Tag Archives: life coaching

Jan28

Hey 2009, You’re Looking Mighty Fine…

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Hey 2009, You’re Looking Mighty Fine…

Dear Fellow Humans from the year 2009,

As 2008 passes like a gall stone, I’m laid up for the first day of the new year, high on early episodes of The West Wing and the belief that the inauguration of our new president will rescue this country from free-fall. It’s been an endlessly interesting year for us all. Electing our first black president, losing 40% of the capital in the stock market, seeing Tina Fey look so much like Sarah Palin, I can’t tell who’s who.

Personally, I’ve had an interesting year as well. It began with a ten-day silent meditation course in India. You all followed my travels throughout India, Thailand, and Cambodia for three months starting last February. I gathered parts and memories of myself scattered in many lifetimes during that trip. I returned home with a powerful sense of independence, maturity, and knowing that no matter where I am in the entire world, I can take care of myself and be happy. Then I came home and saw my parents. (And forgot again. Ha!)

I also joined a year-long training course for life coaching and workshop leading in August, and began coaching people in creativity and spontaneity. After doing standup, working and playing with others to break through to what is most true for them is my favorite thing to do. And after almost two months of work on my solo show, “The Punchline,” I played to sold out houses at the Fringe Festival. It was an honor to win Best Female Solo at the Festival and be selected for the Solo Show Festival in Marin in February (the 24th.)

I’m sending out this new year’s wish to you because I want to reach out and connect with you. I’ve been very affected by the intensity and fear of the world’s events–the end of easy oil, the reluctance of auto companies to completely re-invent themselves in order to protect the environment, the blindness and greed of the mortgage industry, and the sense of scarcity the downturn in the economy has had on us. And the message I want to convey is that it’s time to open our eyes to what’s really happening in the world. And to take a stand. To speak what we believe, and to align our actions with our values and our words. But I also want to say that there is so much more to life than the what’s in the news. Our own thoughts and actions are what truly build the fabric of reality, moment by moment. And together, we have the power to focus our thoughts to send an asteroid crashing into Bernard Madoff’s living room. (But read some of my beloved Krishnamurti and you’ll realize we are all Bernard Madoff.)

So stay tuned for info about my gigs, laughter yoga classes, and workshops in the coming year. I’ll be premiering the full version of Eat Pray Laugh! at some point, and I’m also putting together a down and dirty old-school standup set for the clubs.

To 2009, may all beings be happy.

-Alicia

http://www.aliciadattner.com
http://www.creativeheartcoaching.com
http://www.monkpunk.org
http://www.examiner.com/x-453-SF-Comedy-Examiner
http://www.youtube.com/AliciaDattner

Oct10

Rave Reviews on Coaching with Alicia

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Rave Reviews on Coaching with Alicia

“Alicia is a heartfelt, deep, vibrant, and creative soul who brings a new flair to life coaching.   Merging her stand up comedy, her spirituality and her deep wealth of life experience Alicia stands out as life coach ready to dig deep into the heart of the matter, while encouraging you to step beyond your own fears to do what it takes to have the life you love.  

Through coaching with Alicia, I was able to start painting again and got back in touch with my creative side.  She is a deep listener and helped me sort through the chatter in my head giving me focus and clarity around my life path.  

If you’re looking to spark your creative side or simply looking for someone to help get you back on track Alicia is a wonderful coach!  I’ve met a lot of different coaches in my day and I highly recommend her as one that stands out amongst the others.”

~Suzette H.

*******

Dear Alicia;

I just wanted to let you know how terrific your laugher yoga workshop was for the Student Affairs staff retreat at California College of the Arts. You helped to bring us closer through play. It was impressive to see how you invited the group to laugh and do all kinds of fun exercises together. You did a lovely job facilitating a fun and meaningful group experience. I can confidently recommend you to any organization or group. Thank you so much.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Tara Rech

Director of Counseling Services
California College of the Arts

********

“I used to be disappointed that I don’t create the connections in my life that I’d like.  I now see how my way of connecting can be very much a one-way street.  Alica asked me about what I wanted (connection) and how I would know when I had it.  What I saw in that moment was the ways in which I can be very present with people yet where they still somehow find me inaccessible. I saw that I am very vague when talking about my own feelings and that I use this to keep people at arm’s length. For the first time maybe ever I actually saw and felt the dissonance between how I am with people and how I let them be with me. WOW!

