Slow Coaching
Are you a Hurry Addict or Rushaholic?

Are you ready to slow down?

Unfortunately many of us have learned to make speed our God and we spend much of our lives allowing the clock to be the master of our daily experience.

As the pace and intensity of events around us continues to increase, it also feels like time itself is speeding up. The bombardment of a non-stop conveyor belt of entertainment, information and news, combined with intimate views into the lifestyle of others, creates the illusion that we need to do more faster, accumulate more things and climb higher mountains than the other person if we are be happy and fulfilled. As a consequence many of us suffer from one of the most prevalent diseases today, known as BSE (Be Someone Else), as we envy, aspire to and try to emulate the achievements of others.

Meanwhile, there is often an inner voice which is constantly invoking our fears with it's mantra, Make sure you dont miss out on anything.

It all adds up to a super busy lifestyle as an increasing number of us become hurry addicts and rushaholics!

Slow Coaching is designed to help you slow down and cultivate a more realistic perspective on modern life.

Slow Coaching is designed to help you learn to relax within a lifestyle which is defined by you, and not by the surrounding pressures of this fast and frenetic world.

Slow Coaching is designed to challenge you to make changes to the patterns in your life mental and physical which keep you stuck in the urgent mode.

Slow Coaching is an opportunity to stop, put your back to the back of the chair for a few moments and ask your self some important and probably lifestyle changing questions.

The Signs of the Rushaholic

Here is a self-assessment checklist of hurry addict symptoms!
1 is very occasionally and 10 is very frequently

You are always striving for a better body You spend less than 20 minutes a day with your family You are constantly aspiring to improve your lifestyle You always feel you have too much to do You are always racing that clock You are never happy with your achievements You are more interested in quantity than quality You are always making lists You are trying to do too many things at once You never relax for more than 10" a day Your muscles are frequently tense and stiff Your sense of achievement is based on what others think about you You feel you never have enough time You are always tired You are always the one to bring the meeting to an end or to walk away first! You are always looking to overtake the driver in front on single lane country roads You hate standing in queues for more than 15 seconds You become instantly frustrated when your computer hesitates for a few seconds to carry out a commend You always feel cooking takes too much time You eat while reading or watching television

The Price

No one else creates the signs and symptoms of the rushaholic and therefore the price we pay will be self-generated pain such as

Anxiety
Insomnia
Panic Attacks
Mood swings
Weak immune system
Burnout
Frequent feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness
Constantly worrying about the future
Impatience
Indigestion

All of which eventually lead to much more serious ailments

The Slow Coaching Route
to Liberation from Rush, Hurry and Worry

There are a number of simple things you can begin doing to take the rush and hurry out of your life and restore a more natural and relaxed rhythm.

Slow Coaching for Beginners

1 Press the Pause Button

Plan three moments into your day where you simply stop and stare, and rest your body and mind for a moment. Just for 2 minutes. Try repeating a short and gentle affirmation like I am very peaceful and relaxed.

2 Acceptance

Practice accepting that whatever is happening around you is exactly what is meant to be happening right now. Whatever has happened is gone and cannot be changed. And whatever will happen is whatever is meant to happen. Acceptance is the way to serenity.

3 Priorities

Check your to do list every day and make sure there is something your heart puts joy into something you truly love doing (Active and creativenot watching TV)

4 Wisdom

Read one paragraph of spiritual wisdom every day. Then reflect on what you have read for one minute.

5 Breathing

At lunchtime devote 5 minutes to focus only on breathing deeply and slowly

6 Gratitude

Write a note of gratitude to at least one person at least once a week. This helps you reverse the habit of always wanting and taking into giving, which is much more relaxing and enjoyable, not to mention healthy.

7 Exercise

Plan some physical exercise or posture practice three time a week. Never forget who is the most important person in your life! You are useless to others if you are not caring for your self. Take care of yourself. Nurture yourself.

The Advanced Slow Coaching Course

A deeper Strategy

1 Accept Yourself

You are as you are now! You are the result of every moment of your life up to now. You cannot change the past. Accept the past, accept yourself as you are now, warts and all! Nothing can change for the better until you accept yourself. The rushaholic is always in resistance to something. This is their deepest habit, so this course also begins with acceptance.
Method: Stop twice a day and say to yourself I fully accept the way things are right now, including the way I am and feel right now.
Visual Affirmation: I accept the beauty of this moment in my existence now.
Im in Flow with all the world around me.

2 Know Yourself

Now take time out to get to know yourself your true self, not the self that others see you as, or as society would want to see you as. Cultivate self-awareness. Identify the labels which you habitually give yourself then one by one cut them loose they are not what you are. If you identify with labels they will rule your life. If you cant stop thinking about work when you leave the office it means you identify with your job label. Cut it. Its just a role, its not what you are.
Method: Learn to meditate and begin to see yourself above all the labels of job, culture, nationality, beliefs etc
Visual Affirmation: I am a free spirit who cannot be boxed or labeled

3 Approve Yourself

Start to create the habit of self-approval. This will help you be free from wanting or needing the approval of others. The rushaholic wants to be seen to be doing and achieving. This is usually a sure sign of their need for approval from others. Drop the need.
Method: Start to mentally pat your self on the front and say I really am an OK person. Remind yourself every day, I dont need others to tell me I am OK in order to feel good about myself.
Visual Affirmation: I am a worthy and highly lovable person.

4 Empower Yourself

Stop blaming or complaining. They just drain your energy. Close the drains and dont give your power away. Be responsible for all your thoughts, feelings and actions. Build your inner peace and power so you are unmoved by any event or circumstance.
Method: Awareness check yourself at the end of each day how much did I take full responsibility for my thoughts, attitudes and actions.
Visual Affirmation: I am the master of my responses and choose to remain cool and calm in every situation.

5 Improve Yourself

Its time to go back to school. Its time to start learning again. Not the learning of more facts and information, but learning how to change and develop yourself. Learning how to discover and express your innate qualities and hidden capacities, and how to develop your inner potential.
Method: Study and practice wisdom. Research spiritual values and then apply those values within your interactions at work and in your close relationships
Visual Affirmation: I am continuously learning and growing stronger within my character and personality every day.

6 Calm Yourself

Essential to your daily experience are some moments of calm. Take time out every day to centre yourself, relax and find the peace that is always within you. This inner peace is refreshing, empowering and essential to your creativity. Even hurry addicts have inner peace, and when they rediscover it they hurry no more.
Method: Meditation and visualization at set times on your own. Then creating that state of calm self-awareness in the middle of the meeting, at your desk and as you interact with others.
Visual Affirmation: I am a being at peace with myself, at peace with others and at peace with the world.

7 Be Yourself

This means that being is more important than doing. If you lose yourself in constant action you will never create your natural state of being. Instead of living your life consciously, you will find yourself escaping life as you run into constant activity. Begin simply by asking yourself, What does it mean to be ME? or What is my natural state of being? Dont struggle with these questions. Ask them, contemplate them, write down whatever comes to mind. Put it to one side. Come back to it later. Add to your responses. Then again, return to them for few moments tomorrow. Build your responses slowly and clearly in this way. Take your time. As you do this you will find a picture emerging, a kind of vision of YOU, and as you do this you will find it gradually becomes a reality.
Method: Take a blank page and begin to respond to the above questions.
Visual Affirmation: I am . (now its time to create your own)