Life Coaching Archives - Allison Evans Coaching

Do You Want to Be a Bigger Caterpillar? Or Do You Want to be a Butterfly?

One source of suffering is not having what you want. (“Stop Suffering, Start Living” is my theme for March. I chose it because it’s the end of winter and the beginning of spring for us in the northern hemisphere. It’s also the label that I’ve given the largest category of…

Allison EvansMarch 7, 2025

Self-Care

Why Self-Care Gets a Bad Rap (and What to Do about It)

Self-care isn’t selfish. Why does that need to be asserted?It could be a neutral, self-evident statement, along the lines of, “Water isn’t dry.” To be alive is to have needs! Who better to know what those needs are and to meet them than the one who has them? Yet it must be…

Allison EvansJune 20, 2024

Stop Suffering, Start Living

Holiday Stress?

My client is a mom of three under seven – a big job on top of her big job. As we coached, she was surrounded by piles of outgrown clothes and toys, the detritus of a seasonal decluttering.“And now,” she announced incredulously, “we have to do presents!”I was supposed to…

Allison EvansNovember 22, 2023

Getting Things Done Stop Suffering, Start Living

Woman Sitting, Fingers Hovering Above a Keyboard

I was on retreat last week at The School for The Work. The Work is one of my favorite practices for finding clarity and freedom in daily life. The Work is a meditation. It doesn’t look like a meditation because it’s four questions, and questions look like cognitive tasks. But…

Allison EvansNovember 14, 2023

Getting Things Done

One Hundred Years

This thing you’re struggling to do, what if you knew you had one hundred years to do it? I came across this idea in Zen Mind, Zen Horse: The Science and Spirituality of Working with Horses, by Allan J. Hamilton, M.D. A rancher had a horse that got spooked by…

Allison EvansOctober 30, 2023

Potpourri

What Is Joy, and How Can You Experience More of It?

What is joy?It’s such a compelling concept, but no dictionary definition I’ve ever read seems to capture it.If we can understand what it is, then we’ll know how to experience more of it.First, what it isn’t.Though joy can make you happy, it isn’t plain happiness. Happiness is what you feel…

Allison EvansSeptember 13, 2023

Stop Suffering, Start Living

Mental Jiu Jitsu for Getting Unstuck

“It is better to receive than to give. How might that be true?”My client inhaled sharply, then started to weep.She was drowning in responsibilities at work and at home. She had come to our call asking for solutions but kept batting away my ideas.More than one “Yeah, but” in a…

Allison EvansJuly 28, 2023

Getting Things Done Stop Suffering, Start Living

Should I Stay or Should I Go? An Authentic Desire Tool to Help You Find Clarity

“I just don’t know if it’s worth it anymore.” My client was lamenting the struggles of her relationship. Things had been so easy and delicious in the early days. But after a year together, differences that had been overlookable were taking center stage. “Do the pros still outweigh the cons?”…

Allison EvansMay 26, 2023

Getting Things Done Stop Suffering, Start Living

What If You Don’t Know What You Want?

My client is one of the kindest people I know. She is patient, philosophical, and takes the high road and the long view. But she recently confessed to me that she didn’t know what I meant about “authentic desire.” “Is that some special category of wanting, some extra gear in desire that…

Allison EvansMay 12, 2023

Life Coaching

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