Open Up

Clients come to me wanting a whole lot more: more fulfilment, more understanding, more hope, more happiness.

We sit down and we talk. We explore all the good stuff: ideas and values and resources and strengths. We work out where the person wants to be [and what might be getting in the way] and then we determine intelligent strategies to help get her there.

One of the gentlest [but possibly, most powerful] steps I tend to encourage is this: open up.

I see a whole lot of people who are hunched [both literally and figuratively]: over phones and screens; over insecurities and grudges; over stress and tiredness; over work and chores; and over habit.

I suggest opening up: putting your phone away; walking tall; lifting your gaze; making eye contact; smiling; initiating conversations; looking for opportunities to express kindness; acting on those opportunities; reading widely; doing differently; considering alternatives; listening without talking; breathing deeply; and exhaling.

Opening up requires a trust – a trust that the world is good, that people are good and that whatever happens, you will be good too.

Consciously shifting the way you engage with the world can be scary but the opportunities are incredibly worthwhile.