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Joyce Dillon

Health, Wellness & Purpose Strategy Coach

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Transformation

What is Your Next Step for Your Life?

December 13, 2022 By Joyce Dillon Leave a Comment

You may have experienced significant change that has shifted you into a major life transition. Perhaps you’ve lost a spouse, child, or parent, or are going through a health crisis, divorce, job loss, or retirement, or are caring for parents, or redefining yourself.

You will likely experience many life transitions during your life. 

Like everyone else, in the last several years I have experienced my own turbulent changes including reinventing my career, relocation nightmares, and health issues.

All of these unexpected changes thrust me into a period of uncertainty, and another powerful life transition.

It is easy to get lost, frustrated, and overwhelmed.

Perhaps you can relate.

The unrest that occurs at this period of our life is about sorting out and separating who you are becoming from who you have been.

It is a time for deep introspection, and for exploring how you want to live this part of your life and how to become more authentically who you really are.

During these challenging times, I continue to implement these seven important ways to navigate change, uncertainty, and transition.

It is a time for deep introspection, and for exploring how you want to live this part of your life and how to become more authentically who you really are.

Perhaps they will be helpful for you as well.

  1. Get grounded in your body. Take deep breaths and feel yourself in your physical body. Breathe into your back, shoulders, and neck, into your energy centers, and your heart. You will feel your body become stable.
     
  2. Find a sense of safety and security. Getting grounded will help you feel more secure. Decrease, and ultimately rid yourself of negative input from the news and overwhelm from the Internet. Surround yourself with positive, like-minded, conscious, people as much as possible. Ask yourself if you feel supported and safe in the city or area you live in.
     
  3. Quiet your mind, and dream. Creating a daily practice to quiet your mind is imperative. Meditate, walk in silence, or do breathwork – whatever works for you. Ask your higher self-questions such as, “what is my next step in my life? What does my higher self-desire for me?” Keep a journal to write down the answers.
     
  4. Get support from friends. Have at least two friends who love and support you with whom you can share your true, authentic feelings. They should be willing to listen to you on good and bad days.
     
  5. Find a support community. Join a support community that you can relate to, like a loss and grief group, a group that enjoys art and creativity, dinner and chat, movie nights, or walking and exercise. Do what you love to do! Join an online community if you can not find an in-person group.
     
  6. Take care of your mental health. It is hard to make decisions if you are overwhelmed, anxious and depressed. Find a good therapist or hire a life coach. Get support! Do not do this by yourself.
     
  7. Get plenty of sleep. When you have experienced a crisis or sudden change, you need more sleep. The body cannot heal without rest and revive your body. Take short naps. Get at least eight hours of sleep.

At some point, you may know you want to change your life, but you may have no idea how to move forward so you can make that change.

If you are at a crossroads and looking for support and ideas that can help you move forward, you are in the right place.

Learn More. Go to JoyceDillon.com or email jjdillon@mindspring.com to schedule a 30- minute complimentary call and we will see if this is the right next step for you.

Filed Under: Life Purpose Tagged With: Life Transitions, Personal Developement, Transformation

The Transformation Space

November 15, 2022 By Joyce Dillon Leave a Comment

Finding Your Path from What Was to What Is Next

Loss. Transition. Purpose. Transformation.

Finding Your Path from What Was to What Is Next

As we work through our own personal journey of transformation, one of the challenges we inevitably face is letting go of the psychological aspects of our past identities, of our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and the stories we tell ourselves about our life.

When we are struggling with life’s difficulties, it is usually because we are holding on to something we do not want to let go of.

When we hold tightly to who we believe we are and how we see ourselves, it can be more difficult to move through a transition.

What is it in your life that you need to let go, of now?

William Bridges, author of Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, says “Transition is not about strategies of change but about the journey of transformation, a conflicting and unsettling process that offers us the opportunity to grow and become more conscious.”

Bridges identifies three phases of the transition process which most of us will experience throughout our lifetime. These phases are Endings, Neutral Zone, and New Beginnings.

What phase of transition are you experiencing?

You might be in the process of ending something that is challenging, overwhelming, or unexpected, such as the death of a loved one, getting divorced, being downsized at work, recovering from the pandemic, loss of your home, or letting go of a long-awaited dream. Any loss can leave us feeling disoriented and confused.

Endings are usually followed by a period of being in the Neutral Zone or “luminal phase.” Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. defines this space as a period between what was and what is next. This transition space can be a period of confusion, despair, or disbelief. 

If you are spiritually and emotionally grounded in who you are, it can be a period of self-renewal, self-care, and soul work, as you seek to understand what has taken place in your life.

We need to take time alone to sit quietly and explore what we really want for the next part of our life.

This transformational time also can be emotionally exhausting as we do our deep spiritual, internal work.

If you leave this space of healing too soon in order to move into new beginnings, you may still struggle with losses, events, memories, shame, and blame from the past, because these issues remain unresolved emotionally.

