ATTENTIVE ART LIFE COACHING

What is the first thing you think when you wake up in the morning?

Is it along the lines of ‘I shouldn’t have done that yesterday, I’ll do it differently today? Or ‘Today I’m going to start doing abc’ or ‘Today I’m going to stop doing xyz?’

How many days, weeks, months or years have you woken up and thought the same thing?

Do you look at your life and think ‘how did I get here?

Are there practices and behaviours happening in your life that you are so familiar yet so dissatisfied with?

Are you procrastinating, putting up with, managing, overdoing things, people pleasing, overspending, being ‘busy’?

These are all unconscious behaviours that our subconscious mind is using in some way to keep us safe.

Do you look at other people, whether you know them or not, and expect yourself to be ‘more like them’ whether that is in terms of physical appearance, perceived lifestyle or measure of success?

By expecting yourself to be ‘more like them’ you are expecting yourself to be ‘less like you’ and so are missing out on all the wonderful goodness that is available to you. You are told what you want all the time by society and the media so you turn towards what you’re told you are supposed to like, which is making you feel bad for not having or wanting things because you don’t think you deserve them or can have them. What if those feelings are really the fact that those things aren’t actually right for you? So, what is right for you?

When we stop and look at it together, you’ll see the way you show up for one area of your life is probably similar to all areas of your life. You get stuck in patterns you are used to because someone once told you that was what you should do and you accepted it as your reality.

What if it could be different?

When you wake up tomorrow and your life is exactly as you want it, in which ways does it feel different to now?

Imagine waking up and you are filled with anticipation for all the brilliant things you are looking forward to doing. You feel no stress because you know there is enough money, you know your friends are there, your house is clean and tidy and there is nothing on the agenda that you haven’t chosen to put there. How does that feel?

You enjoy the work you do, your environment pleases you, you love the people in your life. You know sometimes life can throw you a challenge, but you know how to navigate unchartered water now. Your support system is in place and you can radio them for help at any time. Taken care of in this way you feel valued and appreciated, well deserving of all the beauty and goodness that permeates your life now. Inspired to pass it on, you exist in an ever expanding matrix that is ripe with satisfaction and contentment.

Which do you prefer?

I’m Sophie Walker, a qualified Creative Mindfulness Practitioner and a certified Solution Focused Brief Therapist and Modern Psychology Coach.

I have a Diploma in Modern Psychology and university certificates in Psychology and Mental Health and Mindfulness. I’m also a Royal Academy shortlisted artist and have been in the top 10% of entrants to the Bridport Prize in both novel writing and poetry so I’m well placed to work with you on creatively making your dream life.

Using a blend of all my creative modalities combined with solution focused therapy, visualisation and positive psychology, I will help you to get your life where you want it to be and to feel amazing as you do it.

In case I haven’t said this enough, there is no need to identify as a creative person to benefit from Attentive Art Coaching.

In fact, often the people who think they are ‘not good at art’ get incredible results because the creative processes break down psychological barriers which have been in place for many years. If you already have a creative practice that’s brilliant too.

So How Does It Work?

First of all we do an attentive art audit to see which areas need the most attention. I have a large library of creative meditations, worksheets and visualisations; we use these or I create new ones tailored to your personal situation to construct the outcomes you are looking for.

The main product of coaching is change. We identify what needs to change and then we work backwards from the point of it having changed already. By working in this way it helps the subconscious to familiarise itself with the changed scenario. Most of the time the reason change is so difficult is that the subconscious rules about 98 % of our actions. Even when thoughts and behaviours are unhealthy, if the subconscious thinks they are necessary for our survival, it will kep reinforcing that because the job of the subconscious mind is to keep us safe. We can think of it as the ‘downstairs brain’. If it is always in the dark, never going upstairs to look out of the windows (the eyes) it has no idea what is going on outside, it just does what it is programmed to do, which oftentimes actually is not helping us.

The good news is that the subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t (because it isn’t looking out of the window - it relies on assumption). When an athlete runs through their race or routine in their mind, the same parts of the brain light up as if they were actually doing it physically. So we need to convince the subconscious that what you want is already real. Then it is no longer scared of it and will drive you on the road that will take you where you want to go instead of repeatedly doing a u-turn and going back the other way. This is why I love creative visualisation so much.

Thanks to neuroplasticity, it is possible to change the subconscious habits and beliefs that are keeping us stuck.

By focusing on the preferred outcomes and cementing them with meditative creative practices, reinforcing them with repetition and making conscious incremental alterations to our thoughts, beliefs and behaviours, we lay the foundations for delicious and delightful transformations. As a bonus to this you learn new creative skills, gain confidence in your abilities, find a strong sense of who you are and acquire some beautiful artwork of your own making along the way.

What if you wake up one day and everything in your life is exactly as you want it to be?

With Attentive Art Coaching you will:

How does it work?

 We have an initial session to talk about what your life is like now and how you would like it to change. We cover the whys and find out how it came to be the way it is. We think about what you like to do and how your life would look if it was just as you want it to be. I teach you how to reframe both past and future memories. We discuss creativity, what you do, how you view yourself in creative terms and how you would like to move forwards creatively. We decide on what types of creativity you might want to explore and look at how we can incorporate it into bringing your best hopes into reality.

There is weekly solution focused therapy. This requires using your imagination to describe your life as it is when we have finished our three months together, by having a weekly session you can measure the progress and reinforce the desired outcome.

We also have a weekly action session where we review the outcomes of the solution focused therapy and identify which steps you can take that will move you in the direction you want to go in.

You have an opportunity to get in touch once a week with any questions and we have a quick accountability session at the end of the week to keep you on track!

By consistently showing up in this way, real and lasting change can happen and your life really can be exactly as you want it to be.

How much does it cost?

Attentive Art Coaching lasts for three months and costs £3500 which can be paid in three instalments of £1175

If you’re ready to become all that you can be, to know all of yourself and create the life you really want to live, you can email me at sophie@theattentiveartist.com or fill in a contact form HERE and I will get in touch.

You can now try a taster session for 1 hour to experience a sample of creative mindfulness tailored to your situation. Click the button to book.

“The benefits have been awesome - it has helped to spark my creativity again and is a beautiful form of mindfulness that allows me to enter a state of flow and express my feelings in a way that words don’t allow for.” - Angela, Canada

I look forward to helping you on your wonderful journey to the life you want to live.

Have a lovely day, Sophie X