I’ve thought long and hard about how to explain the magic of coaching. Every time I’ve sat down to write this part, I’ve come up with a different approach and new stories and lots of words, but none that felt quite right.
Eventually it dawned on me that the best route might be to explain how I’ve experienced coaching. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get anything like the same results – you’re you, after all, with your own unique you-ness – but if you can experience even one teeny little bit of the awesomeness that coaching has unveiled in my life, you’ll be so busy thanking your lucky stars that you’ll forget I never really defined it for you.
One of the first things I learned to do was breathe. Mind-numbingly simple yet life-alteringly important. Learning TO breathe and ABOUT breath led me to all sorts of un-freaking-believable insights. I think I’ve been encouraging people to breathe pretty much most of my adult life, but it wasn’t until I started learning about the power of the connection between our minds and bodies that I realised just how wise all those ‘Just breathe’ exhortations had been. Breath is the key to the wisdom we all have, even if we can’t believe that could possibly be true.
Next up on my list of gifts from coaching has to be the question. Well, not so much ‘the’ question as ‘a’ question or ‘any’ question and even ‘all’ questions. Seriously, there’s no way to get to know yourself better than by peppering your internal conversations with quality questions. It’s even more powerful when you’ve got a coach throwing said questions at you. Regularly. Consistently. Even when it feels like a form of torture. Surrendering to a good set of questions brings you closer to a deep personal awareness and sense of calm like nothing else I’ve encountered.
By virtue of many insistent questions, coaching helped me to identify the parts of me that needed to heal, and the parts that were ready to grow. When I couldn’t quite figure out which part was which, kind coaches helped me to pick apart the tightly woven strands so that I could respond to my life consciously, with intention, and most of all, with courage.
Coaching helped me figure out what was really behind my pain, and how to heal.
Perhaps most importantly, coaching has inspired me to pay attention to who I want to be and how I want to show up in my world. It’s taught me that my life really is all mine. I get to choose. Every day. Who. Where. When. What. How. Why.
My life. My responsiblity. Such powerful truth.
Coaching will change your life, if you let it.
“My coaching sessions with Brenda were like having a conversation with a very dear friend. She created a safe and comfortable space, she listened without judgement, and she asked the right questions with humour and compassion. By doing this she guided me towards a place where I felt the courage to deal with the nitty gritty of what was holding me back in my life rather than skirt around the real issues.
I now have a set of tools which I can use in all areas of my life to move through whatever obstacles and challenges present themselves. I feel like Brenda has given me the key to a door which has been locked and I’ve been banging my head against it for years. It is now stands wide open and the light is streaming in!”