Welcome! My name is Michael Nagel, and I am the author of this blog and a counselor in private practice in Portland, Oregon. After more than a year of publishing this blog about personal authenticity, blog readers asked me to offer one-on-one telephone coaching to persons who want to become more authentic.
And so now, I do coach clients nationally and internationally (English-speaking) by phone, supporting their learning and practice of the life skills which foster personal authenticity. Upon request, I also offer seminars and workshops about authenticity.
When coaching clients in the format of 50-minute phone conversations, I teach and encourage their development of two basic skill sets: self-discovery skills and self-expression skills. Self-discovery allows for contacting the Self, and discovering its unique nature which is you. To be your authentic self, you need to be able to experience your Self. Yet authentic living asks also that the discovered inclinations of your authentic nature be expressed outwardly in the world.
More specifically, the skills of self-discovery and self-expression include these following skills which my posts also address in one way or another:
Self-Discovery Skills
- Presence – Being with the immediacy of your experience within and without as it unfolds in the present moment.
- Listening – Receptively sensing and inquiring into the felt sense of your unfolding experience.
- Love of Truth – A fidelity to the truth of your own experience – a truth which for you supersedes other concerns.
- Wholeness – Experiencing and embracing all that you are with a radical permissiveness.
- Self-Esteem – Implicitly valuing the givenness of your nature as it is.
- Self-Acceptance – Reconciling your preferences and expectations with the givenness of your nature and your life as it is.
- Values Clarification – Giving definition to your own values, beliefs, opinions, and posture in life.
- Living as Process – Living as a dynamic unfolding process, not an unchanging concept of yourself.
Self-Expression Skills
- Personal Autonomy – Inner or self-direction and self-regulation.
- Uniqueness – Valuing and expressing the difference that you are.
- Boundaries – Having flexible boundaries which distinguish you to yourself, your relationships, and your world.
- Agency – Living as the cause of your life, not the effect.
- Choice – Creating your life the privilege of conscious choice.
- Decision Making -Enabling your deliberations with the formal skills of decision making.
- Will – Applying the resolve of your will to your self-directed purpose.
- Commitment – Passionately committing your abilities and resources to the life you choose to live.
- Self-Assertion – Expressing yourself in the world through action.
- Personal Responsibility – Freely accepting responsibility for the consequences of your choices and actions.
While I wish that these skills of personal authenticity were taught to each student before they graduated from high school, sadly, and to the detriment of our society, that is not the case. We are taught instead to listen to others, rather than to ourselves, and to conform.
I offer this blog as a rich resource for persons who wish to find a way back to themselves and to the fulfillment that results from a life lived with authenticity. Some persons may wish for and benefit from more personal instruction, and therefore I offer one-on-one coaching by telephone.
If you are interested in exploring coaching to support your becoming more authentic, I welcome you to consider scheduling a complimentary phone consultation. We would have up to 50 minutes to discuss your interests, needs, and the nature of how we might work together. To schedule a consultation is as easy as clicking here: Arrange Complimentary Consultation, and selecting a time that is good for you.
Of course you and returning clients may schedule a coaching session by clicking here: Arrange Coaching Session
My Background
As mentioned above, I am a counselor with a successful private practice in Portland, Oregon. In addition to my Masters and Bachelor degrees in psychology, I have been trained in a variety of counseling modalities. I have been fortunate to have my articles and papers on psychology, philosophy, and world affairs published in magazines, scholarly journals, and books.
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