Believe in Your True Self

"There is but one cause of human failure. 

And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self."

~William James

We so often sell ourselves short.  We believe that what needs to be done is beyond our abilities.  We allow past experiences to mold our beliefs and keep us from stepping up to tackle challenges again.  If we really believed in our true Self, what could be possible?  Your true Self is all the potential you hold inside you, even though you haven't realized it yet.  It is the dreams you dream; the hopes you have, and the desire to be more than you express in your every day life.  We block ourselves from believing in our true Self by hanging on to beliefs that might have once been true but really no longer serve us.  Beliefs like "I'm not good enough," or "I don't deserve," or "I don't know enough."  If you can begin to allow your true Self to shine through, you can achieve anything.  Don't you owe that to yourself--and to others?

This week:  Notice when you block yourself with mindset limitations.  What really stands in the way of your success?  If you are finding excuses in the economy, or some limitation you think you have, be honest with yourself.  Ask yourself:  "How am I blocking my true Self?"  Be honest about who your true Self really is, what he/she is really capable of.  Now think of one SMALL thing you can do to allow yourself to express your true Self.  Do that one thing this week.  Notice what happens to your faith in yourself. 

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert in helping people overcome mindset limitations and other "mental clutter" that blocks their success and happiness.  When you let go of those negative beliefs and mental clutter, you may room for your authentic Self to express all those things of which you are truly capable.  For more information about her solution focused approach and variety of services she offers, go to http://www.InnerResourceCenter.com . 

Find Your Pace

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." 

~Sam Keen

This quote really resonated with me this week (O.K., I confess, it resonated for this whole past month).  When the weather is hot, it is tough to move.  We slow down.  At first I thought this was a bad thing, but I'm now realizing that hot weather or not, it is often important pace yourself.  There is a rhythm to life and the key is to find the rhythm that suits YOU and suits you at a particular time for particular tasks.  

This week:  Take some time to reflect.  Slow down.  Take the time to look at how you pace yourself.  What is your rhythm?  Are you slow and steady?  Fast and driven?  Stopped?  Think back on times in your life that have been the best for you.  What was your rhythm then?  This week experiment with your rhythm.  Try out different paces.  Think of it as a dance you are doing.  When are you moving your best?  Use this information to plan how to move forward at the pace that is best for you.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert at helping people overcome obstacles to their success and happiness.  She specializes in helping people set and reach goals they had not thought possible using her solution focused approach.  For more information go to http://www.InnerResourceCenter.com .  

Don't Wait Too Long to Use Your Ideas

“Turn every idea upside down to see

 if there is an expiration date stamped on the bottom.”

~Thomas Shepherd

While it may sound strange to check for the "expiration date" of ideas as if they were carton of milk or a loaf of bread, the timing of an idea may be vital to its success.  When you have ideas or opportunities to develop something new, check to see what the urgency is of creating it.  Ideas that fit with the needs of those around you deserve a higher priority.  You don't want to miss your window of opportunity.  Some ideas have a much longer "shelf life," however.  In fact, the current conditions might not support your pursuit of that idea.  If that is the case, write down the idea on a piece of paper and save it in a "parking lot."  Your parking lot is the place where you "park" your ideas until a) you have more time; or b) the timing is right to pursue it.  But make sure you note that "expiration date" so that you don't wait too long!

This week:  Just notice the "expiration date" on ideas you have or those others approach you with.  How does knowing that change the priority you assign it?  Is there something you need to do to make sure that you don't end up throwing out perfectly good ideas because you've waited too long to use them?  At the end of this week, make a decision about how you are going to incorporate "expiration dates" into your use of ideas.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert at helping people achieve goals they had not thought possible using her solution focused approach.  She helps clients take the necessary action to reach goals efficiently and to overcome any mindset limitations that might be interfering with success.  For more information, go to http://www.InnerResourceCenter.com

Find the Place Inside You Where Nothing Is Impossible

"You must find the place inside yourself 

where nothing is impossible."

