The Transformational Odyssey shows readers how to take charge of their self-growth and development. It does this by providing readers with several applied techniques for engaging in deep self-learning in a more profound and fundamentally life-changing way.
The word “odyssey” connotes a long, and sometimes arduous and meandering journey. Although an odyssey may present the traveler with unexpected trials and challenges, in the end it may yield increased wisdom and knowledge. Building on this metaphor, The Transformational Odyssey introduces readers to eight passages that they will inevitably encounter during their own personal odysseys of self-discovery. Each of these passages involves a uniquely different learning challenge that, as it is successfully navigated, increases the reader’s capacity for self-growth.
The Transformational Odyssey is written in a conversational style, as if I were sitting down next to the reader to share my forty-plus years of experience as a personal coach and life transition counselor. Since different people learn in different ways, this book incorporates a variety of different learning methods, including actual cases, exercises, suggested actions, famous quotes, and metaphors. For those readers to would like to dig deeper on a given topic, at the end of each chapter I have included a separate section that introduces readers to related cutting-edge research in such topics as mindfulness, meditation, narratives, and future selves.
Executive coach & college professor, with 30 years of corporate talent management experience, and author of nine books, including Working Deeply: Transforming lives through transformational coaching (co-authored with Dr. Ken Ideus), and The Transformational Odyssey.
In this section of my book I talk about how many of the problems that we experience in life occur in those moments when we stop being attentive to the decisions that we are making. I am talking here not only about the major life decisions, such as leaving a long-term relationship, but also the hundreds of small, daily decisions that move us in the direction of either joy or misery.
Mindfulness is our way of the trap of repeating our mistakes. It allows us to carve a new path forward in our lives, and to sense the full range of possibilities that lie before us.
Book Excerpt
The Transformational Odyssey
A saying attributed to the contemporary Brazilian author Paulo Coelho is, “When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore; it’s a decision.” I believe that this is a very profound statement. Each day we are presented with many opportunities to enrich our lives through the hundreds of small and large choices that are made available to us. At the same time, when we fail to pay attention to what is going on within and around us, we are more likely to miss the opportunities provided by those choices. Instead, each time that we are “asleep at the wheel” we simply lapse into our old behavioral patterns and fail to learn from our experience.
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