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How can I find my passion?

January 28, 2017 · Filed under discover, Dream, life, life coaching, Passion

tabea-kraska-coaching-passion

What’s my passion? What do I love doing? What am I good at? How can I find my passion in life?

Think back for a minute when you were a child or teenager. What dreams did you have? What desires did you have, what wishes? Did you want to be a teacher, a doctor, an artist, a nurse, a craftsman, a fireman, a ………..?

Maybe you can’t remember? Then ask someone who grew up with you and knows you well. What did you like doing or what were you good at?

Can you imagine what my dream was when I was a child?

At a young age I was very impressed with the lady at the shop selling different kind of meats and sausages. When my mum went shopping she sometimes bought “Gelbwurst” (a special German cold meat “cut up” which you put on your bread).

I loved standing besides my mum looking at the lady how she cut the meat and how she weighed it and put it into the bag. And most of the time she gave me a little piece of “Gelbwurst” to eat. That was the highlight of the shopping experience and I wanted to become a “Wurstverkäufer” – a lady who sells meat.

When I went to primary school I wanted to become a teacher and when I was a teenager I wanted to become a flight attendant. I also had the dream of doing fulltime youth work.

I surely had many dreams. What do you think…. Which one came true?

I must tell you that the dream of the “Wurstverkäufer” – selling meats, didn’t come true =), but the dream of becoming a teacher, a fulltime youth worker and also a flight attendant. What do they all have in common? Working with people! I am a “people person”: I love to inspire and making a difference in people’s lives. This passion led me to become an international certified life coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF). I inspire women on their journey to move forward in life and career with purpose, helping them find out their true gifts so that they can live out these gifts with authenticity to the fullest capacity in their personal and professional life. This is my passion!

What was your dream as a child? Did some of the dreams come true? If yes, why did they come true? Or if no, why didn’t they come true?

Do you think it’s too late that your dreams can become reality?

I think it’s never too late!!!

You can start NOW pursuing your dream by taking little steps. The most important thing is to start doing something about your dreams. If you need help I can help you on your journey with the first steps! Have a look at http://www.tabeakraska.com

It is never too late to start something!

How can I find my core values?

January 25, 2017 · Filed under 2017, core values, discover, Dream, jobYouLove, ListOfValues, values

To all my dear followers!

Wishing you all a wonderful new year 2017!

Thanks so much for following me here on this blog…. I was a bit quiet the last year, because started a new blog – on my new website. If you want to have a look: http://www.tabeakraska.com

I would love to hear from you all!

Here is one article I posted there:

values-tabeakraskacoaching

When people talked in the past years about values, I could never really grasp what values really are or how to find out my core values. Over the last years I „studied“ the topic values and understood that values are the foundation of our behavior. Have you ever asked yourself when you see people in different situations: „Why do they act so differently in this situations than I would? Or why are so many people frustrated in their job and would love to find a job they love? I think only when you know yourself and your values you are able to find work that is truly fulfilling.

First of all it is important to find out what your values are.

Values determine many things in your life: choices, attitudes, actions, decision making, work, passions, etc. They define what’s important to you.

Are you happy with your work? If yes, is it because your values align with your work? If no, could it be that your values no longer align with your work?

Values are deeply ingrained in us and often we are not consciously aware of what our values are or how they shape our actions.

It is very important to understand your core values – they are the heart of who you are.

Over the years I made a list of my core values.

But how do I find out my core values?

Think of something that makes you feel angry. When was it when a certain person in your life crossed an important line for you and that wasn’t in line with something you value?

Example: One of my five core values is honesty. When I see dishonesty in families, companies and organisations I get this „uncomfortable feeling“ inside of me and now it is up to me to decide what to do: do I bring it up or do I keep my mouth shut? And because I value honesty I usually open my mouth and bring things up – which is not always easy!

Imagine your value is honesty – can you imagine working or living in an environment where there is constant dishonesty? It will definitely will have an effect on you: mentally, spiritually & physically. So it is up to you to decide what action you take.

For me it is very important to know my core values and also to help my clients to discover their values. This is a powerful way how they can get in touch of who they are.

Here are some questions to discover your deepest values:

Where do you invest the best of your time, money and energy? Why?
When making important decisions – what are the things you base them on?
Imagine some valuable things in your life and ask yourself: „If these things were taken away from me or I couldn’t do them, would that make my life unbearable?
What makes you angry when you don’t get it (e.g. if you don’t „get“ honesty)?
What are things that you care most deeply about?

