Keeping Afloat

This is the second of what is going to be a series of vlogs about helping us tap into our inner wisdom and keep afloat at this time.

To do this I'm sharing insights from a coaching tool I use in coaching and workshops. It’s called the frameworks for change coaching process * & involves exploring the words on a series of cards to help us to tap into our inner wisdom.

An inner wisdom that is able to connect us to our inner calm.

Today’s insights to keep afloat are

• Insight: You let go of some old trappings, nice going.
• Potential setback: Setback by feelings of superiority in the current situation.
• Insight: An opportunity to give truthful feedback, be honest with all that are involved.
• Mentor: Strength

Reflect on your own thoughts about these cards, and I’ve shared some thoughts on the video and here's some additional thoughts too.

Insight: You let go of some old trappings, nice going.

The one thing that will help us cope better in the current situation is looking after our mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

Now is the time therefore to stop doing what we know does not serve us – if ringing a specific friend always leaves you angry or frustrated then stop ringing them, if a particular food makes your energy slump stop eating it, or if a certain exercise always makes you tired could you swap it for something that uplifts you? 

Potential setback: Setback by feelings of superiority in the current situation. 

Superiority can lead to us thinking “this won’t happen to me” or “I’m better than them” and can potentially lead us to cutting corners in the belief that we are infallible. Washing hands, keeping our distance, and following guidance is for all of us not just everyone else.  

Insight: An opportunity to give truthful feedback, be honest with all that are involved.

It was hard deciding to own and acknowledge my own jitteriness here. Especially as I understand that a positive and optimist mindset is paramount in supporting us to get to the other side. That said, not owning how we’re feeling is not supportive. Once acknowledged rather pushed down and away it’s easier to deal with whatever is coming up for us at this time.

Mentor: Strength

We all have inner strength and it’s when times are hard or difficult that we discover how deep our strength goes.

Dig deep, connect in, recall someone who is a role model for strength, remember times when your strength was ever present – do what ever you can to connect into that steel and strength within. 

I'm posting on LinkedIn , Facebook and YouTube daily so pop over there to have a daily dose of insight to help keep you afloat. I'll only be sharing occasionally here. I posted the first Keeping afloat vlog over on my Purchasing Coach blog.

* The process, the insight, setback and mentor cards used here are from Frameworks for Change © Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com.

You can get a less businessy set of very similar cards online from Amazon or in person as Findhorn Phoenix shop - the cards are called Intuitive Solutions (Amazon UK, Amazon US).

A beautiful sunrise and a lesson in patience

Blow those cobwebs away!

How do you learn?

How do you learn? 

And perhaps - more importantly - how do you learn so you can replicate what you’ve learnt? 

I suspect most of us would reply by saying we need to apply the learning. To understand the model, and apply it, test it, and explore it in real life situations. 

How can we therefore use this insight in other situations in our lives where we’re wanting to learn, or wanting others to learn? 

As a coach it’s interesting how often I hear of leaders telling people what to do and getting frustrated when they don’t learn and can’t replicate it in other situations. As a coach I often do know what I would do in a situation but to share that with my coachee moves my role into one of mentoring which has its place when they’re new to a process or skill. 

For the majority of times, however, it’s about asking questions, and helping them find the answers and truth for themselves. 

How can you ensure you help others learn for the future today, rather than tell them your answer?

5 day Mindset Challenge

Join me on the 9th September for the Mindset Challenge where we'll be exploring the impact our thinking is having on us achieving our goals.

Whilst predominantly aimed at those working in Procurement it's certainly not closed to anyone from any area of work or life wishing to explore this subject more fully.

As a coach I did wonder about the subject for the challenge as I could have chosen any soft skill. 


A soft skills challenge would certainly be a little too broad - after all which of the many soft skills would we focus on: confidence, communication, influencing, creativity, conflict management, motivation, change management and so on?
And yet the difference that makes the difference for everyone taking part may lie in any one of the above.
So we’re going to look to the unconscious and often missing link that supports every soft skill - MINDSET - the thinking that triggers and informs our actions.

The missing link that when we’re struggling with a situation helps us to find a solution.

The missing link that can make the difference between achieving our goals or not.

The missing link that when used effectively can truly transform situations.

Which means, what ever the underlying soft skills needed to be nurtured, the questions and tasks in the challenge can be applied to them, and to the situation you’re wanting to transform.