You may have found yourself in a new beginning that is unfamiliar, such as relocation to a new city, retirement, change in career, or a new relationship. These new beginnings can be daunting and/or transformational.

If you have done your deep inner work, your new beginnings should be less emotionally difficult, and you’ll be better prepared to step into your new life transition.

There are many ways to go through life’s transitions.

Choose wisely……..

Learn how you can move easier through these transitions with my Transition-Focused Coaching Package

Filed Under: Life Purpose Tagged With: Life Changes, Life Transitions, Personal Developement, Transformation

How to Build Resilience During Difficult Times of Transition and Transformation

August 2, 2022 By Joyce Dillon Leave a Comment

At this point in the world, we must all realize that we’re living in very challenging times and yet at the same time, a very profound transformational period. It seems everybody I know is going through something on a personal level-illness, fatigue, sadness, depression. grief, and or loss.

In addition to your personal journeys, we are being threatened by, political breakdowns, mass shootings, devastating earthquakes, merciless wildfires, and severe storms- with mass flooding.

Humanity is in the throes of an ever-growing collective consciousness that wants to evolve, yet old ways of being and outdated modes of consciousness are struggling to hold on to the known.

So, the big question today, is ‘How do we build resilience so that we do not collapse under stress, grief, loss, and fear and at the same time keep our hearts open to others and take care of ourselves?’

Awakening is no longer a luxury or an idea. It is critical.

It is also critical that we deal with our own anger, feelings of separation, addictions, and fear.

Mayo Clinic reports that Resilience is the ability to adapt well and recover quickly after stress, adversity, trauma, or tragedy.

I believe I have developed strong resilience over my lifetime resulting from my childhood and the traumas I experienced as well as the transition tools and spiritual practices I have taught and engaged in over the years.

I have had losses that have taken me to the underworld of darkness, but I have always been able to rebound.

The eye of a hurricane is a place of calm, around which spins the storm. We become the eye when we pull ourselves out of the chaos and into the present moment.

Here are several ways that I recommend to pull yourself out of the storm and into the calm of the eye of the storm that will help you build resilience to deal with emotional and physical pain during these difficult times.

Five Daily Practices to Build Resilience

Five Daily Practices to Build Resilience

Mindful Awareness of Thoughts
Stop and experience what you are doing driving, doing the laundry, or walking. If you are thinking thoughts of the past or future bring your mind to the now. Focus on your heart, and breath, and come back into the awareness of the present moment to help regulate yourself.

Heart-Coherence Meditation
New research indicates that you do not need to meditate for long periods of time to have a positive effect. You do have to connect the breath to the heart and the brain. Start by sitting and relaxing for 5-15 minutes. Inhale from the heart to the head and exhale the breath from the head to the heart. When you connect the heart and the brain you develop less resistance to meditating.

Support Group
Join a spiritual, grief, walking, hiking, or meditation group with at least 4 people who come together live or remotely to support each other in moving through these difficult but transformational times. It is critical to have a support network that you can count on during these challenging times.
Walk and engage with Nature Walking outside allows your nervous system to calm your cognitive systems to rest and lift your mood. Sit under a tree, and explore what is around you-animals, plants, flowers, and rocks. Allow yourself to see and experience the beauty around you.

Gratitude
Start your morning by saying what you are grateful for. If you think you have nothing to be grateful for being grateful for your breath and that you woke up today. Gratitude for your life will change your life

Extreme Self-Care and Compassion
During periods of stress, we often fall back on old patterns of relating to ourselves and the world. We can be harsh and critical, and not care for our bodies. To build resilience we must support our body and mind to heal with healthy food, water, and exercise. You must care for yourself!

These are just a few of the ways to develop tools that help you become more resilient. How have you become more resilient? Let me know, I am always interested in learning what helps others.

Filed Under: Life Purpose Tagged With: Life Transitions, Resilience, Self-Care, Transformation, Transition

Why do we resist taking the next big step, even when we know that it’s right?

September 19, 2018 By Joyce Dillon Leave a Comment

Perhaps you’ve experienced it at least once in your life – knowing deep inside that it’s time to take a big step, yet you can’t seem to do it. You know that it’s the right thing to do, and yet you resist. You postpone. You delay. You follow other distractions in order to avoid taking action. Let me assure you that you’re not alone. At some point in our lives, this happens to all of us. So the question is: Why do we resist taking the next big step, even when we know that it’s right?

The short answer: Because we sense that once we take that step, something significant will change. Maybe everything will change, and nothing will be the same again. And that can feel both exciting and scary.

Something big may be gained, yet something may also be lost. Some part of us really wants that change, yet another part avoids it. We can feel the tension and conflict inside – lots of stories in the head and turmoil in the belly. Our deep inner knowing tells us that in the bigger picture – in service of more than just us – it’s the right thing. Yet are we ready for what will come as a result? Are we ready for what is waiting just beyond our action?

