Blog - Page 3 of 6 - Julie Leonard Life Coach

How Practicing Gratitude Can Increase Your Happiness

February 15, 2018 by Leonard 1 Comment

This simple act of practicing gratitude can radically affect my mood and mindset. First of several years now I have had a small wooden tray with a jar and a pen and a little pile of colored paper sitting on my desk. And at the end of each day, I write down something I am thankful for. Some days it is something big, like today and my new comfortable bed arriving. Other days it is simply I watched a squirrel on my balcony or the sun was shining.

Why the practice of gratitude shifts negative thinking

Our human brains have a tendency to focus on the negatives. Did you know that it takes FIVE positive comments to counteract ONE negative comment? It seems that people find it much easier to tune in to negative things than into positive ones. One of the areas I often start with when I am coaching a client is to listen to the language that they use. So many times the women I work with talk in absolutes. Everything. Nothing. Nobody. Everything went wrong today, Nobody loves me, Nothing ever goes right for me…..But often they are not aware that they are doing it. In over 25 years of supporting clients, I have never found these statements to be true. It is often how the person feels but when we take a closer look, it’s not completely true.

How Practicing Gratitude Can Increase Your Happiness

The practice of gratitude is an effective way to begin to shift your negative thinking and to remove those absolutes. When you feel that everything went wrong today or that the day was awful, taking a few minutes to think about something positive in the day that you are thankful for can shift your mindset into a more positive one. It also helps you sleep better and wake up the next day in a more positive mood.

The science of gratitude

And don’t just take my word for it. The world’s leading expert on gratitude is Dr. Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California who has carried out research that links the practice of gratitude to living a happier life.

The Impact of daily Gratitude practice

What we know from research is that daily gratitude can have a deep and far-reaching effect on our lives. People who practice gratitude regularly:

How Practicing Gratitude Can Increase Your Happiness

An attitude of gratitude

Report higher level of happiness than those who do not.
Have closer and more meaningful relationships
Live more in the present moment and are more mindful
Are kinder and more compassionate
Are more resilient in stressful situations
Are more focused on the positives in their lives
Have a strong and positive mindset
Have a more balanced perspective and dwell less on first world problems
Are physically and mentally healthier.

Wow! All of this from writing down a few words each day!

So why not kick off this year with an Attitude of Gratitude, buy a nice notebook and pen or get creative and make a Gratitude jar and embrace one of the simplest ways to increase your happiness.

Interested in increasing your happiness? Why not join my Happiness Club on Facebook.

You can also email me at hello@julieleonardcoaching.com to book a free discovery call with me.

I originally published this article in Uber Moms Blog.

Holiday Gift Guide 2017

November 1, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

I’m glad to announce that I’ve been selected as a Top Holiday Pick in the Rising Tide Holiday Gift Guide!

By supporting creative entrepreneurs, you make it possible for hundreds of brilliant makers, artists, and creatives to continue building a business that they love. We hope this guide simplifies your search for the perfect gift while supporting the Creative Economy in the process!

Check it out to find cool and unique gifts for this season and to support small, local bussinesses.

Holiday Gift Guide

What the Holiday Gift Guide 2017 is All About

The gift guide is a curated list of makers + artisans producing beautiful items for the holidays!

Each year it showcases some of the best artists and makers through the Rising Tide Holiday Gift Guide! You will find everything from artwork to jewelry to home goods, including my home made products in this community built gift guide.

We hope it simplifies your search for unique, handcrafted gifts that you won’t find anywhere else, while making it possible to support hardworking artisans and makers in the process.

#WeAreTheCreativeEconomy #CommunityOverCompetition

Happiness is Handmade – Making Natural Aromatherapy Products

October 24, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

One of the reasons I love making my handmade aromatherapy products is that I can be creative and I really enjoy coming up with new ideas, recipes and designs. There is a lot of research that shows that being creative is closely related to happiness.

Making Natural Aromatherapy Products

We all have a creative side. We just all express it in different ways. Some of us paint, draw, sculpt, sing, play music whilst others bake stunning cakes, make delicious meals or can knit and sew. Some people have an eye for interior design and others know how to look stylish and put together. How do you express your creativity? Are you making regular time to be creative?

Importance of Making Natural Aromatherapy Products Yourself

I like to express my creativity through devising and making natural aromatherapy products. Not only do I use them every day on myself but they also make lovely gifts for people who like natural, organic and chemical free products.

And I’d love to share with you how to make your own products that you can make for yourself as well as for Christmas Presents this year. I believe that handmade gifts are more thoughtful that shop bought ones. So express your inner creativity, have some fun and learn something new at my next workshop: Happiness is Handmade.