So why not join me for the five day procurement mindset challenge starting on 9th September.

Is their head in the sand?

“How do I get their head out of the sand?”
It’s a question I get asked about colleagues, team members, partners, friends and family, and it’s asked in relation to situations they believe could be improved if only the other person would accept there was a problem, and take appropriate action to resolve it.

It’s also a question asked when they believe they know what the solution is.
There’s a fundamental flaw in this perspective - the person, like me in the photo above, has to take their own head out of the sand.

We might encourage them but, ultimately, the decision is theirs. Which means there’s only so much we can do.
In some respects it’s what 'Can’t see the Wood for the Trees' was written for - to help people a little resistant to hearing advice from others, just like myself, to get out of a rut, stop treading water or going round in circles and to see the wood for the trees and get back on track. (Hint it’s available from all online stockists.)
One word of warning, it’s certainly easier to notice that others have their head in the sand than ourselves - which means when we’re getting frustrated with others it might be a red flag of our own lack of awareness and need for action.
hashtahashtag

I'm speechless...or I've become one of those authors

Wow - I’m still a little speechless (and you know me; that’s not often).

Here’s why.

20 years ago I can remember buying all the many books on the reading list for my trainer training. 

I remember looking up to those authors whose tools and techniques were making a difference in people’s lives. Admiring their creativity and authority in a subject that has the ability to transform lives.

At the time I introduced a coaching tool of my own and over the last 20 years have used it with many clients. I even wrote a book sharing the process so other coaches and trainers could use it in their work, and to provide a resource for people to dip into and read a few pages when they were struggling - a little TLC and support when they needed it.

Since its publication nearly a year ago, I’ve heard stories of people’s lives being positively impacted by the book.

Recently I heard that my book has been added to one trainer's reading list, and used as a source for some of the training content.

I have become one of those authors I admired and that has given me goosebumps.

When did you last reflect on the journey you’ve been on and the achievements realised that once upon a time were only a dream?

The Transformation Game - and body image

I intend to choose a positive body image

The Mental Health Foundation’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is body image.

As I reflected on what I could write on body image I read a Daily Mail article on the resurgence of the use of the Transformation Game®, a wonderful self development tool I’ve used for over 20 years for myself and with coaching clients.

The Transformation Game® is not for the faint hearted, and I think Jane Alexander’s description of the game being like “Spiritual monopoly” and even "Bonkers" says it all. This description certainly conveys the challenges facilitators like myself might have for encouraging people to “play the game” on an area of their life they’d like more clarity on. Certainly the first time anyway. Many once smitten, like Jane, return often to help kick-start or realign an area of their lives.

“Ouch” says Jane Alexander - something those who play the game can relate to.

Whatever your belief about the cards you choose they certainly help you get to the crux of an issue. For it to be effective you do have to be prepared to go there in the first instance, and accept the odd “ouch” or two when it hits the nail on the head, and perhaps gets a little too close to comfort about what’s going on. Although it can be equally gentle if needed too - ie it gives you what you can cope with and need at any moment in the same way a coach flexes their styles to suit the coachee. 

Having recently had a photo shoot I have certainly had my body image brought to the fore as I struggled with what I saw in the images of me. I’m wondering, therefore, what the game will offer if I play it with the intention of me embracing a positive body image.

That’s where the challenge started, even before the first dice had been rolled and any cards chosen. My intention changed a few times as I reflected on the difference for me of

• 'Having' a positive body image
• 'Embracing' a positive body image
• 'Holding' a positive body image
• 'Accepting' my body image

And settled on

• I intend to 'choose' to have a positive body image

Which firmly put the ball in my court about my body image being a choice I have, and one that is a permanent fixture rather than something I could put down or let go of when the fancy takes me.

As I set out playing the game alone I failed to roll the required number on the dice to land on the appropriate square to start my game. A sign perhaps of my resistance to change in this area?

The first card of the game was the guardian angel of ‘communication’ – a mentor if you will for my whole game. A mentor who I thought reminded me to communicate lovingly and non judgmentally with myself.

The game involved 23 rolls of the dice, moving up 4 levels (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) and landing on squares with names such as: insight, setback, intuitive flash, free will, blessings, service, miracle, appreciation, transformation, angels and depression. With awareness gathered along the way.

