Deep Coaching

Commemorating Philip 'Phil' Zimbardo

A few days ago we said goodbye to the famous Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo who died at the age of 91. I feel really lucky that I had to oppurtinity to meet him in person and to call him Phil. In this post I would like to summarize a few things I had learned from him. Special thanks to Gyori Ildiko who introduced me to her🙏♥️

1. Hypnosis
Although he was mostly famous for his prison expermients, it is less known that he was a hypnosis expert too. What is more that he told me once that if it was up to him, he would recommend to add hypnosis to every single therapist's repertoire. I canmot agree more☺️

2. Constant renewal
Although he became very famous and/or infamous because of his s
prison expermients where he was researching inborn evil in all of us, he was constantly renewing himself. He was one of the firsts to join the Positive Psychology movement in order to shift thr focus of psychology from wanting to changing the "broken parts" of humans to understanding and improving the life of people general. He spent years to study and help people with shyness for example. In his last years he turned his attention to the good of everyone with the Heroes' Square project saying that bssically everone can be a hero by being kind and helpful to others - which was the exact opposite of his inital studies of the villain side of people.

3. Having a positive impact every day
When I met him he was in need of some help to create a video for university students in Poland. He had a very busy life but he found it really important to do good every single day, so he decided to create a positive, motivating video to some students learning about this very topic. During our conversation that day he talked a lot about the importance of doing some good every day, even if that is just as little as telling the flower shop assistant that she has a nice hair ☺️

4. The power of being humble and kind
It shocked me in a positive way how kind, open and humble he was from the first second we met. I did not feel for a moment that he was one of the most well known psychologists on the globe. He was really interested in getting to know others and listening to their views - not letting his decades of research and prestige stopping him from doing so. He was one of the most humble person I have ever met, always open for a good conversation with literally anyone.

Phil, it was a blessing to meet you and know you. May you rest in peace while your heritage flourishes and helps human kind to renew itself in becoming kind, positive and humble as YOU were🙏❤️

The Art of Creating Deep Connections

Dr Sean Stephenson is a wonderful person who was born with a serious illness called Brittle Bone disease. Although his bones were so fragile that he had 300 fractions by his teens, he decided to have a meaningful and extraordinary life. Sean has worked as an advisor for President Bill Clinton, spent time with billionairs and had a motivational speech on the same stage as the Dalai Lama. Here is a little summary of what he has learned about how to connect from these unique persons.

1. Know the names of people and use them
2. Be present with the person you are with
3. Ask people for their opinions
4. Use physical touch to enhance connection

5. Smile with your entire being
6. Be playful
7. Really listen to the other person

8. Use a smooth voice
9. Ask creative questions
10. Stay humble, no matter who you are

11. Think of connections as ping-pong games - both players need to be giving and receiving equally
12. Praise, praise, praise
13. Be vulnerable

Read the full story here:
https://blog.mindvalley.com/human-connection/