Thanks for investigating the Abundant Thinking website. I'm Lucy and in this blog I'd like to explain a bit about what Sustainable Coaching means to me, and therefore what it offers my clients.

 My coaching focuses a lot on sustainability - two useful definitions of sustainability are:

'the quality of being able to continue over a period of time'

and

'the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore being able to continue for a long time'.

My coaching practice grows out of both of these approaches - I see the first as personal sustainability: being able to live a life of meaning and purpose that is healthy and happy;

I see the second to be about living within the resources that the earth can provide to us, whilst preserving resources to enable future generations to survive and thrive on the planet.

Personal Sustainability

So let's dig a bit deeper into the fertile soil of personal sustainability. Living a life of meaning and purpose is all about understanding your own values, motivations and needs. These sound pretty straightforward right? The kind of stuff we just all know about ourselves. Unfortunately that's not always the case. Our values can get buried under other people's - be that family, company, friends or educational establishment values. To fit in and get by we sometimes lose our own compass settings. Motivations and needs can change because of factors like life stage, health conditions, financial situation, family situation, confidence levels…you name it! Getting the balance right for you and the ecosystems you inhabit are really the bedrock of living a life of meaning and purpose. I've seen some real a-ha moments leading to recognition, change and increased fulfilment in my work with individuals and teams. If you want to try a quick, fun activity to assess your values (on your own or with other people close to you) then please do look on Brene Brown's website at Downloads | Brené Brown (brenebrown.com) - click on 06. Dare to Lead downloads and scroll down to the List of Values PDF there. Pick 2 - ONLY TWO!!! Really think through why these matter to you, and check in that they are your true bedrock values. It'll be eye opening for you and others, I promise!

I do a lot more work on finding meaning, purpose, health and happiness - so if you'd like to dive a bit deeper then please do get in touch with me via the contact form on my homepage and we can get some time booked in to chat.

 Environmental Sustainability

Let's look at that second definition of sustainability - living within the resources that the earth can provide to us, and helping to preserve resources for future generations of humans and the more-than-human world. We're all concerned one way or another by global issues such as extreme weather events like droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and floods and the relationship these can have to political instability, mass migration of humans and increasing wildlife species extinction. I won't depress you with statistics on here. Some people's coping mechanism for these events is to focus inward on their own lives, even to deny that some of these issues are as a result of human behaviour. In a way that reaction is understandable, because these things may appear way outside of our circle of control. But by focusing on the small things we can all do in our daily lives, we can reassure ourselves that we are contributing to improving the longer term situation.

What do I mean by this? Here are a few examples: next time you make a cuppa just boil the water you need for your cup - that uses less energy and less clean water. If you want to go further with energy efficiency then turn off any electrical items with a standby button when you're not using them, and switch to a renewable-only energy supplier. People power is a huge factor when it comes to where we spend our money, and you can see this by the rise in businesses who are focusing on reducing their carbon footprints - please support them. Then recognise yourself for the positive impact you are making - gratitude and appreciation are sadly underused resources, and they are really good for you! Start by appreciating yourself and spread the love from there. You'll make yourself and those around you feel much happier if you practice regular gratitude for all the small things.

In fact let's end this post on gratitude - here's one of my favourite ways to start the day with gratitude. Find a spot outdoors, preferably really close to your home (on a seat outside the back door is my go-to 'sit spot'). If you don't have easy access to outside space then even just opening your window wide should give you access to fresh air and the sounds of nature. Take in everything you can see, hear, feel and smell. What sounds do you notice? What changes do you notice day by day in the wildlife around you - different birds visiting, changes in the colours of leaves on the trees, the smell of the air after the rain? Spend some time feeling grateful for what's outside of our front doors, and give yourself a few minutes of mindful contemplation as you start your day.

Thanks for reading this blog post on sustainability in coaching. If you'd like to work with me on any of the topics I've raised here then please do drop me a message via the contact form on my homepage. It would be great to get to know you better.