I’m not going to mention every move here, and instead share the patterns I observed, and key insights I got from the squares I landed on.

Intuitive flash

I landed on this square 5 times, and feedback from the game suggested my intuition on what to do next was faulty more often than not.

Which feels about right – for me my body image is one of those areas where I look for the facts and data to support my belief. There’s no room for whispers from intuition or inner wisdom. No room for self love. Just (faulty?) data that I use to abuse.

An interesting observation as my intuition is usually very easy to hear – and a wonderful example that every game, and the way we play it is unique to the intention we’re working on. It’s as if the game brings our ways of behaving and thinking into our conscious awareness and out in front of us in order for us to transform or transmute them before putting them back.

Free will

I landed on this square 3 times and the feedback from the game was that I never used it well.

Reflecting on that pattern as I write it feels like I was avoiding what I know I should be doing. Choosing instead to be distracted by all that glitters (a world often portrayed by celebrities) – perhaps reflecting the pattern of having my head turned by what everyone else is doing and looks like, and trying to emulate them rather than focusing on being me.

Angels 

I had many of these join me:

• Trust & Delight
• Expectancy & Beauty
• Purification & Flexibility
• Responsibility & Freedom

Whilst playing I explored the connection with each card in turn. Interesting on reflection though to see a pattern emerge from these as a whole ie that delight, beauty, flexibility and freedom are only achieved with a dose of hard work whether that’s in the form of trust, expectancy, purification or responsibility. 

Hmmm ...as ever food for thought from the game that will continue over weeks to come.

Or perhaps it’s about having the flexibility to take responsibility to trust and delight in my own beauty giving me freedom from, and purification of my current thinking. Leading to an expectancy for a acceptance of me :-).

A great reminder that it’s our intention, our game and our inner wisdom that nudges us to see the insights we need to understand via the patterns and beliefs we notice in the game.

Setbacks

An “ouch”y setback was:

I’d rather change the outside world rather than do the inner work of altering my response to it.

As I reflect on this I can hear my outrage at advertising and glamour magazines telling us what perfect looks like, and even my resistance to the expectation of wearing make up. And yet, why am I even allowing those expectations to impact me, why the wasted energy when it’s me taking on other people’s beliefs.

Hmmm ….  instead of pointing the finger at others perhaps pointing at me will help shift this belief.

In the game setbacks come with pain to represent that they slow us down, and even cause pain in our lives. We can however have pain free setbacks in the game that invite us to consider how we may already have released or relate differently to a setback.

In my game a pain free setback was: 

I stubbornly refuse to approve of my own unique process of growth.

A great reminder and nudge that we’re all different and not homogenised like some factory processed snack that’s the same whenever and wherever it’s made. We’re all unique, with different intentions for our lives, different aspirations, and different passions. So why would we look the same?!?

Insights

Insights can come with “ouch”s too - well they did for me with this one

I successfully resisted the temptation to gossip.

Yep it’s too easy to join friends and have a gossip party about all that we don’t love about ourselves. I’m not sure I can ever remember having a conversation about what we love about ourselves. It’s no wonder my body image gets a battering when there’s nothing in my memory to counter the negativity.

This insight invited me to resist the temptation to gossip, and change the focus of conversations with friends when we start to beat ourselves up.

Another insight congratulates me, with the words:

Thank you for demonstrating joyous, conscious human living.

Which aligned well with another insight earlier in the game that said:

I express honesty and truthfulness in each moment, claiming my power with love.

Which feels like a great end to the game – a reminder to stay conscious to love and joy, and perhaps not spending time or energy on things that take me away from that.

How might my experience of the Transformation Game nudge you to choose to think differently about your body image?

The challenge now of course is to take action, and do what I committed to do during the game. One action of which is to revisit one of the stories I wrote some time ago to support my own mental health that I'm sharing next week - the wave was written at a time where that desire to be like others was not helping me mental health at all.

There were other squares and other cards and actions to undertake during my game but the full extent of the transformative quality of the game is very hard to convey in just words on a page. You can buy the Transformation Game® (available from Amazon amongst others) and play alone or with friends, or be facilitated by people such as myself  who are trained facilitators of the game.

Notes from another game on life balance can we found here.

Please note I played a solo game – games such as the one Jane Alexander played in the Daily Mail article will have up to 4 players playing, and the relationship with other players and their games adds another dimension to the insight available.

