Media

Editorial by ROY FLEMING Editor WAtoday.com.au September 2, 2011

A few months ago, over breakfast with friends, I met a woman who had me deeply engaged for two hours on topics about life in the workplace and at home.

Gillian Skeer, a life coach who practises neuro-linguistic programming, talked passionately about the chains humans wear in their lives; things that hold them back. The man in his 40s who wants to give up smoking, and has taken to puffing away in secrecy behind his wife’s back; the 20-something lawyer who can’t make partner despite her gruelling hours; the executive plagued by negative thoughts despite the outward success in his work and life.

An interesting theme ran through most of the discussion. Most things we do – or don’t do in life – are governed by fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of rejection.

”If you hold something so tight in one hand,” Gillian said. ”Your hand is closed from receiving any new opportunity.”

Cliche, yes. But it resonated with me. What I especially liked about Gillian’s approach, and what she said about NLP, is that it often gets to the heart of the matter. Not always, but her work aims to quickly unravel the problem. No six-month sessions soothing your inner child, no expensive re-birthing in adulthood, no chain-store approach to your mental well-being.

The Change Agent, which starts on this site next Monday, was given a simple brief: select questions from readers and provide some detailed information to help them. Sometimes this advice can be simple, but more complex matters will require a more holistic approach to get the outcomes you desire.

Gillian isn’t a doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist … she’s a passionate Master Coach NLP making some helpful changes in people’s lives, including some of the more well-known people living among us.

Got a question? The Change Agent randomly selects reader’s questions for comment each week, although cannot respond to every request.

Perth Today 23 December 2014

The power of play

CHRISTIE BOSWORTH

November 19, 2013

Life coach Gillian Skeer, from Perth Creative Coaching Solutions, says a lot of creative people don’t have time to be creative. She explains this is because society convinces us success is all about affluence.

Skeer says most people don’t enjoy their jobs. The US Deloitte Shift Index, a business trend report, confirms 80 per cent of people are dissatisfied with their work. This is a huge problem, Skeer says, because we spend most of our lives at work. When we are out of our natural ‘flow’ (for example, a creative person in a bank) we devote a great deal of effort to pushing against the current. Things are harder, and we are not any happier in the process.

“Everyone’s got their thing,” Skeer says. “So whatever it is, find that passion, that thing where they can let go and enjoy it, that’s what we’re here for.”

Read more at Inkwire – The Power of Play.

The Change Agent column by Gillian Skeer at Fairfax Media

You can find Gillian’s on-line column The Change Agent at the following links:

Switching off the negatives of life

Hating that job? It’s time for a personal checklist

The Key to a balanced life

Seven start-up steps towards a balanced life

Are you stagnating in the ‘grey zone’?

How rapport is getting a bad rap

Fix me? The magic wand lies inside you

Get focused … or change your specs

Education? Trust me, it will cost you a lot more to be ignorant