Recently I met with a client who’d had all her space to think filled up with an icky situation, one she was dropped in by someone else. Someone who hadn’t earned the right to take up that much of her emotional or physical energy.
It can be hard to find the space to think in a stressful situation
When we’re under pressure our stress-response is to shut down creative thinking and decision making, which might be why you feel completely blank if you get mad about something; ever thought of the witty come-backs just after an argument?
This kind of blank-ness can impact the way you feel about yourself too, knocking your confidence to pull yourself back around and stand up straight.
It can feel like you’re stuck a downward spiral, and this can often impact physical energy and sleep too, especially if you’re highly-sensitive.
What can you do to make the space for thinking?
The situation my client found herself in happened just before one of our fortnightly calls and, as it was impacting her clear thinking, it made sense for her to bring this to our coaching hour; how could she move through and regain her sense of clarity and inner strength.
Turning to someone who can hold the space for you to just let it all out, in all it’s messy honest ickyness, is sometimes just what you need… to put it right there on the table to poke at and untangle until it makes sense.
I was grateful that day to be confident in my own abilities to hold that space, just allow it all to be as it was, without trying to ‘fix’ my client.
And this is just one of the reasons I trained as a Time to Think coach two years ago; it’s a beautiful way of working, removing all assumptions and taking away the well-meaning and sometimes mis-placed questions that coaches can sometimes get caught up in.
The magic is in allowing all the thoughts to come out, without judgement
When clients share openly in a Time to Think session, really allowing their thinking to soften, to ramble, to expand.. that’s where the magic is!
It is rare to find the space for this kind of thinking; I feel privileged to be able to hold this space for clients in this way, and lucky to have a coaching peer with whom I trade my own thinking sessions. (Simply a call to find out more about the power of this work)
In her thinking session, my client discovered the space to step far enough back to see the (way) bigger picture.
She was able to spot some old familiar patterns at play, patterns she’d identified as not-helpful, and we went on to strengthen her sense of inner strength, and designing a way she could side-step these pattens more easily next time.
In the past these patterns, the well worn but unhelpful paths we create, would have caused my client weeks of sqigglyness… seeing the new feeling of empowerment in her is such a transformation.
Thinking happens in a safe space
Stepping back from any emotional situation, into a safe space, is essential to get your thinking going again, to remove the emotion and get clear on who and what really matters.
For me it feels a bit like climbing up onto a rock to check out the best path across a muddy field ahead… sure the path might get tricky but I can avoid getting completely bogged down!
Have you been here too?
What would it feel like for you to step back and get some deep clarity about the road ahead before striding forwards?
To find out more about how working with me can boost your self-belief and create time for thinking, book a free no-strings call right here…