Making Midlife Magic

Holding space is a way of showing love. When you hold space for someone, you are fully present for them, being with them as they go through the fullness of their experience -- grief, sadness, confusion.

In this episode, I highlight the importance of holding space for yourself, and offer specific strategies to help you do it. This episode will be especially useful when you’re feeling overwhelmed by your emotions, or when you're feeling on the threshold of some change but aren't there yet. Holding space lets you hold open a door even while you're figuring out how to walk through.

We often hear about holding space as something we do for others, but we can hold space for ourselves. When you want someone to let you have your feelings without trying to fix them, it's good to know that you can offer this gift to yourself.

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

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This episode highlights four key tools from my first 52 episodes. Sure, you could just listen to all 52 episodes starting with episode #1, but this tool bag is going to get you there much faster! And I'll tell you which episodes to listen to if you want to learn more.

These tools are the foundation of a powerful self-coaching practice. They'll help you open up new possibilities, so you can feel good about yourself, your life, and your future.

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

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IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

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In today's episode, I share a metaphor that will help you see possibilities. It will help when you feel stuck, or when you're in an emotional rut. It's easy for the brain to understand and lets us see choices where previously we saw none. Plus, it's fun!

What is this magical metaphor? The buffet! In today's episode, I share the power of imagining a buffet of feelings where you get to decide what to put on your plate and how much to take.

The emotional buffet lets us see what's on our plate and also what we might want to add. Rather than trying to convince yourself to feel differently, the buffet gently offers new feelings and possibilities.

In this episode:

🌟 Why the buffet is such a powerful way of thinking about choice

🌟 How to decide what to put on your plate -- no moralizing required!

🌟 Why trying to feel better about a situation often doesn't work, and why adding emotions at the buffet does

🌟 The things you should never put on your plate, even though you notice them at the buffet

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

FB: facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

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This episode is for you if you sometimes judge yourself, if you secretly believe you'd be better if you were different, if you find yourself wanting to be more like that person over there -- in other words, if you're human. A permission slip from the universe will help you to let go of these thoughts.
I recently received mine -- and now I want to make sure you get yours too!

In this episode, I share how my permission slip came in the form of some "super woo" I first rolled my eyes at -- but how it ended up showing me the utter perfection of how I am in the world. You too! You don't have to go down the rabbit hole of woo with me, either. I offer three questions to help you write your own permission slip to be beautifully, extravagantly, magnificently YOU.

In this episode:

🌟 Why we often value things that are hard over things that come easily to us

🌟 Why we distrust our innate way of working and being in the world

🌟 How a permission slip from the universe quiets self-doubt

🌟 Three questions to ask to create your own permission slip and sign it

🌟 If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world! 🌟

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

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Elana Kahn had over 20 years of important jobs with impressive titles. She had been Editor of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, Director of Milwaukee's Jewish Community Relations Council, and Associate Dean for Outreach at Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago. And then she decided, at the age of 55, to give herself a midlife sabbatical.

She left her job and decided to do less. She developed a different relationship with time and with herself. She painted and learned to throw pots on the wheel. She listened more closely to herself and others. At first she thought she should plan her sabbatical, but in the end, she decided to trust herself and the process. The results have been transformational in ways that we can learn from, even if we have no plans to leave our job.

Listen to this episode -- the first interview on Making Midlife Magic -- to discover:

 🌟 How to take a sabbatical even if you can’t leave your job

 🌟 Why productivity chips away at our self-trust and how doing less builds it

 🌟 How to make your lunch hour a mini-sabbatical

 🌟 Why the sabbatical may be especially important for middle-aged women

And so much more! This episode is filled with insights you'll continue thinking about long after the podcast ends.

Whether you want to step away from your job for awhile or just take a break while keeping your job, this episode offers so much. Enjoy!

You can find Elana Kahn's writing at Elanakahn.com.

If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world!

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

FB: facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

To receive my weekly emails, filled with useful mind shifts to help you create a life you look forward to living, sign up here.

Do you sometimes feel like an imposter? 

I do. I've felt like an imposter scholar, coach, mom, adult. 

