by dmackinnon | Oct 5, 2018 | Healing Choices, Limiting Beliefs
I recently spoke to a client, James, who had some limiting beliefs around marketing himself to others, as we all do. He’s an entrepreneur, so telling others how he can help (which is what I call marketing) is an important part of his work life. I challenged him to get...
by dmackinnon | Sep 7, 2018 | Coaching Tools, Healing Choices
Last week I went on a Wordless Walk, as I do twice a month. (You can join me!) Sometimes, when I’m walking, I do a little exercise that helps me solve my problems. I close my eyes for a second and take a deep breath and let it out. Then I open my eyes and notice...
by dmackinnon | Jul 30, 2018 | Healing Choices, Process
Gratitude is a practice. You can’t just smear an “I’m so thankful,” on top of “I don’t want this,” and call it good. Let me give you an example. If your boss dumps a bunch of your coworker’s files on your desk and says, “Here, Joan is on vacation this week but these...
by dmackinnon | Jul 6, 2018 | Healing Choices, Healthy Habits
I’ve been practicing Zentangle for years now. A while ago, I told a friend of mine that I was going to Providence, Rhode Island, for three days to do a Zentangle Teacher Certification. Her response? “Wow, that’s quite a luxury.” It is a luxury in the sense that I have...
by dmackinnon | May 15, 2018 | Healing Choices, Process
A friend of mine was excited to show me the list she’d made of all the daily tasks she’s going to do for herself. The list included things like “create art,” “be in nature,” and “exercise.” There were six items on her list. “It’s a great list,” I said, “but when are...
by dmackinnon | May 10, 2018 | Healing Choices, Thought Work
I have a good friend who recently got a promotion at work. But he didn’t tell me about the promotion—and I was hurt. Actually, that’s not correct. When he didn’t tell me about his promotion, I was fine. When I heard about his promotion from someone else, I was hurt....
by dmackinnon | Mar 12, 2018 | Healing Choices, Thought Work
We have a tendency to think other people are idiots but we are not. This is a complete generalization, but it operates in our daily lives and it causes a lot of unnecessary suffering. For example, if someone else’s phone rings while I’m watching a movie at a movie...
by dmackinnon | Jan 4, 2018 | Healing Choices, Process
The week after Thanksgiving I headed out to Whidbey Island, off the coast of Seattle, for The Self as Source of the Story (SAS), a writing retreat/seminar with Christina Baldwin. I’ve worked with Christina in the past so I knew I was in for a treat: Five full days to...
by dmackinnon | Nov 15, 2017 | Healing Choices, Healthy Habits
A few months ago my husband asked me how my first watercolor class went. “It was amazing!” I said. “I just want to watercolor all the time!” He sighed and said, “Great. Another distraction.” This comment led to a discussion about the housework, laundry, and cooking...
by dmackinnon | Oct 2, 2017 | Healing Choices, Thought Work
A client recently described a situation where she basically watched herself behave like a self-conscious, insecure teenager (she’s middle-aged) and she couldn’t stop herself. “I told myself to stop thinking about it and I did…for about 10 seconds. Then I was right...