Alica also had me feel into what kind of question I might ask where I would actually feel vulnerable, thereby taking down the wall that keeps people out. This was a stroke of brilliance on Alica’s part. We threw around some ideas and landed on one that felt so vulnerable that I actually threw it out the first time around. “How do you feel about me?” Yikes! Getting reflection and contribution from Alica in that vulnerable moment put me into an incredible place of bliss and connection that I’m not sure I’ve ever been in. 

We did an incredible amount of very deep work an a very short period of time – quite possibly the most efficient hour of coaching I’ve ever gotten… really!  It was incredible – a huge breakthrough for me.”

~Ben P.

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More reviews on Yelp.com

Oct10

Testimonial – Creativity Coaching

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Testimonial – Creativity Coaching

"Alicia is a heartfelt, deep, vibrant, and creative soul who brings a new flair to life coaching.   Merging her stand up comedy, her spirituality and her deep wealth of life experience Alicia stands out as life coach ready to dig deep into the heart of the matter, while encouraging you to step beyond your own fears to do what it takes to have the life you love.  

Through coaching with Alicia, I was able to start painting again and got back in touch with my creative side.  She is a deep listener and helped me sort through the chatter in my head giving me focus and clarity around my life path.  

If you're looking to spark your creative side or simply looking for someone to help get you back on track Alicia is a wonderful coach!  I've met a lot of different coaches in my day and I highly recommend her as one that stands out amongst the others."

~Suzette H.

Aug11

The Possibility Tree

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The Possibility Tree

Treeinhand
So, you’ve got a clear vision and a CPR (a statement of the results you want from your work , what your purpose is, and the context you’d like to pursue your results in.) Now, what, Ms. Creativity Coach? If you’re at all like me and like to create big visions for yourself, you can get awfully excited and awfully overwhelmed by it all.  Questions arise, like, "Where do I start?" and "Which is the best, most effective task to perform at this moment?"  The intensity of the wonderful vision you have created for yourself can become another block to having what you want if you let it overwhelm you! (It’s easy in moments of overwhelm to lose sight of goals and get lost in distractions like over-checking email…)

So, take some time to brainstorm the steps that will bring you from where you are now to where you want to be breaks everything up into manageable chunks.  And if you are someone with a lot of different goals and a lot of different projects all in play, drawing a tree of possible courses of action can be really helpful in visualizing what steps you need to take to arrive at your aims.  Then, you can choose which "branch" you want to focus some time on, take specific actions, and see measurable results.  And whenever necessary, you can re-assess.  Perhaps you’re a violinist, and you know you want to get more work playing the violin.  One possibility branch for getting more work would involve networking with other musicians at parties or at the symphony…  Another possibility branch would involve building a website, posting examples of your work online, and attracting customers through internet searches.  Yet another possibility branch could be learning new pieces of music and auditioning in different cities.  Of course, the knowledge of your tree branches will evolve as you grow, but you will create a great picture of how to achieve your goals.  And then you can build a treehouse.

"Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars."  -Les Brown

Jun30

It’s never too late!

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It’s never too late!

Butterfly
"This isn’t what I meant to do!"  "This isn’t where I meant to be!"  "What the heck happened to all those years?"

Often in our lives, through a series of conscious and unconscious choices, we find ourselves in a different place in our lives than we had once imagined we would be.  We reach a milestone age, or we see friends or even public figures accomplishing something, and as we compare ourselves, we feel a poignant mixture of jealousy, desire, regret, and hope about where we are.  Many of us will take the exit ramp right there, and drown in these thoughts and emotions.  Some of us divert ourselves from even feeling the emotions by watching television, drinking, eating, falling in love, etc…

Yet no matter how we try to avoid that call, that little phone will keep ringing.  Picking it up, even when it’s yapping about what’s wrong, is in fact a great step to take!  This is a really powerful moment of choice, and it’s important to listen to the deeper message beneath the surface.  By identifying and dealing compassionately with the "chatter", we can get to what’s really important.  Notice the voices that say, "If I really was meant to be successful, I wouldn’t have wasted all this time." "I shouldn’t have taken time off from my career while everyone else was getting ahead."  "There are so many people who want to succeed in my field more than me, how can I possibly make it?" 

Make a list of what all those voices say, and then put it aside for now.  Next, take a few deep breaths and quiet your mind.  What is the deep desire beneath your fears?  What is your spirit longing for?  What does your heart whisper to your ears?  This wish will never be extinguished. And even if you discover it in your last breath, it won’t have been too late.  Each twist and turn along your journey has brought you to this perfect moment, and your soul has its own perfect way of fulfilling its purpose right where you are, right now.  Everything you need is available to you now. 

Could you summon the courage to surrender to your own spirit, just for this moment?

        -"The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."

        -Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged people who kept on working."