Positive Energy - Top Tips To Make Change Work For You

November 2009

Dear Subscriber

The nights are drawing in and the seasons are changing: it's inevitable. How you respond to this change is your choice. This month I want to share some practical ways to help you explore your relationship to change and how to deal with it positively in your life. A change really can be as good as a rest.

In this issue:

Understanding your reactions to change
How to react positively to change
A book to help you along the way
What can you do?
What's happening?

I'd love to hear about your positive experiences. If you'd like to share them with our readers email me or call me on 01697 747 821.

Best Wishes,

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

Barack Obama

Whatever your relationship to change it's true that the buck stops with you. You may not control the change or instigate it but you CAN choose how you react to it. Change can seem frightening and you may feel totally out of control. Whether you've won the lottery or been made redundant, unpredictable changes like these upset the norm of your life. If you understand your reactions and recognize that your feelings are part of a natural process, this can help you cope more positively with change. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross described stages we may go through when faced with change:

Shock – positive or negative

Denial – ignoring it 'this can't be happening to me'

Depression – apathy ‘there's nothing I can do'

Experiment – ‘how could I make it work for me?'

Decisions – accepting the change and embracing it

Integration – assimilating the change and moving forward.

Understanding these emotional responses helps you ride the wave of change, knowing that by its very nature – change is progressive.

Positive Practice

Being consciously aware of how you respond to change can transform your experience of it. Think about the following questions and write down your answers to really get a handle on how you deal with change.

What change have you managed positively? How? What did you do?
Reflect on the positive aspects – what were they?
How can what you've learnt from the positive, influence how you deal with change in the future?

From this information develop a strategy for dealing with the hard times. Identify what works and how you can take control. This proactive approach will give you a positive relationship to the changes in your life.

Embracing change with energy, determination and enthusiasm ensures you feel in control and always have a positive experience of it. Remember there is always growth from change.

Click here to find out how to change the way others perceive you.

Change Your Life with NLP: The Powerful Way to Make Your Whole Life Better by Lindsey Agness.
This book will help you overcome your fear of failure and show you how to focus on your inner strength and approach changes confidently.

What Can You Do?

Lin from Nottingham became a good mother.

Lin had a small baby only about 5 months old when she attended a Springboard programme. She was really struggling with her feelings about being a new Mum. She hadn't anticipated how much her life would be disrupted and she sometimes found she felt resentful. Learning about the change stages really helped. She realized that even though she had certainly wanted the baby and it was a fabulous experience being a Mum, she had still not assimilated the change fully into her life. Then she understood that we can have difficult reactions even to positive change. Within a very short time she changed her outlook and started to think of herself as a good mother!

What's Happening?

Want a taste of Springboard? If you are not sure if it's right for you or for your organisation, then come along to our free lunchtime taster to find out. In a short time you will experience how we do things and get all those questions answered. It takes place at Dunblane Cathedral from 12-2pm on Friday 11^th December. Call or email for more details.

Springboard in Dunblane. Get a 10% discount on this programme by signing up at the taster. The programme runs February to May and is of benefit to all women, particularly those returning to work, in non-management roles or seeking to be more confident or assertive.

Are you an Active Citizen? I am about to leave for Pakistan and Bangladesh to run a new programme for community leaders on Active Citizenship. If you have a Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda that has community engagement aims and you'd like to get involved with this programme then please get in touch.

Coming soon – more tasters, more programmes, watch this space