The process, the insight, setback and angel cards used here are from the Transformation Game © Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com. ANGEL ® CARDS (a registered trademark of InnerLinks, Asheville NC, USA) © 1981 Drake and Tyler; produced by Narada Media, 4650 N. Port Washington Rd, Milwaukee, WI 53212 USA. Use by permission.

Subtly Different

I never bore of going to swim on our Scottish beach - despite it being the same beach. Which reminded me that even in business we need to offer something subtly different every time we engage with others.

Go with the flow

Today’s video blog was such a great example of not pushing against the flow – as I thought the vlog was on one subject and, after 6 aborted attempts, learnt my lesson and realised the vlog was about something else entirely.

Can't see the wood for the trees - vlog

A little more about the Can't See the Wood for the Trees book, aimed at helping you get back on track when you're unsure about what to do.

The Landscaping your Life book, Can't See the Wood for the Trees, uses the Landscaping Your Life process at times when you're stuck in a rut, up the creek without a paddle, feeling like a fish out of water, are treading water, or feel like you're going round in circles. Simply open the book, pick the chapter that resonates, and read that chapter. Available from all online stockists (Amazon UK here: https://amzn.to/2Ho6W8v).

Aren't all books for mind, body, or soul?

I wanted to chassé down the aisle of the train as I returned from Liverpool back to Edinburgh on Tuesday evening. I’d had a very hectic couple of days which usually results in either sheer exhaustion or exhilaration.

As exhilaration started to emerge, I looked at my playlist and started to listen to the songs I like to sing at the top of my voice - when alone anyway 😉. Songs that transport me to another place, and allow me to forget the fatigue, and to connect in with the satisfaction of a blinkin’ good couple of days.

As the opening lines of the third track started “Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes” I gave an almighty “aghhh” and my body relaxed.

It’s a song from Rent and is titled “seasons of love”. 

The song invites us to think about how we measure a year i.e. those five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes – with suggestions for measures such as sunrises, sunsets, laughter, tears, cups of coffee or the ultimate - love?

No swims mentioned though - even if that's about the only thing I do measure (111/7/2 being my all time/this year/this month's tally since recently starting open water swimming again)!

With World Book Day fast approaching, my mind wandered to thinking about how we measure the books we read? 

Do we measure our books like minutes in simple numbers – one book a month, 12 a year, or do we measure them by the impact they’ve had? Perhaps one book a year being sufficient if it’s met our needs over that time? 

Books, much like songs, have the power to inspire, motivate, inform, expand comfort zones, calm, challenge, anger, sadden, or simply transport us to another place. Our choice of book in any moment reflecting the outcome we’re wanting. 

Once home, and by way of letting go of my day and getting ready for sleep, I searched my kindle for the appropriate book to read. Jumping from fiction to non fiction and back. 

Thrillers, and some coaching books were discounted. Then I spied 'Waterlogged' about Roger Deakin's open-water swimming trip in various locations in the UK, and knew that was perfect. Swimming and that connection to nature provided just the right end to my day as sleep crept in to work on my fatigued mind, body and soul.

Is that the true measure of a book -  the ability to meet our need in that moment to nurture mind, body and/or soul? 

I wonder, is that why so many of us traditionally buy our books at the airport or station as we head for our holidays? A time when our awareness is alive to what will support us most at this time – for some pure escapism into science fiction, for others a good thriller or crime novel, and for others to catch up on the latest historical. political, economic, sociological, technological, legal, ethical or environmental research, trends or thinking. 

It’s interesting I think to consider that if all any book does is meet our mind, body and/or soul needs, why the genre my own book falls within is only a subset of all genres, not the mechanism by which all books are categorised. 

Self help is similar – a fiction book for some providing all the self help that reader requires.

I wonder if it were more broadly recognised that all books are for mind, body and soul, and that we read in order to provide self help to ourselves, how our relationship with books categorised as such would change.

Instead of judging self help books as “not what I need right now” “it’s not got that bad – yet” “that’s for other people not me”, might we bring into our conscious awareness the help needed to support our mind, body, and/or soul, and then select the book(s) most able to meet that need in that moment.

What book would best meet your mind, body and/or soul needs today, and when will you take action to open it to allow it to take you on a journey from where you are to where you’d like to be?

EnJoy World Book Day.

