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Maria Connolly, LPC Facebook Facebook Facebook

Category: Transform Your Life

Feeling Stuck? When Life Happens, Look For Exciting, New Opportunities!

Feeling stuck makes us feel powerless, yet you can turn these times into exciting new opportunities that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Let me reframe this into a water analogy: Harness the eddies in the stream of life to break through to the next level.Feeling stuck makes us feel powerless, yet you can turn these times into exciting new opportunities that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Let me reframe this into a water analogy: Harness the eddies in the stream of life to break through to the next level.

Nature demonstrates that water must be in motion to remain healthy. You’ve undoubtedly seen a stagnant puddle or pond – it’s not appealing! Since we’re composed of 60+% water, it only makes sense that we feel better when we aren’t stagnant.

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Stop Beating Yourself Up! 5 Powerful Self-Compassion Truths Revealed

Empower yourself and stop beating yourself up by reaffirming it’s necessary to care for yourself kindly, otherwise you have nothing to give to others.Most of us would never tell our best friend, “Oh, you’re so stupid”, yet we may beat ourselves up with demeaning self-talk. The sad reality is that most people have never learned to treat themselves with the kindness and patience they have learned to bring to others. 

We all need to hear that we have permission to be good to ourselves. Giving yourself and your clients the key to self-compassion is empowering, because it clears away hidden misconceptions that you may not even know are lurking in your subconscious.

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3 Ways to Bounce Back from Setbacks When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned

When emotions are raw, it’s hard to bounce back from setbacks, but practicing these three things will make it easier because you choose how you react.You pin your hopes on getting that promotion, being hired for your dream job, or taking a relationship to a strong commitment. You’re nervous because you question whether you’re ready. You’re scared to step out of your comfort zone, but it’s exhilarating to think this could be your future! And then… you get the news you didn’t get it. It feels like you’ve been punched and you can’t breathe. How do you bounce back from setbacks like these?

It takes having a system in place for handling disappointment. It makes sense to plan for a disaster before it happens because once you’re in the middle of it, you won’t be able to think clearly. The same is true of life setbacks. They are going to happen, so if you have a practiced way of handling small setbacks, you’ll be able to handle large setbacks more easily. 

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What’s the Best Way to Achieve Your Goals? Take Baby Steps!

 If you want to achieve your goals yet you keep getting stuck, try this easy, proven process of breaking the big goal down into the smallest baby steps.Are you feeling stuck? Perhaps you have big dreams, but  you’re like many of my clients who say, “Maria, I don’t know how to do it!” “I just can’t make myself get started.” “I want to, but I keep getting in my own way.”  What’s the thing that keeps you stuck so that you can’t achieve your goals? Procrastination? Perfectionism? Lack of confidence? Whatever the cause, the one thing that reliably works EVERY SINGLE TIME, for EVERYONE is taking baby steps. When you break anything you want to achieve into the smallest steps possible, you can do it! 

Even when we’re not talking about closed-end goals, like losing 10 pounds or giving a public talk, baby steps work. (A closed-end goal has a final destination, i.e., lose 10 pounds and the goal ends. An open-ended goal is open to change and may apply to multiple areas of life, i.e., becoming more secure. It’s not a destination. It’s a direction.)  Yes! Baby steps can even help you change your inner person.

So if you’ve ever asked, “How do I become more secure?” “How do I become more productive?” “How do I become less anxious?” This article will show you how to break these big concepts into smaller, actionable tasks.

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Are You a Perfectionist? YOUR Key to Success — Change Digital Thinking to Analog

Are you a perfectionist? Try my “Are You a Perfectionist? Not Anymore!” Exercise to expand your view of a situation so you see all possible adjustments.  “We can choose to be perfect and admired or to be real and loved.” ~ Glennon Doyle

When was the last time you adjusted a dial? We used to dial our phones or change a radio dial to find a favorite station, but not anymore…we punch buttons. On TV, they used to say, “don’t touch that dial!” meaning don’t switch programs or you’ll miss out on something important…now we hit our remote buttons. When daylight saving time approached, we turned the clock’s dials…spring forward/fall back…now the atomic clocks do it for us. We see precise, computerized readouts everywhere. I think this has caused us to lose a valuable tool for living. It’s influenced our thinking more than we realize. In what way? Well, are you a perfectionist? If that’s your tendency, then it’s time to embrace the dial again!

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