For your value discovery it might be helpful to have a list of values to choose from. Ask yourself: Which of these words resonate most with you? Which words represent what you care about most? Try to pick less than 10 and then find out your 5 core values – what is most important for you!

When I tried to find out my core values, it helped me to have a look at different value lists. But because there where so many different lists, I created my own – for me and to help my clients find out their own values. It is just a little help if you don’t come up with words yourself. If you are interested in my value list, go to the first page of my website and sign up to get this free value list: http://www.tabeakraska.com

How my dreams came true (Part 4)

September 2, 2013 · Filed under Dream, My life, Your dream · Tagged coaching, Dream, education, experience, Germany, life, life coaching, my life, teacher

Finally here comes the continuation of my series “How did my dreams come true”.

In the last months so many things happened in my life, that I just could not keep up with the writing! I will let you know as my series goes on, because 2 weeks ago a huge dream came true!

A little summary for those of you you who did not read my last posts how my dreams came true: in part 1 I wrote about my practical year at a bible school and in part 2 about my studies to be a teacher. Part 3 was about my move to another city.

Now comes part 4: my time as a teacher.

After my first and second state examination for teachers at primary and secondary school

I moved from south Germany to the middle of Germany – 5,5 hours away from where I grew up.

I remember the evening before my first day in school as a teacher. 28 six year old children where about to start their school career with the first grade. And the teacher was ME! Wow – I was fully responsible for 28 little kids, starting school, teaching them how to write, read, count and how to get along with other children and teachers.

I remember my sister calling me around 9pm asking me: And, what did you plan to do on the first day at school? And because I had the accident with my car just a few days before and had to organzie a lawyer and many other things, I didnt have much time for preparation. So I started with a night shift of preparing my first lesson.

For german kids and parents the first day in school is a very important day and before they have their first lesson, the whole school welcomes them in the auditorium with a little program where the kids, parents and grandparents join.

After this they have their first lesson alone with the teacher.

Here is a picture of my first day at school (not as a teacher, but a student =)

So this first day in school is not only important for the kids and parents but also for the teachers.

It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed getting to know „my“ 28 kids which I taught then for the next 4 years.

It was amazing to see them throughout grade 1,2,3 and 4 and how they grew up and learned a lot of things for their lives.

For me it was a privilege to work at a christian school, because I could share my faith in God openly.

In the morning we always had a time, where we read something from the bible or we spoke about a bible verse and how we can live it out in our daily life. I think the best thing how to learn bible verses is through songs. That’s what I did with my primary students.

My dad worked in a mission where they recorded CD’s and they produced a few CD’s with bible verses for kids. So I used these in my class and the kids loved it.

Learning bible verses through songs it’s not only a good way to learn for kids but also for adults.

Every year I visited each kid and the family in their homes to get to know the environment they live in. It was very interesting and insightful to see the dynamics of the family life (parents interacting with their kids, condition of the house, order in the kids room…).

I loved interacting with the children, the parents, my colleagues. What gave me a headache was all the preparation at home and the report writing every 6 months. In my first year it took me at least 3 hours per student to write the report – and I had 28 kids in my class = more than 90 hours….. when did I do this? Mainly in the night when everything was quiet and I was able to concentrate – because I lived on a busy road and it was quite loud during the daytime. I remember sleeping usually not more than 4 or 5 hours.

It was a very stressful time being a teacher, but also very rewarding. I am very grateful for this experience and for the wonderful people I met during this time. I worked there 5 years and then I moved on. In my next posts I will write about how I started bible school, working in mission, then as a flight attendant.

??? I am wondering what experiences you had when you started your first job. It would be nice to hear from you!

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How did my dreams come true (Part 3)

March 22, 2013 · Filed under Dream, My life · Tagged challenge, christian, Dream, first job, God, life, my life, school, teacher

Colouryourdream Purpose Dream Goal Life Challenge

After my practical year at the bible school (post part 1) and after studying to be teacher (post part 2) I finally started to work as a teacher. I moved from South Germany – the so called “three country corner” – Germany (South Black Forest), Switzerland and France to the west of Germany – the southern “Rhurgebiet”.

I didn’t have much time to move and prepare for my 1^st grade. Usually teachers have 6 weeks summer vacation. But because I moved from the southern part of Germany to the west of Germany – where they have different vacation times – I had 2 weeks off, instead of 6 weeks. So I had to move and settle in and prepare for my first 1^st grade with 28 kids. My first workplace! Wow! I was responsible for 28 “little 6 year old kids” – what a responsibility.

