Can't See the Wood for the Trees: Landscaping Your Life to Get Back on Track

(Paperback)

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A guide to using the metaphorical language of a stuck situation to discover the solution

Shares an easy, fun process of exploring well-known sayings as a means to identify new solutions and get unstuck in life and work

Explains how to bring clarity to a problem, highlight alternative perspectives, bypass any conscious resistance to finding a solution, and allow solutions to emerge organically, from within ourselves

Details the authors Landscaping Your Life method, which has been used successfully in business strategy development, team development, project problem resolution, and in one-to-one coaching

If you cant see the wood for the trees, feel like a fish out of water, or are going around in circles, weve got good news for you: that saying is also a clue to where youll find the solution. Yes, you read right--you can use the language youre using to describe the stuck situation to discover the solution. Its not even the language as much as the landscape contained within your description of the situation that can give you pointers. As Alison Smith explains, If a picture paints a thousand words, then a metaphor paints a thousand pictures. In other words, the metaphor in the saying youre using will provide a million words that will undoubtedly have the solution contained within them.

Thats what this book is all about--taking these sayings that youre using to describe being stuck and using them to get unstuck again. The language you apply provides clues to how you perceive the current situation. Subconsciously, you know the solution. Exploring the metaphors contained within your language allows your subconscious to communicate to your conscious awareness more easily. The metaphor reduces resistance and the barriers we put up to change. Its as if we enjoy exploring the metaphor and forget what it means in reality, and before we know it, we have a metaphorical solution that we cannot help but translate into real life.

Offering an effective, easy process based on the power of metaphors, Alison Smith introduces her Landscaping Your Life method as a means to bring clarity to a problem, highlight alternative perspectives, and allow solutions to emerge organically, from within ourselves.

Reviews

It can be hard to unravel the problems that life has a way of throwing at us. Alisons use of metaphors helps with that unravelling, and works. The Landscaping Your Life process took me on a journey so I could literally see the woods from the trees. This book will help you to navigate your world in a whole new way. * Amy McDonald, CEO of Headtorch, creating positive mental health at work *
The Landscaping Your Life process presented in the book shows us how the metaphors we use to describe our lives might be initially disempowering but then go on to stimulate creative ways out of our mental traps. * Geoff Roberts, catalyst at Hidden Resources *
Landscaping Your Life is a brilliant approach, heartily recommended. Alison has extraordinary energy and an almost spooky sense of where people are and what they need. I have learned/worked/played alongside Alison for more than a decade and found her insights always useful. * Ruth Wallsgrove, management consultant *
Alison and I first had the discussion about using metaphors to solve a challenge I was facing in a Warsaw restaurant a few years ago. At the time I thought, What Give me more winethis is uncomfortable. Then I persisted and the answer presented itself, by using the metaphor, and I was converted. * Sara Walsh Evans, managing director at The Respectory *
There is nothing more invigorating than taking a step back and being challenged to view life with a different perspective. Whether it is seeing the wood for the trees, stepping out of a rut or not burying your head in the sandall techniques outlined in this book have helped me face life head on! * Cara Murphy, head of commercial contract and supplier management *
Alison is one of the best coaches I have ever had the pleasure of working with (and I've worked with a few!). She has a highly practical nature and combines it with strong intuition and unconventional tools to guide you to find insights and answers to specific challenges. As with any transformational coaching, you need to be prepared to take responsibility for personal change and get out of your comfort zone to find the answers you need, but Alison makes this easy with her approach. * Mel Sherwood, author of The Authority Guide to Pitching Your Business *
I told Alison I knew I was making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill for an issue I had, and even though I knew this, I was still stuck. She asked me questions about it, so I looked at my metaphor for the problem in a different light. She made me see that how I saw the problem was affecting my ability to do something about it. * Caroline Johnstone, author of An Introduction to the Magic of Journaling *
Alison always hits the nail on the head when it comes to steering me in the right direction, whether personally or for a business issue. She is great to work with and a very positive person. I would recommend her whether you just need more clarity in your life or if you are looking for a whole new direction. * Brian Wood, owner of the Message Collective *
Its too easy to get caught up in the content of a challenge were facing. That is, she said this, and I said that, and before we know it all weve done is spent hours talking ourselves into justifying why were stuck and why we cant do anything about it. With Alison as my guide, the use of landscapes as metaphors for issues Im facing has allowed me to observe the situation afresh without the oughts, shoulds and cants getting in the way. By noticing a new path, turning a real or metaphorical corner, stepping out of a rut, or cutting down some imaginary trees, solutions have emerged. More importantly, action plans developed and steps taken in a new direction. * Sufiya Gillespie, coaching client *

Author Bio

Alison Smith is a coach, facilitator, and trainer who has developed the Landscaping Your Life method to help people get unstuck and back into their flow. She works with teams as well as individuals in both business and personal contexts. Since her own personal transformation 18 years ago, Alison has increasingly found the more unconventional tools to be more effective and powerful at bypassing the blocks and resistance we have to moving forward in our lives. Alison lives in Fife, Scotland.