~Deepak Chopra

We are all capable of so much more than we believe is possible.  We limit ourselves by our thoughts that we don't have the skills, don't have the capabilities to achieve what we'd like to dream.  In order to really succeed, we each need to find that place within ourselves where nothing is impossible.  If you can conceive of something, you can find the way to achieve it.  But you have to let go of the beliefs and the mindset that limit you.

This week:  Imagine what you would do if you knew that you could not fail.  If you knew that anything was not only possible, but you could achieve it, what would you do?  This connects you not only with what is really most important to you, but also where you've put limitations.  Spend some time this week considering whether those limitations are really true, or have you imagined them.  Understand that anything you can imagine can be changed to something less limiting.  Take time to imagine what you would need in order to have a mindset that "I can do it; anything is possible."  What do you need to do in order to make that a reality?  Write down the steps and commit yourself to taking at least one step this week.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert and helping people achieve goals they had not thought possible using a variety of solution focused methods.  She believes that you CAN achieve anything if you have the right tools, and at the Inner Resource Center, LLC helps people find the resources necessary to transform their lives.  For more information, go to http://www.InnerResourceCenter.com . 

Keep Your Focus on the Main Thing

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

~Stephen Covey

The New Year presents an opportunity for us to DREAM BIG and to create what we most want.  But to do that we must keep our focus on what is the "main thing."  What is most important in order to create the life we want?  What must we do to keep focused on the main thing and not be distracted by the bright shiny objects that surround us.  Our lives are full of opportunities and we must decide which of them most suit the outcome we really want.  When you keep the main thing the main thing you can most easily and effectively pursue that outcome.

This week:  Decide what is "the main thing" for you some time period--this month or this quarter or this year.  What do you really want and need in order to create what you most want?  Write it down and post it where you will see it several times during the day.  Keep your focus on this main thing during each day for this week.  At the end of the day, evaluate how well you did.  If you need to do something to keep your focus on the main thing, determine what that is and make adjustments.  At the end of the week, decide if you want to continue this exercise for another week.  How many weeks will it take for you to have made the main thing the main thing?

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert at helping people make big changes in their lives.  She specializes in helping people determine what is most important in their lives and to rapidly move beyond self-imposed limitations by using her toolbox of solution-focused techniques.  For more information and to find resources to help you make changes quickly, go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .

Things Worth Having Are Worth Some Effort

Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?

~Frank Scully



Sometimes you have to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone in order to get meaningful rewards.  Often things that are the most valuable require effort, risk and action.  If you are not willing to put yourself out to reach your goal, you are not very invested in your results.   Sitting at the bottom of the tree and wishing the fruit would fall into your lap is not an effective way to get something that is important to you.  All things DON'T come to those who wait.  You have to take action.  You have to stretch yourself.  You have to put out the effort.  And you sometimes have to take a risk.  What are you willing to do to achieve your results?

This week:  Take a look at something you really want.  How much do you want it?  Are you willing to take some action this week to move closer to having it?  If you really went after it, what would you need to do?  How would you do it?  What risks would be involved?  How can you minimize those risks?  By answering these questions, you can put together a plan for reaching that goal.  Then, step-by-step, inch-by-inch, you can begin to move toward it.  

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and certified trainer at the Inner Resource Center, LLC in Maryville, TN.  She is an expert at helping people reach goals they had not thought even possible, using her solution focused approaches and a bag of tools and techniques she has both learned and developed over the past 32 years.  For more information go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .

Don't Limit Youself; Dream Big

"We can't think narrowly. We have to think in the biggest possible way."

~ Alice Waters

When you think narrowly, you limit yourself.  You keep yourself from achieving all that is possible.  But when you dream big, you create the possibility that you can achieve things that you may not have dared believe possible. 

This week:   Spend some time looking at how you limit yourself through your own thinking.  Identify some area where you have been limiting yourself.  Once you identify this area, or the particular thoughts that are limiting you, expand your thinking.  Consider the possibility that you may be able to achieve what you thought was impossible.  You may not yet know how, but just consider that you could possibly make this dream come true.  Once you do this, you may be surprised at the ideas that come to you about how to achieve it. 

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert in helping people overcome limitations and achieve dreams that had not thought possible with her solution focused approach.  She has over 30 years of experience helping people overcome "mental clutter"--those negative emotions and limiting beliefs that block success and happiness.  For more information go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .

