http://www.decisivecoachinguk.co.uk/

Decisive Coaching, Canterbury (2026)

12/02/2026

Your mother-in-law makes a dig at Sunday dinner.
Your partner goes quiet and you assume the worst.
Your boss corrects you in front of everyone.
A colleague gets credit for your work.
Your teenager slams a door.
Someone disagrees with something you strongly believe.
And just like that…
your mood shifts.
Chest tightens.
Mind races.
You replay the moment.
You build arguments in your head.
All because of something outside of you.
Have you ever heard of locus of control?
It’s a psychological term.
But it’s simple.
Is your life run from the inside…
or the outside?
If other people’s tone can destabilise you…
your control is external.
If disagreement feels like disrespect…
your control is external.
If criticism follows you home…
your control is external.
External control means your peace depends on other people behaving properly.
Good luck with that.
Internal control sounds different.
It says:
I don’t control what people say.
I don’t control what they do.
But I control what I make it mean.
And I control how I respond.
That’s power.
Not loud.
Not aggressive.
Just steady.
So ask yourself:
Are you reacting to life…
or are you running it?
Chris
Decisive Coaching

11/02/2026

Your mother-in-law makes a little dig at Sunday dinner.

Your partner goes quiet and you assume the worst.

Your boss corrects you in front of others.

A colleague gets credit for something you worked on.

Someone online disagrees with something you strongly believe.

Someone questions your opinion.

And just like that… your state shifts.
Your mood drops.
Your chest tightens.
You start rehearsing arguments in your head.

You feel misunderstood.
Disrespected.
Dismissed.

All because of something outside of you.

Now here’s something most people have never heard of.

It’s called locus of control.
It’s a psychological term, but the idea is simple.

Is your experience of life controlled from within you…
or dictated by what’s happening around you?

Because if someone disagreeing with your beliefs can destabilise you…
that’s not about their opinion.

If being challenged feels like a personal threat…
that’s not about the conversation.

If criticism follows you home and ruins your evening…
that’s not about work.

It’s about where your control sits.
An external locus of control means your emotional stability depends on other people behaving the way you want them to.

Agreeing with you.
Validating you.
Understanding you.
Treating you perfectly.

That’s a fragile way to live.

An internal locus of control sounds different.
It says:
You can disagree with me.
You can misunderstand me.
You can question me.
And I will still choose how I respond.

Two people get challenged on their beliefs.
One becomes defensive and reactive.
The other stays steady and curious.

Same disagreement.
Different internal structure.
This isn’t about suppressing emotion.
It’s about not outsourcing your stability.

Because the moment you believe other people control how you feel…
you give them more power than they deserve.
So ask yourself honestly:
Are you living from the inside out…
or the outside in?

Your reactions to this post will tell you.

Chris
Decisive Coaching

03/02/2026

One thing I’ve noticed over the years, especially through coaching and everyday conversations…

Some people don’t really have conversations.
They turn up like a phone on 1% and immediately start looking for a USB charging point.

This isn’t about one person.
It’s a pattern you see everywhere once you know what to look for.

They arrive flat.
They talk endlessly.
They leave buzzing.

You leave wondering why you feel like you’ve just hosted a support group you didn’t sign up for.

What’s actually happening is pretty simple.

They’re emptying their head out loud.

Every thought. Every feeling. Every half-baked idea.
No pause. No reflection. No point where it turns into something useful.

Without meaning to, they plug straight into whoever’s listening.

That doesn’t make them bad people.
It makes them unconscious communicators.
They talk at people, not with them.
They confuse “being open” with “having no internal filter.”

They feel better because their head’s been emptied.
The other person feels drained because they’ve become the USB port.

That’s not connection.
That’s an unsolicited data transfer.

A healthy conversation feels very different.
Both people speak.
Both people listen.
Both people think.

Nobody needs a snack, a nap, or silence afterwards.

This comes up a lot in coaching, by the way.

Not because clients are these people
but because many of them have these people in their lives.

The fix isn’t cutting anyone off (necessarily)
It’s boundaries.
Shorter chats.
Less rescuing.

No taking responsibility for thoughts that aren’t yours.
And if you’re reading this thinking,

“Hmm… this feels a bit like me.”
Good. That’s awareness doing its job.

Here’s a simple test
Pay attention to how other people feel after being around you.
Chris
Decisive Coaching

01/02/2026

Self esteem isn’t built by trying to think more positively.
It’s built by learning to trust your own perception.

