Resources
Here are some key resources and links to webpages that may inspire you on your journey, as they have done for me. I’ll update the page from time to time, so keep checking.
Some useful websites about Coaching
International Coach Federation – The ICF is possibly the pre-eminent coaching organisation in the world. On the ICF website there is information about coaching, with useful resources and links to other information. This is an excellent starting point for people interested in being coached, or for anyone wanting to become a professional Coach.
Nature Care College, Sydney, Australia is my coaching alma mater. It is a world-class coaching and counselling school, and also offers many other courses and qualifications.
Coaching Leadership
Sir John Whitmore is one of the founders of modern coaching. His book, Coaching for Performance – The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership is a best seller and a book of choice for professionals, leaders, managers and Executive Coaches.
Tim Gallwey is sometimes referred to as the ‘godfather’ of coaching and his books on The Inner Game are required reading for leaders and managers wanting to improve performance in the workplace.
Co-Active Coaching by Whitmore, Kinsey-House and Sandhal is a useful coaching text book.
David Rock is the founder of Results Coaching, now called the NeuroLeadership Group, and has written seminal works Quiet Leadership, and Coaching with the Brain in Mind. His latest book called Your Brain at Work explains how to be more effective by understanding your brain.
Carol Adrienne has written many helpful guides full of reflective exercises for self-coaching. Her books The Purpose of your Life; Find Your Purpose, Change your Life; and Cheryl Richardson’s Stand Up for Your Life and Take Time for Your Life are excellent resources for the trainee coach and coaching client.
Soul Fuel
If you are about to make changes in your life, or you fear even thinking about changing some aspect of your life, read Mary Oliver‘s poem, The Journey. The greatest fear of change comes from the voices inside our minds that tell us we cannot, must not, dare not change anything. The elation comes in listening intently to the voice that says – ‘yes, you can change your life’, and you begin.
Other books and authors certain to provide soul fuel:
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama – no introduction needed. When I first heard him speak live at the Domain in Sydney, he rocked my world: far more empowering than the books. When HH came to Dunedin last, he made me laugh, repeatedly. If you can’t hear him in person though, read The Art of Happiness – a handbook for living.
Eckhard Tolle – a profound, universal teacher in our modern age. Read The Power of Now, and The New Earth.
Pema Chödrön – a Buddhist nun who writes clearly and simply about pure and true happiness. Read When Things Fall Apart, a book of simple wisdoms for helping us through grief and pain to open us to courage, compassion and wisdom from a Buddhist perspective. Another of Pema’s books, Places that Scare You is on my list of books to read. Pema’s virtual meditation retreat, Practicing Peace, takes place on her birthday, July 14, every year, on a global scale: join me there in meditation cyberspace.
Caroline Myss – author, mystic and medical intuitive. Anatomy of the Spirit is a place to start for an explanation of what brought her to serve her life purpose.
Stephanie Dowrick – A beautiful soul, whose regular ‘sermons’ at the Uniting Church in Sydney light up people’s lives. Her many books are enlightening, including Choosing Happiness: Life and Soul Essentials.
Thomas Moore – Care of the Soul: a guide for cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life. See also Handbook for the Soul.
Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu – there are many translations of this 2,500 year old text described as ‘wisdom literature’.
David Tacey, ReEnchantment, and The Spirituality Revolution. A discussion on a new consciousness about Aboriginal reconciliation and Australian attitudes towards spirituality.
You may want to delve into Deepak Chopra‘s many works, including his novel Buddha, which tells the story of the Prince Siddharta and his enlightenment as the Buddha.
Dan Millman also tells a story of spiritual awakening in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
Paulo Coelho published The Alchemist in 1988 and its simplicity of prose and storyline is a classic fable for youth and adults.
Shakti Gawain, The Path of Transformation: How healing ourselves can change the world, and Four Levels of Healing: A Guide to balancing the Spiritual, Mental, Emotional and Physical Aspects of Life.
