"Knowing yourself is the beginning to all wisdom." - Aristotle
Eadren is a remarkable individual who has touched the lives of many with her kind and compassionate nature. She is an authentic friend and has been a constant source of support for those fortunate enough to know her. Her ability to empathize and offer comfort has been a lifeline for many, including myself.
I first met Eadren through a friend in our theater group. However, it wasn't until I was going through a particularly challenging period in my life that I truly got to know her. I was struggling with anxiety and felt lost in my life's purpose, and I didn't know who to turn to. Eadren became a ray of light in my darkness. She provided life coaching that offered me guidance and imparted techniques to help me calm myself during moments of distress. Her patience, understanding, and unwavering support have been instrumental in my journey toward healing, and I am forever grateful for her presence in my life.
Eadren's talents and compassionate nature are beyond words, and that is why putting her on SPOTLIGHT is important. By sharing her story and insights, she can help others who need to find their own inner torch and navigate life's difficulties with greater ease. Whether through coaching, counselling, or simply lending a listening ear, Eadren genuinely desires to help others and make a positive impact on the world. I feel fortunate to have her in my life, and I know that others will benefit greatly from her wisdom and guidance.
What inspired you to start Your Inner Torch, and what do you hope to achieve through your work? Was there a particular event or experience that led you to create it?
Growing up as a teenager detached from my family, I always wished I had a wise and caring adult-friend to whom I could turn for support and be my pillar of strength and comfort whenever life felt like a dark tunnel. It motivated me to be a mentor for troubled youths even while I was a youth myself, and it also became my greatest dream growing up.
Fast forward to my first 12 years in the workforce, I was getting jaded and started wondering if there was a way to be happier and more fulfilled in the workplace. Through my research, I learnt that 80% of employees worldwide are miserable in their jobs, and I was not the only one. It did not make sense that we spend so much time and effort on our careers only to be unhappy.
So as I was thinking about how to fulfill my teenage dream and create a happier working society, I felt a spark in me that I had not felt in a long time. It was a familiar warmth that flowed through me when I first mentored troubled youths. Over the years of working, the spark had been put out – or so I thought – but all it was waiting for was the right propellant.
This was how Your Inner Torch was born. A light inside of us that propelled our way forward, sometimes fuelled strongly by ourselves, while at other times needing a little boost from outside. My work strongly lives by the motto Inspiring Individuals, Transforming Worlds, and that is the combined radiance of all our inner flames shining at their full potential. It is a ripple effect that I hope my efforts achieve, and that spirit now also translates into my work with organizations where I help them create a healthy workplace that enables high-value teams and develops future-ready leaders.
Can you tell us more about the services and programs you offer through Your Inner Torch, and how you support your clients in achieving their goals?
Your Inner Torch offers a variety of services and programs to both individuals and organisations.
For aspiring individuals, there are programs from helping them live a purpose-driven life and improve their well-being, to more competency-focused ones like Conscious Communication and Adaptive Leadership.
Getting Transformative Coaching from me is one of the most requested services with 100% satisfaction rate to-date, and is also a service provided as a follow-up to all our programs.
On the corporate front, Your Inner Torch aims to create sustainable workforces by focusing on three critical areas in human capital:
Having a healthy and high-performing multigenerational workforce.
Creating hybrid workforces, teams, and leaders that are future-ready, versatile, and adaptable.
Establishing organisational culture, values, and purpose that empower, attract and retain.
Everything is customized and developed to suit our clients’ individual human capital needs, which we align through adopting an agile and consultative approach. This is not just for our corporate clients but for anyone we engage with. More importantly, the journey does not just end abruptly after finishing a programme or service. It continues with ongoing support like coaching, or another form of proactive review that best suits the client. These support mechanisms continue until the client is confident and ready to be autonomous.
In your opinion, what is the most important trait or quality for someone looking to achieve personal growth and self-improvement? What advice do you have for someone struggling to find their passion or purpose in life, and how can Your Inner Torch help them discover it?
Humans are regarded as the most adaptive species in the world today, and adaptability is one of the most important traits that enables personal growth and self-improvement especially with rapid change continuously taking place around us.
