Overview

James Carlopio's breadth of experience in academic and corporate circles is rare. This is a book to be dipped into and savoured over time.. a comprehensive and deeply humane collection of wisdom from the ancients with accompanying daily affirmations for the road.
- John Hale - Corporate Alchemist

If you cannot talk about something you cannot fix it. People need to have mechanisms for processing their emotions. Permission to discuss and process emotions is one of the greatest gifts that coaches and counsellors can give.
- Author

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Minds has the potential to be one of the rare qualitative, post-modern (and humanistic) contributions to the epistemology of coaching psychology.. it will be a valuable coaching and educational tool - while providing revealing insights to professional and lay readers alike!.
- Tom Crvenkovic
The Coaching Psychologist, Sydney

Thoughts, reflections and experiences voiced by ancient sages appear in this book as 'coaching conversations'. Their wisdom creates a vibrant landscape populated with insights which help us to reflect upon and discuss emotions encountered in personal transformation and constant workplace change. They allow us to process past experiences and emotions in order to move on.

James Carlopio shows us that coaching for personal improvement has occurred since time-immemorial. These ancient quotes illuminate modern-day socio-cognitive constructs and techniques used in coaching psychology. The 'coaching conversation' itself is grounded in the constructivist-narrative approaches used within Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.

These ancient quotes will assist readers to undergo personal transitions, Executive Coaches to facilitate workplace change and Life Coaches in personal development. Positive Psychology and important areas in coaching psychology are referenced in the Introduction and section openings.

Supported by a subject index, this luminous work is grouped into sections addressing:

• awareness of self and others
• life, death, health and happiness
• wisdom, communication and learning
• achievement, goals and effort

The text is designed to help people access emotion, express emotion, acknowledge emotion, release emotion and move on gracefully to happier, more successful and less stressed lives.

A Thinking Heart and a Feeling Mind

Words of Insight into Our Selves

A feeling heart is good;

A thinking heart is wise.

I like words.  Millions of people use words every second of the day and give them very little, if any, serious thought as individual words.  Yet somehow, collectively, these neglected individual words seem to work, as many of us carry out our daily routines, with their help.

As individuals some words are uniquely informative.  When I do remember to pay some attention to them, they seem to provide me with insight into myself and into the human condition.

The individual words in this book are compiled into phrases – thoughts, reflections and experiences voiced by ancient sages – as coaching conversations. Their wisdom creates a vibrant landscape populated with insights which help us through the emotions of change.

So, please come along with me on a journey experiencing the words in this book, across the landscape and through the streets of our every day language. We shall reflect on the wisdom of these ancient coaches with the intention of examining each individual edifice, each bit of brickwork, each crack in the pavement, to see what we can notice and possibly learn from their conversations.

James Carlopio, PhD

Byron Bay – October 2006

Foreword

Coaching ‘profession’ is anchored within this
paradigm. In presenting these quotes with references
to other important areas in coaching psychology in
the Introduction to each theme, James Carlopio
shows us that coaching for personal improvement
has been around since time-immemorial!
Considerable resemblances also exist between
the ancient quotes (can we say advice?) and modernday
socio-cognitive constructs and techniques used
in coaching psychology. In particular, coaching is
based on the ‘coaching conversation’, itself grounded
in the constructivist-narrative approaches used
within Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Minds has the potential
to be one of the rare qualitative, post-modern
(and humanistic) contributions to the epistemology
of coaching psychology.With this in mind, I think
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Minds will be a valuable
coaching and educational tool – while providing
very interesting insights to professional and lay
readers alike!
Tom Crvenkovic
BA (Hons-Psych), MBA, MA (Business Research),
GradDipAppSci (Coaching Psych)
The Coaching Psychologist, Sydney - October 2006

Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword ............................................... v
References ............................................ viii
Preface ................................................... ix
Part 1
Awareness of self and others ................... 1
Part 2
Life and death, health and happiness ...... 35
Part 3
Wisdom, communication and learning .... 69
Part 4
Achievement, goals and effort ............... 91
Epilogue ............................................. 111
Index ................................................... 115

Reviews

"... one of the rare qualitative, post-modern contributions (and humanistic) to the epistemology of coaching psychology."