Happy to be Irish

Maybe you’re just as much IMF’ed, EUB’ed and Anglo’ed out of it as I am but in some ways recent events prompted me to reflect on what it is that makes me happy to be Irish.

Kindness of strangers

While we might have lost some of our natural compassion for others during the Celtic Tiger days, I’ve seen resurgence in the caring words shared between strangers in the post office, at the local bus stop, or standing in the supermarket queue. Recently when struggling to find coins for the parking metre, and having not a lot of luck, a voice behind me said, “Here, I have some, take them.” Small gestures, each a connection of sorts and with it the unsaid message, ‘we’re all in this together.’

Charitable Donations

Three out of every four people in the Republic donate to charity, and while the sums donated have fallen, there is still a strong ethos ingrained in the Irish psyche of wanting to give to those more in need. Whatever the donation, whether financial or time, little or large, at Christmas or at Lent, all of it helps. In a funny kind of way it’s reassuring even comforting to know I’m surrounded by people who still have the generosity of spirit to reach out to others in their time of need.

Ambassadors and Culture

For a small country of 4 million, we have some formidable and highly respected global ambassadors including Mary Robinson, Bono, and Bob Geldof, who in their separate ways have campaigned for human rights, debt relief, and anti-poverty relief for third world countries. When it comes to culture, we’re no slouch there either with Dublin only the fourth city to receive the prized UNESCO City of Literature award. The award is in recognition of Dublin’s rich historical literary past and its international standing as a city of contemporary literary excellence.

The craic is mighty!

Regardless of the rapid changes in our society and the depletion of our collective wealth, we haven’t lost the banter or wit we’re famous for, or indeed the ability to conjure up a bit of ‘craic’ even in a crowd of two. Some of the remarks and jokes circulating via text, email, on Facebook, and Twitter about the state of the economy, the ‘new Irish,’ have been quite dark but for the most part hilarious. Perhaps our ability to resort to humour even in our most challenging of times is what keeps us from collectively going insane. Keep it up I say! 
A little sample of the kind of humour that makes us want to cry and laugh at the same time. Here ya go Cowan says sorry!

Strong Family Bonds

Love them or hate them, we can’t seem to live without our families. And where best to experience the passion and emotions that enmesh a typical Irish family is none other than the family get together. For the best barnies of all, it has to be those around Christmas time. As kids are running from room to room, roaring and shouting, and adults’ mill around glass in hand, noise levels ratchet up, and inevitably stress levels creep towards the roof. After a dinner accompanied by more wine, with florid faces and bulging guts, everyone starts to feel like pigs in a pen. Just about then your mother and sister bring up the ‘incident’ that happened back in ‘89. Within minutes, everyone has an opinion and come hell or high water, everyone must have his or her say. Not long after it’s time to go home, the goodbyes are said, the one for the road is finished and as you head out the door you think to yourself, “Ah well, thank God that’s all over for another year.”

So, would I have it any other way? As much as I might grumble, complain, or agonise over decisions, events, and circumstances we find ourselves in today, it doesn’t take away the fact that yes, I am indeed happy to be Irish.

With best regards,

Carole Smith

Website: Type Dynamics

Facebook: LifeCoachingwithCarole

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CaroleSmith_

Tel: (353) 85 778 5615

What is Coaching All About?

If you’ve ever wondered how coaching works there is one question you can expect to hear from a coach and it is, “What is it that you want?” A simple enough question but for so many they will struggle to answer it. Often the reply is ’I don’t know.’ The person answering may be referring to their relationship, their career, or their future. They will know they want something to change but for a variety of reasons may feel unable to name what it is.

So why is it so difficult to know what it is we want?

Sometimes it’s the busyness of life that leaves us dulled even a little punch-drunk and it takes a major event before we wake up and recognise that something about our life has to change. For others, the impact to the lives of colleagues, or family might seem like a good reason to suppress any desire for change. Some examples are the mother, seeing her children growing up and moving away and she begins to feel she no longer has a role in life. She might ask, “How did I get here? I’m forty-six, my kids are at college, and my husband and I rattle around in the house together with nothing left to talk about. What can I do?” Or what about the man, who has worked over thirty years, managing people and departments, who now finds himself at home with no one to direct or manage but himself, he might say, “I don’t know what to do with my time, the days just stretch out endlessly and I’m feeling low most of the time. What can I do?” For the entrepreneur, whose passion brought his company to where it is today, he might say, “I’ve lost interest; it’s no longer the fun start-up I created. I want something else but I just don’t know what.”

Yes ...but what is it that you want?

This is not an idle question posed by your coach. It’s part of the discovery process that sets out to help you gain self-awareness and fresh perspective about you and what you want from life. It’s about exploring what it is that makes you tick. For some it will mean tapping into distant memories to answer that.  For so many, life has become such a serious endeavour that even the unrestrained laughter remembered from youth is rarely heard or experienced.  For others the passion that once drove them to build a company culminated in a secure role that now feels hopelessly mundane and mind numbing.  So this journey you set out on with your coach is about rediscovering what makes you laugh, brings tears to your eyes, gives you joy or has you break out in a sweat and your heart pulsate faster. It’s about uncovering your passion, your purpose in life and exploring if it has evolved into something different to what it once was.

Powerful Questions

Whether it is your relationship or your career your coach will work with you by asking powerful but simple questions that will help you discover what it is you want from life now. Examples are:

Q:What was good about your relationship at the beginning?

Q:What was it about setting up your own business that drove your passion?

Q:To have that again, what would need to happen?

Q:What steps do you have to take that are your responsibility?

Q:What do you need from others to support you in achieving your goal?

Q:What are the wider implications to you/your family/your employees if you choose a different path?

So it is Simple then?

In a way it is, however coaching works because you are not talking with someone who has a personal agenda about the outcome of any decision you make. That allows you the freedom to explore in confidence, with a professional trained to ask the right questions, the rationale, the logistics, the emotional impact of any change you might want to implement.

What do you get out it?

For the most part, it’s clarity of mind. And when there is clarity, we are better equipped to make the right decision. Surely, that alone makes the investment in coaching all the more worthwhile.