Being adaptable enables us to respond quickly, appropriately, and accurately to change. However, our level of adaptability is dependent on a few factors:
Attitude – What your relationship and approach is with “change”.
Knowledge – What you know or how to acquire what you do not know or need
Experience – How to apply and innovate what you know for yourself and the greater good
However, one will not be happy constantly adapting unless the adaptation to change is aligned with their passion or purpose in life. Unfortunately, more and more individuals I encounter are struggling with this.
At Your Inner Torch, I go on a three-point journey to help individuals discover their passion and purpose in life: Explore, Shift, Cultivate or ESC. Whether you understand the abbreviation of ESC as the “exit” key on our computer keyboards or the Electronic Stability Control in modern cars that helps stabilise your car and keep it on the course when it begins to veer off your intended path, that is what the journey I go on with you does. It helps you leave behind what is unfulfilling for you while creating a true north to guide you on your new path ahead even when it feels like you are not in control.
How do you incorporate mindfulness and self-awareness into your approach to entrepreneurship, and why do you believe these practices are important for success?
First, let’s define mindfulness and self-awareness as everyone has a slightly different take on them these days, given how they are used interchangeably.
Simply put, mindfulness, to me, is being conscious of the present. How air enters and flows through my body as I breathe, how it changes when I talk as I breathe, how the ground feels on my feet as I walk. From there, mindfulness supported with self-awareness, helps us slowly grow in our ability to first be aware of very uncomfortable feelings and then to relax into their intensity without having to act on them. This is not easy and needs to be cultivated over time.
On the other hand, self-awareness is a state of mind where I am in tune with the impacts of my inner self on the outer world and vice versa. It requires me to continually hone my ability to catch myself in the act, to have part of myself engaged in my life while another part is watching with clarity and kindness. This gives me more freedom to honor my strengths while choosing not to act in habitual ways that are not aligned with my deepest values.
Cultivating both mindfulness and self-awareness together is a catalyst for personal and professional growth and development. They enable us freedom of choice in how we respond to situations, and connect us to our source of deep inner peace and nourishment that is not dependent on external circumstances. This allows us to harmoniously interact with ourselves, others, and our surroundings.
How do you maintain a work-life balance while running a successful coaching and personal development business?
Throughout the years, I have learned that discipline is critical in maintaining work-life balance. It helps me set healthy boundaries, achievable targets, and timely deliverables not just on the business front but also for myself as a person.
This means there is a time to feed the body and soul for wholistic well-being, a time to work, and a time to completely power down. Especially during more demanding times, where I may be stretched in one aspect more than another, this discipline becomes more critical while also exercising flexibility. Again, the key is to ensure an overall balance; your body is your best guide if you listen to it enough.
At the same time, I also embody the carpe diem spirit as much as possible. Many assume this means not planning for the future, but it isn’t so. It is about planning as much as is needed and is possible. Given that the future is very uncertain, there is a limit to how far and how much we can plan. However, there isn’t a limit to how much one can live to the max each day.
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An experienced manager, global change consultant, facilitator and executive coach, Eadren combines a strong background in international education, with 12 years in marketing and communications. She is a cultural conduit for performance in Asia, working with senior, middle and line managers across public and private sectors as well as non-profit organisations for both multinational companies and start-ups across various industries.
Recently, she was nominated by the National Youth Council of Singapore and Mentoring SG to mentor youths, while sitting on the APAC council of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). Previously, she worked with the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) on their upskilling initiatives.
Eadren has a passion in behavioural psychology and its impacts on the social ecosystem including leadership and culture. She is also curious about technology, diversity, inclusion and equality, particularly in intercultural and remote leadership, having worked with global leaders at all levels globally especially during the pandemic.
A postgraduate in Education from Monash University, Eadren is also an internationally certified teacher of English. She is an accredited Integral Coach (New Ventures West), Organisational Coach (IECL) and Teams Coach (EMCC). On top of that, she is also licensed to assess individuals using a variety of psychometric tools like Hogan Judgement, Enneagram, and Firo-B. Eadren is also a trained mediator using the Non-Violent Communication method as well as a Reiki practitioner.
Contact: eadren@yourinnertorch.com
Website: www.yourinnertorch.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eadren
IG: @innertorch
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