Usually this happens when I'm having feelings I think a “real” scholar, coach, mom, adult wouldn’t have. Self-doubt. Sadness. Anger. Worry.

Usually we try to banish the feelings. We practice telling ourselves that we’re great. But the feelings often refuse to leave. So we feel like imposters. 

In this episode, I offer another way. Rather than trying to kick the imposter feelings out of the club, we’ll change the rules of the club. 

In this episode: 

🌟 Why feeling like an imposter doesn’t mean you have imposter syndrome 

🌟 Why trying to overcome self doubt often doesn’t work 

🌟 Why self-doubt is often a sign you’re doing something new and brave 

🌟 How to experience self-doubt without believing it 

Take a listen and let me know what you think!

If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world ❤️

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

FB: facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

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This episode is for you if you're human.

I share a way to increase self-compassion, recover from setbacks more quickly, all while intentionally inviting self-growth.

All it takes is a small shift in your thinking.

In this episode, I talk about what it means to practice and explain how practicing getting older shifts our experience of being human.

In this episode:

🌟 How we get stuck thinking of ourselves in certain ways (the black t-shirt problem) and how practicing gets us unstuck

🌟 Why practice is an antidote to perfectionism (hint: practice does not make perfect!)

🌟 Why even accomplished musicians practice and what we can learn from Yo Yo Ma's attitude to practicing

🌟 How practicing lets you practice being your future self -- whether the self of 5 years from now, 1 year from now, or 1 day from now

Take a listen and let me know what you think!

If you enjoy the podcast, I'd love to have you in more of my world ❤️

Website: coachingwithrachel.com

FB: facebook.com/rachelbaumcoaching

IG: @rachelbaumcoaching

To sign up for my weekly emails, filled with useful mind shifts and joyful ways of engaging with the world, sign up here.

Did you know that your emotions are magnetic? Some emotions push us away and some emotions draw us closer. In today's episode I share how turning the magnet around can make all the difference. In this episode:

🌟 Why push emotions like unhappiness are often easier to access than pull emotions like desire

🌟 Why the pull emotions often feel harder and further away

🌟 How to use the push emotions to access the pull emotions

🌟 Why even just a few minutes in a pull emotion can powerfully shift your energy

If you want to invite change and possibility into your life, this is one tool that will surely help!

If you feel pulled towards new possibilities in your own life, you definitely want to enter my 2023 giveaway! I'm giving away one free coaching session every month. No strings, no stress, just one hour with me to help you move forward in whatever way you want to. Enter at pages.coachingwithrachel.com/giveaway. And if you just want more mindset shifts to try on your own, be sure to get on my email list. I send one email a week, on Saturdays, and with an open rate of over 80% I can promise you that people enjoy them. Give them a try and if it's not for you, you can easily unsubscribe with my blessing. Click here to sign up.

What person over 40 doesn't sometimes feel regret? We often imagine that if only we had made a different decision in the past, our present life would be different. We'd be happier, healthier, less lonely, more fulfilled.

Regret is judging our past selves for not knowing what our current self does. It feels awful but it's not necessarily a problem. The trick is using it for ourselves instead of against ourselves. In this episode I explain:

⭐ Why it matters that regret is a form of sadness

⭐ How to partner with your past self to learn from the past

⭐ Why taking action in the present is such a powerful antidote to regret

⭐ How to make your future more regret-proof

If you feel mired in regret about the past, this episode offers a way out. And if you're not feeling the pain of regret, this episode offers a way to make your life more regret-proof.

In this episode I share pure coaching magic -- three of my favorite coaching questions. I use these not only in sessions with my clients but on my own brain, and I encourage you to use them to be your own life coach. These are questions you can journal about, talk about with a friend, ponder on your walk, or contemplate in the bath. And they aren’t just think-y questions either – we’re going to bring our full selves, including our body, to these questions. . 

Different answers start with different questions and these are so good.

These questions will let you be your own life coach but if you want to turbocharge changes in your life, sign up for one-on-one coaching with me. Sign up to meet with me here, so we can discuss how coaching can help you have the life you want.