Alison Smith

Landscaping your life to get back on track.
Alison@alisonsmith.eu +44(0)7770 538159

My mind, body and soul classified book, Can’t see the wood for the trees, is written for those times when your mind is unsure what to do. You may be feeling lost, and confused. Yet you are able to describe the situation, even if in terms such as: 

• Can't see the wood for the trees, or 
• Being stuck in a rut, 
• Going round in circles, 
• Being out on a limb
• Feeling like a fish out of water
• Being up a creek without a paddle, or even 
• Treading water. 

All sayings we use when we’re stuck – and yet, with a little help, can also provide the solution. 

As we allow nature to be our coach, nature’s landscapes to be metaphors for our lives, the solutions can really be found in the woods, creeks, ruts and circles of our imagination.

To find out more, why not treat yourself to this feast for mind, body and soul and help yourself to get back on track now, or at any time in the future when options are eluding you and logic isn't helping much. It's certainly a book best read at the time of need - dipping into the chapter that resonates in that moment to provide insight to get you back on track. #LandscapingYourLife 

Learning from Nature's Timing

Happy New Year - even if a little belatedly.

I’ve been wanting to write this post for some time but, as it’s about timing, I had to be patient as it wasn’t fully developed enough till now.

If you’ve only a few moments free then that’s the punchline too – not taking action till the timing is right, the pieces of the jigsaw are available and have all been turned over, spring has arrived or sunset is approaching.

Specifically not taking action too soon, nor hurried, nor just because you think you should, ought, or must be doing something.

Busyness for busyness sake will not deliver the harvest if the seed is planted too soon, nor will it be an abundant harvest if we keep pressing reset, checking its growing for fear of just biding time as it percolates and develops unseen till the time is right.

Yesterday’s #spiritchat on Twitter was about rituals – morning rituals, daily rituals or even annual rituals that we have that support our mind, body, and soul. It was the catalyst for writing this post on timing.

New year has always been a time for me revisiting my visions and goals. A time for some peace and quiet, time to release the old year and embrace the new. A time to have a transformation game, make a vision board and/or collage. A time of reflection and inspiration.

Except this year life got in the way, and my ritual moved out by a couple of weeks. Coincidentally out by a couple of weeks to when the weather turned much colder after a warmer December than normal!

Interesting therefore as I reflect on nature’s patterns that the new year doesn’t feature.

The 1^st January is a human construct, an arbitrary date to reset the year. Our ancestors would have used nature’s patterns to live their lives by – whether that was aligned with sunrise, sunset, longest or shortest day, equinoxes, the arrival of spring or autumn, or so on.

In nature there’s a natural order of things – harvest comes some time after sowing, the longer the germination and growth period the greater the longevity of the outcome. If you want quick germination be prepared to have to resow repeatedly throughout the year.

It’s the metaphor of this natural order of things I want to explore today.

My belief is that logic can only get us so far in life, and logic can certainly throw a whole load of blocks and barriers in the way with its “that wont work”s, “it didn’t work last time”s, “I can’t”s, “must do it this way”s, and even “won’t”s.

That is, logic is great if we’re not dealing with expanding comfort zones, transformational change or the need for inspiration. These require a different language, a language logic has yet to learn.

Use of metaphor allows our mind and its logic to take a break as we get in touch with our inner wisdom – an inner wisdom that does not have words but understands and speaks in metaphor.

As you reflect on a situation you’d like more clarity on, perhaps one you’re becoming impatient about, or wondering when the best time to start would be, what aspect of nature’s timing comes to mind?

• Sunrise/ Sunset
• Day/ Night
• Longest day/ Equinox/ Shortest day
• Winter/ spring/ summer/ autumn
• Full moon/ new moon
• High tide/ low tide
• Sow, grow, harvest, seed
• others? 

If one pattern of timing jumped out at you, or another came to mind, take some time to reflect on what that pattern is about. 

Don’t jump too quickly to what it might mean in the current situation. Simply think about, or even write down or draw what you know about that pattern, look it up on the internet, keep digging into the pattern to discover all of its features - not just the obvious.

Last week sunrise was a pattern I was exploring, and its features included: 

• It follows the night
• It comes slowly
• It’s timing is predictable
• It can’t always be seen but it’s always there
• There’s a sunrise happening somewhere in the world at every second
• It’s beauty is often demonstrated when there’s just the right amount of cloud about 

• It’s followed by a midday and sunset (it seemed like I went from one sunrise to the next without allowing time for the day to develop, nor end!)