In Order to Change, Keep Moving

"The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."

~Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

If you don't like the way your life is going, take steps to change it.  Most of us have some thing that we would like to change, but we have to be willing to take the steps and move in the direction we want to go.  Just sitting and wishing things would change is not going to get you there.  You have to be willing to take action.  You have to be willing to MOVE.  Sometimes all it takes is small steps in the right direction to begin to build your momentum.

This week:  Identify some change you would like to make--big or small.  What small step could you take that would BEGIN to move you in that direction?  First, state your intention to change.  Next, begin to take a small step in direction of the change.  How was that?  How do you feel having taken that first step towards changing something you have identified that it is your intention to change?  What is the next small step?  Keep your steps pretty small, and notice that it isn't as difficult as you might have first thought.  Do this all week.  At the end of the week, evaluate your progress toward a change.  While you may not have reached your outcome, you probably have moved forward.  If you keep this up, you will build greater and greater momentum.  Before you know it, you will have changed in the direction for which you were aiming.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert in helping people make changes they did not think were really possible using her solution focused approach.  At the Inner Resource Center, LLC, she helps people access their inner resources for success, happiness and greater meaning.  For more information and several free resources, go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .

Take Steps to Be the Person You Might Have Been--and Can Be

"It is never too late to be who you might have been."

~George Eliot

If you have been waiting to be the person you were intended to be, wait no longer. Waiting for circumstances to be "just right" to allow you to pursue your dream, find your life's purpose or realize your potential simply ensures that you postpone the meaning that your life could express.

This week: Sit down with a piece of paper. Think about what you've been postponing. Have you wanted a different career, relationship or life? What is missing? What blocks you from being all you can be? Imagine what you could be if you knew you could not fail. Think about what you need to get there. If there are obstacles, think about what resources you have that could help you achieve that life of greater meaning. Ask for help if you need it.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert in helping people reach their dreams using her solution focused approach. She has created several programs to assist her clients in discovering their life's purpose, reach their goals, and overcome the obstacles to their dreams. For more information, go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ . Find free resources to be who you are really capable of being.

Your Facial Expression Forms That First Impression

"Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important."

~Janet Lane

Your facial expression helps people form their first impression of you. Is your expression tense? Serious? Angry? Or is it peaceful? Relaxed? Contented? You don't have to be deliriously happy and giggling all the time. But your expression does portray to those around you the emotional state you are experiencing, and can help attract or detract from the message you are trying to send to others.

This week: Pay attention to your facial expression, or ask a friend or family member to cue you when your facial expression doesn't match the message you'd like to convey. Practice making faces in the mirror. Notice which emotions are conveyed through your typical facial expressions. Ask yourself if this is the message you want to send? If necessary, practice relaxing the muscles in your face and notice how that looks.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and expert in helping people change their emotional state using her solution focused approach and toolbox of rapid change techniques. For more information about how to overcome the obstacles in your life, go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .

Changing Your Perceptions Changes Your Outlook

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

~Dr. Wayne Dyer

How you choose to perceive things that happen in your life really determines what you think about them, and how you feel about them. For instance, when you perceive something as a problem, it takes on a certain heaviness, and may even seem insurmountable. If you perceive that same situation as a challenge, it energizes you to seek solutions.

I recently had the opportunity to relearn about this when my husband was burned in a fire at his equipment building. We didn't look at this as a catastrophe; we looked at it as a challenge to be met. His injuries have been a set-back, not something we choose to perceive as permanent. As a result, I think, he has made a much speedier recovery.

This week: If you feel stuck in some area of your life, check to see how you are looking at it. Is there a way you can change your thinking? Can you reframe it as a challenge? Or maybe even an opportunity? Or even as "life's little hiccup?" Notice how your feelings change when you change how you look at things.

Linda Pucci, Ph.D. is a psychologist, life coach and trainer at Inner Resource Center, LLC in

Maryville, TN. She specializes in helping people overcome obstacles by changing their perceptions with her solution focused methods. For more information, go to http://www.innerresourcecenter.com/ .