We will also talk about Essential oils, great blends for each product, ideal oils for men’s gifts and essential oils for Christmas.

All materials, recipes and instructions are included. And of course no Munich Christmas event would be complete without some Glühwein and nibbles. So join me for a fun and creative morning.

Is Your Subconscious Holding You Back? – Change Negative Thinking

October 14, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

Do you ever find yourself in the situation where you really want to achieve something but somehow it doesn’t happen? Do you find yourself procrastinating, putting it off or even talking yourself out of it?

Then now is the time for you to make changes.

Change Negative Thinking

You may think that you and your conscious mind are in charge of your future self but actually quite often it is our subconscious mind that rules our thoughts and actions.

The good news is I can help you change that.

Our subconscious is where our beliefs and values are – both positive and negative. These beliefs drive our thinking and our actions so if you have beliefs such as ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘It won’t happen for me’, ‘I don’t want to fail’, or ‘I don’t want to get hurt’, etc then you are not going to achieve your goals of getting that promotion, making money or finding love. Instead, you will stay stuck and frustrated.

So What Can You Do to Change Negative Thinking?

Identifying your beliefs and where they come from is the best starting point. Understanding and changing these beliefs will get you unstuck and moving forward.

As a Certified Life Coach I support women every day to understand who they are and what they think, feel and believe. The good news is that you can CHANGE negative beliefs and negative thinking and create a more positive mindset.

Want to start being in charge of your subconscious mind? Want to make long-lasting and positive changes in your life?

Lets work in partnership to transform your self and to transform your life Book Your FREE Discovery Call today!

Tips on How to Find Your Tribe

October 5, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

One of the ways to feel connected with others, supported, content and happy is to find your tribe. Especially if you are new in a city, are self employed or a new mum, getting out and finding people who you connect with, who are supportive, positive and in a similar situation as you is essential for your happiness. We all need support, we all need help sometimes and we all have the need to connect and form relationships.

Since moving to Munich I have reached out and found various groups of people to connect with as my life here has grown and changed.

Find Your Tribe

My Ways to Find Your Tribe

When I first moved to Munich, I joined Internations, a platform for expats abroad and met many interesting people in the same situation as myself and from that formed some strong friendships. I then eventually set up my own group on Internations (Munich Women’s Sport and Wellbeing) in order to run the kind of events that I would enjoy and to meet like-minded women.

When I became a mother, I joined some FB groups and an English speaking mother and baby group where I met women who were all new mums and after more than 2 years we are still close and supportive to one another. I even set up my own local FB group to connect mums and dads in the area.

And as I am self-employed, I knew that it was essential that I surround myself with other entrepreneurs as its often not easy working by yourself. I found super colleagues to collaborate with and a monthly entrepreneurs group called Tuesday’s Together, part of The Rising Tides Society that is invaluable for its support and motivation.

From that group I recently found my tribe that would help me rebrand and relaunch my website and company. Ginny Krauss Noleen Sliney and Carolin Voelker have become my A-Team on this journey for me and I can’t wait to share more about them and my journey with you over the next few weeks.

Who are the important people in your life? Do you need to get out there and find new people to connect with? How important is it for you to be surrounded by positive and supportive people who understand you and your life?

Check out the links above for inspiration or email at julie@potentiacentre.com for support or to book a Coaching session.

Three Steps To Reduce Stress

September 29, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

We all know that our ancestors used stress and the fight or flight response to prepare for danger and to survive. And that in the modern world sometimes a little bit of stress is a good thing. It protects us from danger and is perfectly normal in certain situations such a sitting an exam, or your driving test or giving a presentation. But when it happens in everyday life or for prolonged periods of time it can have a detrimental effect on our health and happiness.

Stress is an emotional and physical reaction to a situation and is a state so many of us are very familiar with. The feelings of anxiety, worry and being overwhelmed along with the poor sleeping or oversleeping, butterflies in the stomach, nausea and tension are common symptoms of stress. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to ‘fight or flight’ mode, releasing a complex mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare the body for physical action. This causes a number of reactions, from blood being diverted to muscles to shutting down unnecessary bodily functions such as digestion.

Three Steps To Reduce Stress

Through the release of hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine, the caveman gained a rush of energy, which prepared him to either fight the tiger or run away. That heart pounding, fat breathing sensation is the adrenaline; as well as a boost of energy, it enables us to focus our attention so we can quickly respond to the situation. And this too is good if we have to suddenly brake when driving or react quickly in a situation, but if we live in this heightened state for too long these elevated levels of hormones and chemicals can lead to elevated levels of sugar and blood pressure.