The aim is to keep going. 

To keep exploring the pattern.

Once you’ve fully dived into the metaphor it’s a case of then relating it to the current situation. What different perspective might this pattern in nature be asking you to consider?

For example, here's some examples of what these insights might include, although this will relate to my own observations which will be impacted by my life experience at the moment, so don't be surprised if you get something very different: 

• I need to have a little more patience - to set something off and allow it time to get to midday and beyond, to mix the metaphor a little, to not get angry because it's still below the surface of the ground developing. 
• The need to sow more than the one seed might be helpful - ie an abundant harvest comes from sowing many seeds some of which will never grow or flourish.
• The right time of tide depends on what you're doing - so don't judge yourself until you know the best time for the activity you're wanting to do - ie don't just follow everyone else - they might be wanting to fish not set sail! 
• Jumping from one deadline to another isn't allowing anything to flourish and is killing creativity.  
• Perhaps I just need to take action in a different location to take advantage that sunrise is at a different time there than here!! 
• Rather than trying to do it myself and getting lost in the dark perhaps I can ask for help to provide some moonlit illumination.
• And so on.

How to embed any insights that resonate can take various forms: 

• You can stick with the metaphor and use screenshots or images of seeds growing or sunrises, or even go for a walk and observe the pattern in question, or 
• You can invite your mind and its logic to help develop a plan to release the pattern.

Good luck, and may all your seeds grow and flourish.

There's many different ways that Landscaping Your Life (LYL) uses nature as our coach, nature’s landscapes as metaphors for our lives, to provide insight and inspiration for the task in hand. 

There's many posts here and there's even an index of highlights from 2018 that will also give you a flavour for what's possible, and includes the publication of Can’t see the wood for the trees which had featured on many a vision board for the last 20 years. (As they say, patience is a virtue and great things are worth waiting for.) 

For more on how I’ve used the LYL process in business see my posts on: Stuck in a rut, and See the wood for the trees in 2019 - planning for success in the year ahead. 

I look forward to hearing from you this year for personal coaching, group facilitation or speaking.

Alison Smith
Landscaping Your Life
alison@alisonsmith.eu
+44 (0)7770 538159

Taking action to see the wood for the trees

Whilst thinking of a situation you’d like more clarity on or for it to be transformed consider which of these 6 images are you drawn to?

Once you’ve decided, see below for some coaching questions from nature - ie different questions from each image. Just answer the questions for the image you picked, or explore them all, or think about what insight or questions you imagine the image might be asking you.

Image 1: What can you do now to bring more joy and beauty into your life, to allow the mist to clear? Where are the green shoots of opportunity showing themselves?

Image 2: In what way have you isolated yourself from others, How can you become more connected with humanity and the planet? Where is your tribe? How can you spend more time with your tribe?

Image 3: What can you do today to be more grounded? Whether that’s via physical movement, the foods you eat, people you spend time with, books you read, programmes you watch or visualisation used in your daily meditation. What one action in the past has enabled you to take your head out of the clouds and ether, and to come back down to Earth and take part in daily human life?

Image 4: What one thing (however small) can you do today to move you towards your goal? No getting lost in the confusion - just one small action. No excuses. No delay nor further procrastination. No ifs buts cants. One action you can take now. Nothing more is needed until you’ve taken that one action.

Image 5: Do you need to zoom in or out - ie are you focusing too much on the detail and not enough on the big picture, or vice versa? How can you release the current perspective to shift to the other?

Image 6: What needs to be cut down? What is no longer serving you and your goal? How can that be chopped down and released from your life?

As you reflect on your answers to these coaching questions from nature what action can you take today to get more clarity or to make progress on the situation?  

This is just one example of how Landscaping Your Life uses nature as your coach to get you back on track in your life. Explore this blog for more posts sharing many different tools using nature to get you back on track.

Of course you could also buy the recently published Can't see the wood for the trees which shares many Landscaping Your Life tools and applies them to well known sayings we use when we're stuck e.g stuck in a rut, can't see the wood for the trees, up the creek without a paddle, going round in circles, missed the tide, out on a limb, treading water, like a fish out of water and so on.  

One reader recently described it as a first aid kit for the mind after simply reading one chapter and following the process outlined there.