Here’s something I often share with clients, using myself as the example.
When I was a kid, my mum cared deeply about me and my health.

She really did.

Because she cared, she would regularly warn me, usually with a pointy finger, never to smoke.

She’d explain how bad it was for my health and what would happen if she ever caught me smoking.

The slightly amusing part is that she was often saying this with a cigarette in her own hand.

I laugh about it now.

No blame.
No judgement.

Just an observation.
But this kind of thing shows up in lots of everyday ways too.

“You can tell me anything” followed by anger or upset.

“Just be yourself” followed by criticism.

“Be confident” while being constantly corrected.

“Don’t wory” in a tense or stressed household.

“Respect your elders” while not being listened to.

“That didn’t hurt” when it clearly did.

“Do as I say, not as I do.”!!!

Psychologically, moments like these matter.
As children, we are constantly learning what to trust.
And when words say one thing but behaviour shows another, the nervous system gets confused.

Do I trust what I’m being told
or do I trust what I’m seeing?

Most children don’t resolve that confusion by douting the adult.

They resolve it by doubting themselves.
Over time, that subtly chips away at self trust.
This is why one of the most powerful habits anyone can develop later in life is simply this.

👇
Start noticing what people do, not just what they say.
Not to judge them.
Not to criticise them.
Just to notice patterns.
Words are easy.
Behaviour costs energy.
Patterns don’t lie.

When you stop overriding your own observations and start trusting what you consistently see, something shifts.

You stop second guessing yourself.
You stop explaining things away.
You stop needing constant reasurance.

That isn’t cynicism.
That’s psychological maturity.
And this is where self esteem actually comes from.
Not from telling yourself you’re good enough.
But from knowing you don’t need to abandon your own perception in order to stay connected.
That’s real confidence.

Chris Whaley
Decisive Coaching

29/01/2026

When we rule out obvious physical injury, toxicity, and nutritional deficiency, some symptoms begin to make more sense when we look at patterns rather than labels.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that ongoing throat symptoms often follow a similar theme. They rarely arrive suddenly. They tend to linger. They come and go. They change form. Tightness. Soreness. Recurring infections. Voice issues. A feeling that something never quite settles.
Very often, the common thread isn’t the throat itself, but what has been happening quietly underneath for a long time.
Holding things in. Not speaking up. Swallowing words. Avoiding conflict. Being careful not to upset others. Living in a way that feels safer, but not fully true.
I remember working with someone years ago who had a significant tissue change in the throat area. Beyond monitoring and checkups, there was very little intervention involved. What made the biggest difference wasn’t fighting the body, but addressing what had been held back for years. Learning to speak honestly. Reclaiming autonomy. Becoming less adapted to everyone else and more aligned with herself.
As those internal patterns shifted, the physical situation resolved too.
From the perspective of the medical system, that tissue change was labelled as throat cancer.
Often the body isn’t breaking down. It’s responding. Communicating. Drawing attention to an area that has been under pressure for far longer than we realise.
Not a conclusion. Just something I’ve observed more than once.
Something to think about.

14/01/2026

Most of us grew up in families where we didn’t consciously decide who to become.
We adapted.
We sensed what was needed.
We noticed which version of us kept things calm, earned approval, or avoided trouble.
So different parts stepped in.

The smiling one who keeps everyone comfortable.
The quiet one who stays out of the way.
The strong one who doesn’t need help.
The responsible one who grows up too early.
The rebel who pushes back.
The caretaker who looks after everyone else.

None of these parts are wrong.
They’re intelligent responses to the environment we grew up in.

But when those parts keep running our lives automatically, we end up with identity confusion as adults: Not knowing who we really are
Feeling pulled in different directions
Feeling like we’re playing roles rather than living authentically

This is why so many people say things like
“Part of me wants this… but part of me wants that.”
That’s not weakness.
That’s unexamined patterning.
This is what my upcoming book
🫴 Part of Me👈 explores —
how these roles form,
why they stick around,
and how understanding them brings clarity instead of conflict.
You’re not broken.
You adapted.
And awareness is where change starts.

13/01/2026

What if your symptoms aren’t random?

Most people are taught that symptoms mean something is broken.

But what if the body isn’t malfunctioning — what if it’s responding logically to something unresolved?

Human Reboot explores the hidden emotional and behavioural patterns behind stress, illness, and repeated life cycles — without fear, labels, or blame.

