraid, so we’re holding on to what we know to survive. We don’t have to let fear define us! We can't control what’s going on around us, but we can control what’s going on within us. This is where you hold the power. Inspired by Marie Kondo's art of decluttering, think “your mind is like your house”. YOU decide what goes in. Products, services, people, news...

July 22, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

I've been asking clients to share how they’ve been feeling as Hong Kong navigates a third wave of Covid19. Typically, the responses have been anxiety, concern, anger, fear and a sense of defeat. They ask me what to do, how to be optimistic, ditch the negativity and keep on going. In her book Emotional Wisdom, Lynn Macwhinnie says every emotion presents a fork in the road and - consciously or not - we choose the path we take. For example, we may select anger and disappointment, or joy and courage. By default,...

July 16, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

When I ask my clients what their mind practice is, they often stare back at me puzzled. We often focus on body practices for physica lhealth - the gym, swimming, and more. Body practices keep our body healthy, muscles toned, cardiovascular system strong and they pump in feel-good hormones. But, what about mind practices for mental health? The mind body connection is real. One cannot be strong, healthy and resilient without the other. If your mind is caught up in daily stories, the circle of concern, and rumination, you embark in strong emotional...

July 9, 2020
in Corporate Wellness, Emotional Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership, Resilience, Stress

Not again! You've forgotten the details discussed at last week's meeting and you didn’t take notes. What's up with your memory nowadays?! Are you sleep-deprived by any chance? Sleep deprivation is a common complaint for Hong Kong executives. Sleep preps the brain for the next day by forming new pathways for learning and memory retention. If you're not getting a full night’s sleep you WILL start to drop the ball. I see 3 recurring causes amongst my executive coaching clients:   Emotional Stress – the high demands for performance combined with long working hours,...