I packed my stuff and went with my little red car (my first own car – a little red Peugeot 106!). My dad always had Peugeots (French cars), so it was obvious for me to have a Peugeot as well. The Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicyles. They also produce spice mills (have a look at your pepper mill – maybe its from Peugeot =)

I packed my small red car with my personal belongings. My dad drove with his car in front of my mother and I in my red car.

We had to drive 5 ½ hours to my new residence. I talked about different topics with my mum and suddenly I said: I am glad I never had an accident! Then my mum told me how my dad and her had an accident when they just were engaged.

I think it was about half an hour later on the freeway – behind a curve there was a traffic jam. I was breaking very hard and meanwhile a motorcyle crashed into my car from behind. I was driving on the right lane on the freeway and was dashed to the left side and my car turned 180 degrees. The whole freeway was blocked inner seconds and very soon two huge ambulances where there because it looked like a very big accident. The ambulance guy asked me: Do you have a shock? I said: “I don’t think so……”

To make a long story short: NOTHING happened to me and my mum – I didn’t even have a whiplash. The guy on the motorcycle was also ok and had just minor injuries – thanks be to God! God protected us in such an amazing way that even my big mirror wasn’t broken! But my car was a total write-off!

The tow-car came to pick up my car, my mother and I and we got another car that I could use for two weeks. So we moved all my belongings – including the mirror – in the other car and drove safely to my new rented flat.

My dad and my sister were already there waiting for us. We sat down and thanked our LORD that he protected us in a miraculous way! When I think of the whole story I still get goosebumps and tears in my eyes.

Well – the start into my “dream-job” as a teacher was quite tough! But through all this I had so much help – even right away from my neighbour who was a lawyer and helped me to deal with the accident!

Because of the accident I didn’t have much time to prepare for school. I was so busy organizing everything (lawyer, insurance, new car…).

The evening before my first lesson at school my sister called me and asked me: so what are you going to do tomorrow with your first grade? I said: I don’t know yet. I was so glad that she gave me some ideas and I worked in the night to get everything ready and the first lesson with my gorgeous first graders went well! We had a big celebration with the whole school and the parents. Then I had my first lesson with the kids and then the photographer took a nice photo!

When I look back I think: wow – what a challenging start in my first job! But with God and the help of my family and neighbours I managed my first weeks at school!

And: my dad found a “new” little car for me – of course a Peugeot! How he found this car is another story =)

So my second car was not red, but green this time – and guess what? I still drive this car!! It is now 18 years old! Amazing!

In my first year of working as a teacher there were a lot of challenges: I almost “went to heaven” – said the doctor. This is another story in itself. But through God’s grace I am still alive! I guess he still wanted me here on earth for a reason! To live out his calling for my life, to love him and to love others.

??? What challenges did you have in your life??? What dreams came true in your life???

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How did my dreams come true (Part 2)

March 15, 2013 · Filed under Dream, Focus, Goals, My life · Tagged Dream, effort, Goal, life, life coaching, reward, studies, teacher

In my last post I told you that I had many dreams and still have.

After my 13 years of school I spent one year at a bible school working practically (laundry and music team) – see my last post (Part 1). This year I didn’t earn anything, it was voluntary work. It was one of my best years ever!

During this time I looked into the program of becoming a teacher. When I read all these information, what it involves to become a teacher I got discouraged and thought: how in the world am I able to do all this? But then I thought about it and prayed about it and I decided: I am going to try! I guess every change and every start somewhere is not easy! Because you have to leave friends, you have to start in a new city, get familiar….

So I started to study to become a qualified primary and secondary school teacher (until grade 10).

I put a lot of effort in my studies and I used to be out of the house the whole day, often from 6 am (to catch a train) to 8pm or 10pm. I studied 4 years: applied Science at Primary Level, Religious Education, Educational Science and Educational Psychology. After this I had to write a thesis and did written and oral examinations in the mentioned subjects.

I really enjoyed Psychology and was very interested in it. After my studies I thought: I wish I could study councelling/coaching. But I had to be patient until this dream finally came true last year (17 years after I started “dreaming” about it! In this I really needed to learn how to be patient, but then finally last year it was the “right timing” (when I got my certificate in coaching).

