Intentions

For me, this a far more encouraging concept than setting goals. My personal way of being finds “goal-setting” threatening so it creates resistance, making the attainment of the goal far more challenging than it needs to be. Patently this is bound up with my personal history and, no matter how much I understand the origins intellectually, the emotional response to the very sound of the words “goal setting”, starts a chain reaction within me that builds resistance and delays the start of change.

This mini story is by way of throwing light on the impact that words have on our behavior because of their power to evoke emotional responses. These emotions may not even be noticed because they are so much part of our “natural” way of being. However, emotions trigger chain reactions in the body that impact thoughts and actions which either help or hinder our performance.

Part of the coaching process is about the art of listening and observing that enables the coach to develop sensitivity to how a client uses language (both verbal and embodied) to convey their story so that change can be encouraged through positive emotional evocation rather than driven through unconscious resistance.

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