Don’t look away.

She could have been your child or mine.

Parenting is nothing but one long-held breath.

We inhale as we witness our heart detach from our chest and begin its journey in a world outside of us.

A world outside of our protection and control.

And we hold our breath till the day...

There’s a secret to identifying our most robust relationships.

The secret is that if asked the question, “which one of you gets more out of this relationship?” each party would honestly and easily respond, “I do, of course!”

This is a concept that our brain...

It’s January 6, 2022!

If you like making New Year’s resolutions, I’d like to suggest the following:

Go upstream.

So many of us make the kind of resolutions that are bound to fall apart (data shows that this happens by mid January, for most) because we’re too far downstream...

I absolutely hate networking.

I literally hate the word and everything it stands for.

Most of us are pretty happy going through life meeting and getting to know people organically until some time in our late teens and early adulthood when we are given the message that if we want to be successful...

I used to be really angry.

I thought it was my personality because, well, I come from a long line of angry people. I can feel them getting angry as they read these words. But I soothe myself with the belief that most members of my beloved family don’t actually read much of what I write. And...

When you experience hardships, do you share it with everyone or keep it to yourself? Do you consider it a private event only to be shared with your coach, therapist and best friend? Or do you consider it responsible, helpful and useful to share your painful experiences with the world at large?

...

The outpouring of support, love and understanding I received after publishing my blog, The Unexpected Gifts of Grief & Loss about the passing away of my best friend, Ahmed, has brought me to tears on a regular basis. I did not know that so many people would relate to my unexpected...

Last week’s blog, A Unicorn Called Happiness, (https://www.carolynmahboubi.com/blog/a-unicorn-called-happiness), left many readers with more questions than answers. Most wanted me to explore how we can identify the things that make us feel alive and purposeful.

As I wrote in last...

Sit down.  

Close your eyes.

Hear me saying the word, slack.

What’s the emotion that rises up in you?

If you’re anything like most of my clients, ambitious, high-achieving go-getters, the emotion that you’re experiencing is not a pleasant one. We’ve been...

Trying to be relentlessly positive is an exhausting and often useless pursuit.

So many of us, especially women, got the memo that good people always look at the bright side and help others do the same. How often has your child come to you with a story of how she is feeling hurt, disappointed or...

“Wait, I’m confused…..”

How often have you started a potentially difficult conversation by feigning confusion? It was certainly my default response when I was actually angry and hurt but didn’t have the language to express myself without fear of blowing up the...

“Mom, do you think you might have an eating disorder?” one of my children, who shall go unnamed, asked with more than a little hesitation.

My immediate reaction was, “Wait, what???” followed by confusion, anger and defensiveness. I have a complicated relationship with...

What are the one or two questions you are asked most often? It’s worth slowing down to consider, because it says something about who you are, your priorities, and your deepest values. Be warned that this is not an exercise for those who are thin-skinned, take everything...

What does it mean, “to belong”? This is a question that comes up so often in my work with young adults, and I only wish I could help them understand and actually believe that the rest of us “adults” also struggle with this feeling.

Although intellectually most of...

On...

If you’re not yet familiar with the concept of Quarter Life Crisis, you’re not alone. It’s also likely that you are not a Millennial.

As a Professional Coach, a number of my clients are emerging adults. Generally between the ages of 18 and 25, they are facing some very real...

“I have no advice for you,” is my most often repeated reply to those who ask.  But isn’t that what a Professional Life Coach is supposed to do?  What do we get in return for our investment of time and energy working with a Coach, if not advice?

We are living...

I’m going to share a secret with you.  Great Life Coaching is not about helping clients reach their goals.  Setting goals and striving towards them is what I call the “chocolate-covered broccoli” of this work.

Of course, we get clarity on our goals and strive towards...

Last week’s blog, “Freedom As A Life Value”, included one tiny sentence that invited an inordinate number of questions from readers!  In my list of 6 practices that have collectively allowed me to cultivate the freedom to give more time and attention to the activities and...

Last week’s blog, Find Your North Star, elicited a lot of responses and questions from my community.  “How can I find out my top life values?”, was the question most asked. But I also was asked to share my top values and the impact of each in my life.

It takes time,...

Increasingly, more people are investing their resources in service of self-growth and potential.  I’m talking about high achieving, by most counts, very successful folks, who are realizing that some critically important teachings were missing in their academic and family...

Shifts, shifts, shifts.  The work of Professional Coaching is all about facilitating long-term sustainable shifts - which is entirely different than tricks, hacks and shortcuts.

I noticed a false and disheartening belief, (originally) in myself while being coached, and now, often...

“Courage” is a word I think about often. Maybe because it’s a word I hear several times a day in my coaching conversations.

It’s one of the unique aspects of this work - the work of creating change and transformation - that folks inevitably come to believe courage is a...

A great Coach isn’t smarter, more knowledgeable, or necessarily even more experienced than her greatest client.

A great Coach is deliberately on the road to mastering her craft and is in charge of the coaching process, not in control of the outcome.  This is the truth that I had...