“Take what you can use and leave the rest.”

Resources

The books and cards below contain various tools and models that can be useful in connection with coaching.

 

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron – Structured as a 12 week, 12 chapter, self discovery process with exercises at the end of each chapter, this book can help you identify and remove internal blocks to your creative self.

“I May not be Totally Perfect, but Parts of Me are Excellent” by Ashleigh Brilliant – is a selection of Ashleigh’s “Pot Shot,” one liner postcards organized into chapters covering aspects of human experiences, each one illustrated by hand drawings.

“The Highly Sensitive Person” by Elaine Aron – describes how 15 to 20 percent of us are, according to her model and definition, especially sensitive to our environments and our ongoing life experiences. She provides a quick quiz for determining where you are on her scale and then shows how HSP’s have both challenges and opportunities dealing with everyday life in our fast paced and rapid transitions world. This book helps HSP’s gain new tools for coping easier if you are one, and can help you understand and appreciate the HSP’s in your life if you aren’t.

“Nonviolent Communication” by Marshall Rosenberg – describes how feelings are connected to needs and how we can learn to listen to others with empathy and appreciation while also expressing our needs towards others in respectful ways. Using nonviolent communication can help to reduce conflict and increase positive connections in relationships.

“Gifts Differing” by Isabel Briggs and Peter Myers – describes how we each have preferences in four pairing areas, such as Introvert/Extrovert and Thinker/Feeler, which influence how we interact with others and respond to the stimulation within our environments. They developed the MBPTI, the Meyers Briggs Personality Type Indicator, a questionnaire that can help you identify your preferences and interests and can be useful at times in coaching.

“The Enneagram” by Helen Palmer – The Enneagram is a personality typing system that identifies 9 different major types such as Helper, Artist, and Leader. Each person tends to be consistently strongest in one type over a period of time, along with one or more additional types, and weaker in other types. This book describes each type, its origin of development and the opportunities and challenges of each type in relationships, contact with authority and how each type selects their attention focus from within the environment. During coaching, we can use the Enneagram tool to gain insight into your relationship style and your important focus areas. This tool can also help you to understand those around you and how their style may be different and/or similar to yours and how you can work with that consciously to increase harmony and satisfaction.

“Homecoming” by John Bradshaw – describes how our inner child has probably become wounded to some degree during our formative years, since no childhood is likely to have been completely harmonious. He shows how the child layers inside us influence our adult experiences and how we can recover positive messages from childhood as well as make new ones for ourselves that will support us in creating more satisfaction now. This book includes a number of short answer worksheets that can help you clarify where you have experienced pain in the past and how it may be affecting you today.

“How to be an Adult in Relationships” by David Richo – emphasizes five “A’s” for relationships; Attention, Acceptance, Appreciation, Affection and Allowing, how to cultivate and notice each aspect in your relationships and how they are working, and describes the contrast between inner child behavior and adult behavior and how they influence our connections. Includes useful comparison tables, such as child needs versus adult needs and healthy conflict versus stressful drama.

“The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know” - by Richard Ritti and Ray Funkhouser – describes how companies and corporations tend to work underneath the surface, in contrast to their policies and verbal statements. This book takes us on a tour through The Company, as we see it through the eyes of Stanley, a new college graduate. He learns through experience that what he hears from the company managers and employees may not be the truth he is seeking. The authors take time out periodically in the story to explain the interconnected dynamics going on in Stanley’s company life. Each chapter has a different lesson or insight into the organizational behavior going on behind the scenes.

“Creative Whack Pack" - Roger von Oech – The Creative Whack Pack is a deck of 64 cards that can be used to stimulate starting points for creative activity or problem solving. This deck can be especially useful when you are stuck in a situation or creative process and feel like you are spinning in a circle or need a fresh perspective. Just get out the deck and pull one or more cards to get something moving.