James Redman‘s The Celestine Prophesy – an adventure story as a spiritual parable, is still picked up off my bookshelf by many clients who read it when it was published nearly 20 years ago, and who remember the profound effect it had on their outlook on life.
Flourishment
“Flourishment” is not a word (not yet anyway – I made it up). Martin Seligman’s book Flourish, reinforces the value of living a meaningful life and further defines the factors that contribute to being happy. Contact me if you want to use the dynamic of coaching to help you live your life to its fullest, and to find a way to break through the pain, grief, sorrow, conflict, doubt, guilt, and confusion that can hold us back from “flourishment”.
Martin Seligman – Authentic Happiness, and, Flourish: two books showing a dynamic progression in Seligman’s understanding of what happiness is, based on science, philosophy, research, neuroscience, and clinical trials. The global “Mr Happy” of the positive psychology movement. See also his website, authentic happiness, where you can assess your signature strengths, and test your own levels of happiness.
Dr Tony Grant – Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit in the Sydney University’s School of Psychology, Tony is the “Mr Happy” of positive psychology in Australia. His research is shared in his book Eight Steps to Happiness, but you can bypass this and see the real life unfolding of the principles of happiness as it is for 8 self-professed unhappy people, in the 2010 ABC documentary Making Australia Happy.
And then we have “Dr Happy”, Dr Tim Sharp, also from Australia, who is a passionate researcher and presenter on wellbeing and happiness. Check him out.
General Supportive Reading
Here’s a selection of reading materials.
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh was published in 1955 and its simple, clear messages are still relevant in today’s world.
Michael Leunig has drawn, written and spoken about life issues, politics, emotional and spiritual living in a funny, sublime, philosophical, controversial and profound way for the last 40 years. You’ll know his cartoons. His books include The Prayer Tree which I discovered at a book reading, and lingers in my mind.
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way guides you to your inner artist and your creativity, freeing you from limiting beliefs, doubts, fear and self-sabotage.
For those struggling with family conflicts and issues, John Bradshaw’s books go deep into how the family impact’s our lives, and helps readers deal with truths while staying connected to our families. See : Family Secrets: The Path from Shame to Healing.
Victor Frankl Man’s Search for Freedom – the triumph of the human spirit explained.
Robert A Johnson, Ken Wilbur, Carl Rogers are all important writers on psychology and solutions-focused coaching. Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces is an important work on understanding archetypes.
Jon Kabat-Zinn has written on mindfulness and how to use it to deal with stress and illness in Full Catastrophe Living. Calming your Anxious Mind is a book on using mindfulness to help with anxiety.
Dealing with Conflict
“Ah, conflict: what an opportunity”. There are some very useful books on dealing with conflict that can help everyone.
Conflict Management Coaching : the CINERGY model, by Cinnie Nobel, is a book about improving skills for dealing with interpersonal disputes.
If you think about conflict as an opportunity to bring about positive change, read Everyone Can Win:Responding to Conflict Constructively by Helena Cornelious and Shoshana Faire.
The 4 Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom was written by Mexican shaman, teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz and provides inspiration on the journey to better communication, relationships and healing.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William L. Ury. If you listen to Ury’s story about the 17 camels told at TED, you’ll also know that it might be prudent to look for a wise person for advice when in the midst of a conflict.
Marcia Reynolds is the author of Outsmart Your Brain: How to Make Success Feel Easy and writes about the power of our brain and how we can develop emotional intelligence to improve our success.
Also take a look at the Arbinger Books, The Anatomy of Peace and Leadership and Self Deception. The books use the fictional story of a family in conflict and give some useful tools for interpersonal and international conflict. Arbinger runs training in NZ and around the world based on the books’ content.
I would be happy to talk you through any conflict issues that you, or someone you know is facing. Sometimes, we get caught up in conflict unknowingly or unwittingly. The hard part is getting back out of it, and that is when the best call anyone can make is: “I must call in a Coach”.
Help and support is at hand. Wishing you well.