👉 LEARN MORE

31/12/2025

January 1st:

“I’m a new person.”

January 3rd:

“I’m tired.”

January 7th:

“Who am I kidding.”

😂
It’s not laziness.
It’s not lack of motivation.
It’s different parts of you wanting different things.
One part wants change.
Another part wants comfort.
Another part panics the moment change actually starts.
So January becomes December…
but in gym clothes.
Real change doesn’t come from trying harder or waiting for the “right time.”
It comes from understanding who inside you is actually running the show.
When those parts stop fighting, things finally stick.
This year doesn’t need a new you.
It needs a more integrated one.

growthhumour
psychologyofchange
selfleadership
innerwork
reallifechange

22/12/2025

Part of Me
💥Transcend Your Fu**ed Upness💥
Most people aren’t broken.
They’re over-adapted.
This book is for anyone who’s ever said:
“Part of me wants this… and part of me doesn’t.”
It explains where that split comes from — and how to stop living from it.

Coming soon.

**edUpness MentalWealth PersonalDevelopment

21/12/2025

I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in patterns.

Every person I’ve worked with who’s experienced fibromyalgia has had something very specific going on in their life at the time.
What shows up again and again is long term emotional overload combined with internal conflict.
These are often people who have spent years adapting to difficult situations. Suppressing how they feel. Putting others first. Keeping the peace. Carrying responsibility while ignoring their own limits.
There is usually a history of feeling trapped. Not able to leave a situation. Not able to say what needs to be said. Not able to be themselves without consequences. Resentment builds, but it stays inside.
The nervous system remains on high alert for too long. Everything feels heavy. Pain becomes widespread rather than local. The body feels like it is constantly bracing.
This is not a failure of the body.

In nature, when stress and conflict are experienced as ongoing with no clear resolution, the body adapts. Sensitivity increases. Protective responses spread. It is a biological response, not a mistake.

Is that a coincidence?

Or could it be that the body responds when holding it all together for too long becomes impossible?

No blame.
No judgement.
Just a pattern worth noticing.

21/12/2025

I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in patterns.

Every woman I’ve worked with who’s experienced breast related issues has had something very specific going on in her life at the time.
It is not simply about being caring or nurturing.
What I see repeatedly is a deep emotional conflict involving someone she loves and feels responsible for. Often a child or a partner. A shock or ongoing distress linked to fear for their safety, fear of loss, or the feeling of not being able to protect or hold things together.
Separation is common too. Emotional distance. A breakdown in closeness. Feeling cut off from someone she loves while still carrying responsibility for them.
This is not a failure of the body.
In nature, tissue adapts in response to perceived threat, stress, and emotional shock. It is a biological response, not a mistake.
Is that a coincidence?
Or could it be that the body sometimes responds when the instinct to nurture and protect is experienced as threatened or impossible?

No blame.
No judgement.
Just a pattern worth noticing.

biologicalresponse
conscioushealth
selfawareness
innerwork
healingfromwithin

21/12/2025

I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in patterns.
Every man I’ve worked with who’s experienced prostate issues has had something very specific going on in his life at the time.
There is almost always a s*xual conflict sitting somewhere beneath the surface.
That might be feeling rejected or unwanted. A loss of intimacy in a relationship. Feeling inadequate as a man, s*xually or emotionally. Sometimes it is resentment around s*x being used as control. Sometimes it is shame, comparison, or the quiet feeling of no longer being enough.
Alongside this, there is usually an issue around power and authority. Feeling undermined. Disrespected. Controlled. Decisions being made for him rather than by him. A sense that his voice no longer really matters.
What I see again and again is quiet anger. Not explosive rage, but swallowed frustration. Holding things in. Letting things slide that actually hurt.
These men keep functioning. They keep providing. They keep showing up.
But not as themselves.
Is that a coincidence?
Or could it be that the body sometimes speaks up when a man feels he no longer can s*xually, emotionally, or in life?
No blame.
No judgement.
Just a pattern worth noticing.

*xualconflict
relationships
identity
emotionalhealth
mindbodyconnection
patternsofbehaviour
selfawareness
innerconflict
healingfromwithin
coachingthoughts

Decisive Coaching

12/02/2026

11/02/2026

03/02/2026

01/02/2026

29/01/2026

14/01/2026

13/01/2026

31/12/2025

22/12/2025

21/12/2025

21/12/2025

21/12/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share