So how do I Reduce Stress?

First of all you want to recognize your early warning signs. I know when I start to feel stressed, I don’t sleep so well, I feel emotional (more emotional than usual!) and I am more irritable. What are your early warning signs?

Secondly, you want to see if there is any action you can take to reduce the issue that is making you stressed. Can you speak to your boss about delegating some of your workload, can you book a babysitter to give you a break?

And finally, what can you do to reduce the feelings of stress? I have been supporting women for over 25 years to cope with and manage their stress levels. I know for me getting some fresh air every day, going to bed early and making more time for mindfulness practice really helps.

Accessorize Your Winter – Wardrobe Essentials

September 20, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

Is it just me, or does it feel like one day it’s lovely and warm and the next we are in Autumn and it’s feeling much colder? So don’t get caught out. Be prepared and ready for all kinds of weather. And an important part of being organised is to sort through your accessories.

Here are my tips for Organizing those Wardrobe Essentials:

Wardrobe Essentials

#1 Organise Jumpers and Cardigans
It’s time to declutter and get rid of old and worn woollens. Keep the ones you like and feel good in. Do any need laundered, hand washed or dry cleaned? Now is the time to do that and have them fresh and ready for the cold weather.

#2 Hats, Scarves and Gloves
Find matching pairs of gloves. Wash hats and Scarves. Find matching sets. And get rid of any badly worn or damaged accessories or any that you haven’t worn in years. Have them all in the one place- a drawer, a shelf or in a box so that you can easily find them. And don’t forget to have that umbrella in an easy to grab location.

#3 Boots
Now is the time to make sure you have all the footwear you need for the wet and windy weather. Do any boots need to be thrown away or replaced? Do shoes and boots need cleaned? Or does anything need to be reheeled or repaired? Do that now and be ready for colder days.

#4 Jewellery and Handbags
The colours of our clothing tend to change with the seasons and so looking out jewellery and handbags that match darker and heavier fabrics will mean you always look polished and put together.

Follow these steps and the ones from the past two weeks and you now have a wardrobe deluttered, organised and ready for winter.

For Ideas on how to get organized for autumns check out this article.

For more support with decluttering contact me at julie@potentiacentre.com

Get Ready For Autumn – Declutter your Wardrobre

September 14, 2017 by Leonard Leave a Comment

The weather is definitely changing and feeling decidedly cooler. So this week I have been going through my Autumn/Winter clothes and decluttering my winter wardrobe. I do this every year so that I feel organized and prepared for the coming cold season and so that I also feel good in all that I am wearing. By only keeping the clothes that fit me and that I feel good in, I am certain that I will be dressed warmly and practically over winter and I will look and feel my best too.

Let me share with you my tips on how to declutter your wardrobe:

Declutter your Wardrobre

#1 Take Everything Out Of Your Wardrobe
Set time aside. Depending on how many clothes you have, this could be an hour or a morning or and afternoon. Remove all your clothes from the wardrobe. You need to visually see how much stuff you have! And you can now work through the pile or piles(!) and put back only those pieces you choose to keep.

#2 Get Rid of Anything Beyond Repair
Start with removing any items of clothing that are so old, ripped, have holes or beyond repair. These can be binned straight away, used as rags or donated to charities who receive money for rags.

#3 Do You LOVE it?
Now go through each piece. Hold it up. Look at it and be honest. Do you love it? Not, did it cost a lot of money? Not, it was a present. Not, I might wear it again in the future. Simply, do you love it?And when you wear it, do you feel fabulous in it? If the answer is no, then put it in a pile to donate or sell.

#4 If You Were Free From Guilt, Would You Keep It?
Perhaps it was a present. Or it cost a lot of money. If you didn’t feel guilty, would you keep it? If the answer is no, then add it to the pile to go.

#5 Find A Place For Everything
Return the items you are keeping, either hanging up or folded up and make sure there is a place for everything and you can easily find what you want.}

Bonus Tip
If you are not quite ready to get rid of some clothes, hang all your clothes up with the hook of the coat hangers all facing the same way. As you wear clothes, turn the coat hanger round. At the end of the season, you will see the clothes you never wore. And perhaps then you will consider what you can do without.

Taking a little time to sort out your wardrobe will have a huge impact. Not only will you feel less stressed and more organised but it will save you time and you will look and feel fabulous.

For tips on how to get organized for winter check out this article.