In order to become a fully qualified primary and secondary school teacher I had to undergo an extensive training period of 18 month, compromising theoretical and practical educational as well as methodical training. This 1,5 years was the toughest years I ever had. I really came to my limit!

I was busy from early morning till very late at night and also usually the weekends. In Germany they say, when you have this training of 18 month: forget your friends – you don’t have time for ANYTHING, accept your training. And it’s true. It was a very tough time, but also a good time. I was teaching in 1,2,3 and 4^th grade, as well as 5.,6.,7.,8. grade. I remember when I first came in the school, the older students thought that I was a new student =) That was quite funny! One day I had to go through the classroom of the 8^th grade and one guy shouted something at me. Then his colleague said to him: Hey, she is a teacher. He got so embarrassed!

I have many nice and funny memories of this time! But also there were times when I thought: I can’t anymore, I have NO strength anymore. So there were also a lot of tears involved, a lot of stress.

But when I think back on it: it was so worthwile to follow this dream to become a teacher!

I guess you also experienced it: when you follow your dream you have to give up many other things, you really need to focus on your goal and say “goodbye” to many other things you would like to do as well. It is a lot of work, it costs a lot of energy, strength, nerves, time….. BUT: in the end it is so rewarding! When you reached your goal you are so happy and nobody can take this away from you!

I am very, very thankful that my family helped me a lot in my studies. Especially my oldest sister: she spent many, many hours helping me and supporting me. I will never forget when I had my exam lesson in the 7^th grade. Topic: Monastery.

The whole family was involved in helping me get all the things ready, because I had only a certain amount of time to prepare before this exam in the classroom. I worked basically day and night and my dad handcrafted two beautiful monasteries for the students, because I did a lesson where the students hands, head and heart where involved.

In my other exam lesson my dad went into the forest and collected things from the forest, because the topic was a biological one (for the younger kids).

Right the night before my exam in the classroom my computer crashed and my work from a few hours was gone. So I just made it until the morning and my dad photocopied at 2 or 3 am am my written lesson preparations (I had to explain every little step – why I do this instead of doing something else, I slept for 2-3 hours and went to school for the exam: one lesson in maths grade 1 and one lesson in science in grade 3.

After these exam lessons I was so relieved – with GOD’s help I finished it! I was so thankful, because these exams really showed me: I could have never done it out of my own strength. God really helped me through, because there were so many obstacles along the way (would take too long to explain it here).

Dreams can come true: with God’s help, with your effort and with the help of others!

??? How did one of your dreams came true??? It would be nice if you share some experiences!

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How did my dreams come true? (Part 1)

March 2, 2013 · Filed under Dream, My life · Tagged Dream, God, gratitude, life coaching, my life, Prayer

colouryourdream purpose dream goal landscape photography

I had many dreams in my life and I never stopped having dreams.

Here are some of my dreams I had: I wanted to become a teacher, a fulltime youth worker, a stewardess and a life coach.

Which dream came true in my life? All – so far!

When I look back I think: how in the world did I manage to do all these things? I could have never done it out of my own strenght and just by myself! There were many people along the way who helped and supported me and who believed in me! And the most important thing: God was in there! He guided me through all the processes. When you reached the dream: it is the best thing ever! But the steps to reaching the dream aren’t that easy and there is a lot of discouragement along the way as well. It is very hard work and you also have to say NO to many things. You just don’t have time anymore to talk endless hours to your friends or spend the weekends just enjoying yourself. It is hard work. BUT: it is worth it!

I am very thankful when I look back! The things I did and experienced in my life so far couln’t have happened without the support of my lovely family! They really helped me to live out my dream.

My parents supported and encouraged me. They said: if you really know that this is what God wants you to do: go for it! They believed in me and helped me a lot. We were always very busy – our whole family (my parents and my three sisters): caring for education and working hard. My mum stayed at home and supported us in a tremendous way. She is really amazing and not selfish at all! She was always happy when we were happy. She abdicated from so many things she could have done by herself, but instead she supported us wherever she could with her whole strength! Also my dad! As a leader of a mission he had so much going on and so much work to do. But he always spent time with us even if he had to work then in the night preparing for bible studies, sermons and many other things.

What I want to say with this. My dreams came true with the incredible help of my parents and also my sisters. The support of a loving family or loving people who believe in you is so important in reaching a dream

I can honestly say: my mum really stepped back so that her kids can live out their dreams that they can live out their God given potential. She encouraged us and was always there for us and cared for us at home. And when I look back now I think: how in the world did she do this? I am so selfish compared to her.