At a fundamental level, these kinds of decisions are really about honoring our truth. They’re about speaking up for what is important to us or for what really matters – about stepping forward into the fullness of who we really are and the path we’re here to walk. These are the moments when we find out what we’re really made of.

And so what do we choose? Are we willing to trust that we will find our way if we are deeply honest with ourselves and live into what we believe and what we know to be true? Do we choose to step forward in the fullness of who we are – to take the step that we know deep inside is the right one, and embrace the changes that may come? Or do we choose to live in fear of what might happen – of what the future might hold – and step back?

Barack Obama said, “We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.”
How do you choose to shape your future? How do we as a collective choose to shape our future?

If you choose to follow your deep inner knowing and to step more fully into all of who you are, you will probably experience challenges. It won’t always be smooth sailing. Yet Life has a way of carrying us when we are on the right path. From my own experience, I can assure you that, if you stay the course, you are likely to reap great rewards – great learning and big growth.

First, your sense of who you are and what your life is about will become stronger. You will further embrace the response-abilities that come with claiming your place in the world.

Second, your relationships with people, ideas, beliefs, possibilities, and the world around you, are likely to shift. How you move in the world and interact with others will change, because you will be thinking, feeling, and acting from a sense of clearer purpose and direction. Not every choice you make will turn out to be a long-term choice. You will go down some paths that you soon realize are not the right ones. It’s OK, just turn around and look for another path that is beckoning. Trust that every choice you make – every path that you explore – will bring you further insights and understanding and will help clarify and inform your next steps. Some you will stick with, others you will let go.

Third, you will experience new levels of freedom. You may not recognize that freedom right away. At first, the floodgates of emotion or reaction may break open, both within you and others, and it can become overwhelming. If that happens, keep breathing. Keep grounding deep inside yourself and in who you know yourself to be. Every time you intentionally step through your fear and resistance and stay the course that every fiber of your being tells you is yours, you walk in the truth of who you are. You stand more confidently in what you have to bring to the world. Eventually, you stop worrying about whether or not you can do it and you just do it!

For me, the first and last lines of David Whyte’s poem, Start Close In, serve as my call to action and help me keep it simple.

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don’t want to take.

In time, you will look back and be grateful that you took that big step. In fact, I look back over my life with incredible gratitude for every big step that I’ve taken. Every considered risk has paid off, even if not always as I had expected or hoped. Yet in retrospect, I see why I had to take that step and what became possible because of it. I’m taking big steps now. And more will come, I’m sure.

What is the next big step waiting for you? If you’ve been reluctant to take it, it’s OK. Just be honest and compassionate with yourself, and engage your fear. Ask your fear what is underneath the flashing lights and screaming sirens. What is the real message that it’s asking you to pay attention to? Respond to that message. Take care of what you can take care of; put everything into place that you can.
And then take the step. Trust that new doors will open. Trust that new possibilities will emerge that you hadn’t imagined. Life will carry you. And you will have taken another big step forward.

 

Alan Seale, PCC, CTPC, MSC

About the Author:
Alan Seale is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker, transformation catalyst, master teacher and mentor to many leaders and coaches, and the founder of the Center for Transformational Presence.

 

Filed Under: Life Purpose Tagged With: Life Coaching, Transformation

It’s Never Too Late To Change Your Life

February 17, 2015 By Joyce Dillon Leave a Comment

women_with_arms_outstretchedIt’s never too late – never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.
-Jane Fonda

Change is inevitable-and it is everywhere around us on the planet…

It’s hard not to see all the changes that are happening around us-as our old rigid structures such as our political, finance, health, are crumbling in front of us.

Most everyone I know has experienced some life-changing crisis that has required drastic change?

In the last few years, I have experienced several health challenges, and loss and grief of many things I loved in my life. Experiencing deep grief requires you to dig deep into who you are at your essence to help you rebound and reset the course of your life.

I had to work with my thoughts and beliefs daily to get through this rough period. It was about letting go of deep fear of loss and grief of who I thought my self to be. This transformative process required a profound shift in my mind, body and spirit. Here are three steps that helped me to get unstuck.

  1. Stop focusing on what you lost. Find something to replace it, and acknowledge the blessings you have now.
  2. Follow your passion and the next steps will be revealed to you. When you look back on your life you know this to be true.
  3. Trust your intuition and pay attention to the “calls” and synchronicities of events that the universe is sending to you daily.

As difficult as this period is, the changes we are all experiencing need to happen so we can create a more vibrant, authentic, and spiritually connected life.

Yes, change is inevitable-and it all begins with you!

Would you like to discover how to more fully live the life you desire? Read more.

Joyce Dillon, RN, MN
Visionary Life and Success Coach

Filed Under: Life Purpose Tagged With: Life Change, Life Purpose, Transformation

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Joyce Dillon
www.joycedillon.com
jjdillon@mindspring.com
404-824-7332

Recent Posts

Five Ways To Honor Yourself And Embrace The Power Of Being You

What is Your Next Step for Your Life?

The Transformation Space

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