Work Smarter, Not Harder - A Quick tutorial in how to Google

The internet has become the world's largest repository of information and search engines help you find things when you use them properly. 

I was gobsmaked to read that 3/4 of students tested could not perform a well executed search on Google. Considering these kids practically grew up using Google I was shocked. I thought I was pretty good at ferreting out information until I read this very short info graphic on how to use Google more effectively. I learned several really good tips that will make my searches more targetted. It only takes about five minutes to read but it will save you alot of time finding things faster and more efficiently. If you pick up a few of these trick you will notice that you will find what you are looking for the first time. 

Happy seaching and I hope you are all having a terrific summer!

http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011/11/23/infographic-get-more-out-of-google.html

Happy Holiday!

Wow, another year has gone by and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with another couple hundred great clients. I feel very proud to have the chance to work with and help so many wonderful clients, not to mention an even greater number of consultations. Thank you for being there and supporting me in what I do. 

I look forward to another great year, to meeting more people who touch my life with their special gifts, to learning more, not only from books, videos and workshops but from people who may not know what they have to give. I hope you and your family and friends and colleagues have a wonderful holiday and good times. This is the time of year when I start to think about what I have done and what I want more of in my life next year. It's time to do a major check in with my goals, to see what I have achieved and what may need a renewed effort. I hope you are getting more of what you want in your life and I'll see you next year!

If You Hear the Message Three Times, LISTEN - Book Review

If You Hear the Message Three Times, LISTEN

by Patricia Heller

Hampton Roads Publishing Company

283 pages

Reviewed by Bradley Foster

If You Hear the Message is a highly readable and inspiring account of Patricia Heller’s transformation from living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) to becoming a spiritual and self aware healer. She takes us on her journey from curing her ‘incurable’ illness to investigating healing hands, past life regression, shamanism, manifesting greatness, automatic writing, heart centred transformation, her inner gypsy woman and many more. The book is actually an excellent survey of the healing modalities in America over the past fifteen years. 

The title refers to what she calls “listening to the universe”. When you hear the same message three times, it is time to pay attention.  She gives several examples of when she heard messages three times before she got it. In a heart centred transformation centre in the Arizona desert she heard the teacher tell someone to move her energy to her heart and ‘let it go’. This didn’t make any sense to her at all. The second time she was in awe standing over the Grand Canyon.  She turned to her teacher and told her how it was so beautiful it hurt her heart. She was told to ‘let it go.’ She looked at him as if he was an alien. Let go of what, she thought? During a full blown attack of CFS at the centre she was again told to ‘let it go’ when the penny finally dropped. She realized that holding onto her anger was making her physically sick. She had to hear it three times before she was able to really hear it and ‘get it’. That was her last attack of CFS.

In case you are thinking there isn’t a modality Patricia doesn't like, rest assured that she approaches them intelligently and with a healthy scepticism that is often absent in books of this type. The road she is on is long and winding, full of insights, pot holes, blind alleys and magnificent vistas. Patricia takes us on the tour with excitement, passion and humility, without trying to make us into converts or convince us that she has found ‘the path’ to enlightenment. In a graceful and humble way, she describes what she found on her own quest for enlightenment and if there is a piece you can take away from it then she has done her job.

Readers are rewarded by Patricia’s insights and warmth; she does an excellent job of writing clearly and extracting the meaning out her experiences. I marveled at her curiosity and capacity to absorb and integrate so many different teachings and to draw important lessons from them that have relevance for a general audience. This book is especially exciting for those who are or who are thinking of going on a similar journey of self discovery. 

As a coach I am constantly reminded that it is not the events that shape our lives so much as how we respond to them that is what makes us who we are. This book demonstrates how a woman with spunk, determination, courage, curiosity, a great sense of humour overcame a seemingly hopeless situation and the death of her husband to arrive in a place of wisdom, compassion and happiness. (originally published in 2007)

Hold Me Tight: 7 Conversations for a Lifetime of Love - Book Review

Hold Me Tight is the best book I have ever read on couples therapy because unlike a lot of other books, it makes sense and it works. Sue Johnson is an Ottawa-based professor and relationship therapist who noticed that traditional therapies often didn’t work. Instead of persevering with the old ways or blaming herself, she went back to the drawing board and came up with a new model.

When I was studying therapy I remember my teachers telling me that couples therapy was by far the most challenging kind of therapy—not for the faint of heart. Of course it’ll never be a cakewalk, but I think Sue Johnson has revolutionized the field by articulating clear and definite steps to healing broken relationships.


Johnson went back to the books and revisited Attachment Theory, pioneered by John Bowlby in the 1940’s. Most therapists assumed his theory was peculiar to parents and children since that’s what his studies were based on. Johnson’s stroke of genius was to realize that Bowlby’s theory underpins all relationships. Understanding relationships from a new angle gave Johnson a valuable and useful way of understanding how they function and how they break down.

Being on the clinical side gave Johnson the tools to articulate a theory and a way to test it. Also being a therapist she took her theory into the field and tested it on real couples having real attachment problems. Before long Johnson understood the hidden language behind disputes and began to teach couples how to have conversations with one another.

The result is this fine book that is part theory, part teaching tool and part self help book. Anyone can read it and get a very good idea of how to improve their relationship or teach couples how to talk to one another in a way that heals instead of inflames. Hold Me Tight is nicely organized around seven types of conversations that couples can have that will build trust and attachment between them. Couples can use this book as a guide to learn how to talk to one another and by mastering the steps. Beyond couples, parents and children and friends will find knowing how to have these conversations useful to maintaining the health of their relationships.

If you prefer to learn Hold Me Tight conversations experientially, Sue Johnson teaches her methodology to therapists and certifies them. There are now hundreds of therapists in North America who are trained to help couples learn how to talk and listen to each other. You can find a certified therapist or a training program near you at Hold Met Tight. I learned a lot from this book that I will put into practice with all my relationships. This is a book that everyone will benefit from reading.