After 13 years of school in the german school system I decided to do a “practical year” before my studies. My parents supported me strongly in this and said that it would be such a good opportunity to spend one year doing practical work.

So I went to a bible school where people studied theology or do a practical year like I did. This community is called “Lebenszentrum Adelshofen”.

The Lebenszentrum is an interdenominational, evangelical centre of Christian learning and living that serves the Christian Church. It is an order of 22 celibatarian sisters and 9 celibatarian brothers who run the Lebenszentrum as institution together with several married and single staff members.

“Through our prayer and worship times and daily sharing of our lives with students and guests we wish to exemplify Christian love and fellowship and provide an environment where Christians can grow in love and knowledge of God.

As groups and teams of the Lebenszentrum we reach out to share the Gospel and help churches in their ministry to people in need” (http://www.lza.de/english.htm)

What did I do there for one year? I attended a one year discipleship program for young christians 18-24 years ( I was 19 years at this time).

It involved the following:

Share life:

build relationships, talk with each other, be active, , music, play, celebrate together, be creative, take responsibilty, solve conflicts, sports, be „on the way“

Work together

discover your gifts, train your skills, learn new things, work practical: working on site, in the garden, in the kitchen, at the reception, in the service, repair cars…

Encounter God

in your personal time with God, devotion time with others, worship, in community, in answer to prayer, on the move with Jesus, e.g. in the youth group, on the street, in the houses for asylum seekers …….

Grow in your personality

live out discipleship in the daily life, one day a week lesson on different topics, e.g. your calling, communication and conflicts, discover your gifts, prepare bible studies, attend a class in the theological seminar, learing to play guitar, singing in the choir…

I worked one year mainly in the laundry: washing clothes for all the 130 people and ironing clothes (blouses, skirts and pants for the community). I think I broke the record in ironing a blouse the fastest =) Sometimes I also had the opportunity to play piano and sing with a group of people. They had big meetings once in a while with around 1000 people and a program with music, plays and preaching sermons.

This was probably the best year I ever had in my life! I learned so many things, I met so many people, I grew in my faith!

What was unique in this community: they prayed about everything! If food was missing, they prayed that God will provide it. If there was any problem, they prayed for it! Big or small – they prayed for everything and knew that God will listen and will answer in his own way!

Every Saturday we had an hour with the whole community together: 130 people. We met in the chapel in the house. This “hour” was called: hour of praise&gratitude.

In this hour we sang songs, we prayed and we told each other what God has done during the week, how he blessed us, how he answered prayers, what we experienced with HIM during the week.

It was an amazing “hour” of praise to God! Nothing was too small not be not told. It was not the “big” miracles that happened (although there were definitely some), but it was more the “small” things in the daily life, e.g. a computer didn’t work and there was no money to fix it and a person prayed for it and the computer worked again or God send a person out of the blue to fix it, or there was a big meeting coming up with 1000 people and they needed potatoes for a salad and God send a farmer to give them potatoes. They never told people what they needed, instead they asked God – their provider for everything. They had such a trust in God! I am so glad I learned already in my family how to trust in the LORD and also how to pray also for little things and during this year I practised it even more. They were such a positive example for me these peopel in the community. Simply amazing!

During this practical year we had this weekly “hour of praise&gratitude” – this was the one of the highlights during the week for everyone. We heard so many stories how God helped in the daily life and how he worked in our lives. To see that we don’t serve a “dead” God, but a living God who cares for the “little” and the “big” things of his children. And also to know: he has the overview over everything! It is not our way – how we want it, but HIS way!

It is so good not to concentrate on our problems, but to concentrate on our great God, who cares for us and loves us! Shouldn’t we give thanks to him more often?

I know that I for sure should! I really try to practise it more and more in my daily life!

??? Did you have a dream and this dream came true??? How???

In my next posts I will keep on writing about how my dreams came true!

This practical year at this christian community was a beautiful preparation for my whole life! I am very very thankful for this year and for all the people who invested in me during this time! God bless them richly for this! They invest their time in young people that they can live out their dreams and purpose for the glory of God

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Talents

February 13, 2013 · Filed under Dream, Focus · Tagged christian, Dream, end of life, focus, God, hope, life coaching, motivation, priority, talents, wish

Just read this quote today and thought: Oh yes! This my big wish: to use the talents God gave me. Often I see so many opportunities what I could do: but I only want to do what God wants me to do and I want to use all the talents God entrusted to me.