Imagine you open your closet door at home, and this awesome-looking leather jacket is staring back at you. You ask yourself, “Wow, where did this come from? I want to try this on.” Now, you know it’s not your jacket, but the desire to try it on is almost compulsive. You don’t bother to find out if it’s okay if you try it on; you just put it on. A small semblance of guilt is noticed, but you mentally push it aside. You look at yourself in the mirror, and your first thought is, “Oh, this is a good fit,” I like it. You have no regrets for putting it on without permission from the true owner. In fact, you love it so much that you decide to wear it for a while. However, after a few minutes, you realize that the jacket doesn’t appear as good as you thought. In fact, it’s a little big on you, it’s too big. You begin to think, “Maybe I want to take it off,” but you find yourself conflicted because it does make you feel better. You can’t make sense of it; it’s subtle. But, the longer you wear it, the heavier it becomes; the heavier it is, the more angry you become.
In fact, you begin to have imaginary conversations with yourself. “Who’s jacket is this anyway? The nerve of them to hang it in my closet! They should have told me they were putting it here!” Now, you are pissed, someone had the nerve to make you put on the jacket. You become resentful, but it’s justified because if only they wouldn’t have made it so easy to put that jacket on. Now, you want nothing more than to get the frickin jacket off – but you can’t! It feels stuck. You have no idea if you can put it back in the closet. Then, in the desperation of worrying about whether you can get it off, you decide, “Maybe I’m supposed to wear it?” And when that thought emerges, the reasoning overrides the resentment, the anger, and the uncomfortableness of the moment; you emotionally pivot by convincing yourself the jacket was put there for a reason; of course, you are supposed to wear it! You might even support the decision by saying to yourself, “This must be god’s plan!”
Emotional Jacket Coaching and Speaking
How recently have you taken a complete inventory of your life? We all have so many to do lists and obligations that fill our days. The list is endless, and can feel overwhelming. If this sounds like you, chances are you are ready to free yourself from a very tight Emotional Jacket.
Identifying the Jacket.
Understanding the “symptoms” of wearing the Jacket.
Steps to taking off the jacket sooner.
Steps to removing the jacket when it’s been worn for a long time.
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Personalized Coaching
One-on-One Emotional Jacket Coaching™
Your partner, your kids, your employer, heck even your animals can become your emotional jacket. If you are someone who suffers from wearing other people’s emotions, you might experience feelings of overwhelm or irritation when they don’t change fast enough, or you might be someone who feels the necessity to give your input, even when not asked for it – resulting in your relationships not being open and honest with you for fear of your judgment. You might wear other people’s emotions to the point of feeling like a martyr, the only one who can help them, or find yourself wearing the saving “cape” when witnessing others suffer because it is too much to bear, so you put on their jacket and save the day!
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Emotional Jacket for Couples
A Unique Perspective
Wearing someone else’s experience, and being unable or unwilling to mind your own jacket, can be a habit fueled with self-centered motives. The objective of having healthy, self-fulfilling relationships is understanding how to wear only your jacket when participating in the relationships in your life. The Emotional Jacket steps will help you with that.