This is Why I Started Life Coaching
As I think about and reflect on why I started a life coaching service, I remember when I was nine years old I somehow came across a book titled “Children with Emerald Eyes’, this was hardly an age appropriate book but that was part and parcel for the way I grew up (a blog post for another day). I devoured this book and my fascination with psychology and nonfiction began. Basically the book was about children who had some sort of psychological trauma and from what I can remember it also discussed how these traumas manifested themselves in the lives of the children as they grew. Keep in mind that I read this book almost forty years ago but it made such an impression on me that I still remember it. I wonder sometimes how much of it I really understood intellectually but something resonated for me on a heart level. In parallel, I was fascinated by the brain and watched every show I could on the brain in a PBS series. I vividly remember believing that when I grew up I could be a dancer and a brain surgeon.
Life is unlike anything else in orchestrating a beautiful symphony of our lives. Life much like the music of a symphony rises, falls and even crashes in a thundering clash but before the sound fades it is transformed and a new portion of the symphony begins. When I think of the ebbs and flows, dreams and circumstances that I traversed to get where I am now I see that my therapist was correct when she told me, “You are like that flower that grows out of crack of the sidewalk” and in many ways, aren’t we all? My dreams as a child for what I could do have manifested in a way I could have never seen. In many ways when I’m engaged in life coaching I conduct surgery, I do dance and I like to think I bring beauty and movement into people’s lives. I do not do this alone though but in partnership with my life coaching clients.
Unlike many professions of the day the work we do together in life coaching is based on a mutual give and take, push and pull and grounded in loving kindness. There are beliefs that you will find are getting in your way and we will carefully and methodically act to remove them. There is a body component to life coaching as well, I may notice your voice and tone changing and you may report a tension rising in your chest or your throat when speaking on a hard topic. This valuable information is like a clue to help guide further and deeper into inquiry. This is at the core of life coaching. So as you see life has given me, with a chuckle I’m sure my brain dancer vocation.
There was a time when I questioned my credibility and ability to do this kind of life coaching work. In the end your mind, ego and the judgement of others can be powerful, no need to pretend otherwise. It is because my life was NOT perfect and at times very painful that I do have credibility. It is because I can connect and empathize with the pressures of needing to know and being a life coaching expert that I am trusted by high level leaders. As a reminder for me as much as you, we begin the life coaching process not because of something lacking that you refrain from doing but rather what your heart calls you to do. Life coaching is powerful and for many of us it is fear of failure or fear that we are not worthy or good enough. Not participating in your life fully is a privilege many never get a chance to have. I encourage you to explore life coaching for yourself.
Marriane Willaimson’s quote came to me when I was in a spiritual crisis in my late twenties. I will never forget how I felt after I read it. I woke up from my self induced slumber. Her words...
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~A Return to Love by Marriane Williamson
Whether you believe in God or not the point is you can put in any word/s around energy, something you value or even the Universe and the message is the same, a unique valuable contribution is in all of us, not some of us. Imagine believing in your ability, imagine if success was guaranteed...how would you be living life differently? Who would you be? These are just some of the questions that I will ask you as we begin your life coaching journey together.
If you are interested in learning more about life coaching, see my article titled What is Life Coaching? I look forward to connecting with you.
- Alina
Life is unlike anything else in orchestrating a beautiful symphony of our lives. Life much like the music of a symphony rises, falls and even crashes in a thundering clash but before the sound fades it is transformed and a new portion of the symphony begins. When I think of the ebbs and flows, dreams and circumstances that I traversed to get where I am now I see that my therapist was correct when she told me, “You are like that flower that grows out of crack of the sidewalk” and in many ways, aren’t we all? My dreams as a child for what I could do have manifested in a way I could have never seen. In many ways when I’m engaged in life coaching I conduct surgery, I do dance and I like to think I bring beauty and movement into people’s lives. I do not do this alone though but in partnership with my life coaching clients.
Unlike many professions of the day the work we do together in life coaching is based on a mutual give and take, push and pull and grounded in loving kindness. There are beliefs that you will find are getting in your way and we will carefully and methodically act to remove them. There is a body component to life coaching as well, I may notice your voice and tone changing and you may report a tension rising in your chest or your throat when speaking on a hard topic. This valuable information is like a clue to help guide further and deeper into inquiry. This is at the core of life coaching. So as you see life has given me, with a chuckle I’m sure my brain dancer vocation.
There was a time when I questioned my credibility and ability to do this kind of life coaching work. In the end your mind, ego and the judgement of others can be powerful, no need to pretend otherwise. It is because my life was NOT perfect and at times very painful that I do have credibility. It is because I can connect and empathize with the pressures of needing to know and being a life coaching expert that I am trusted by high level leaders. As a reminder for me as much as you, we begin the life coaching process not because of something lacking that you refrain from doing but rather what your heart calls you to do. Life coaching is powerful and for many of us it is fear of failure or fear that we are not worthy or good enough. Not participating in your life fully is a privilege many never get a chance to have. I encourage you to explore life coaching for yourself.
Marriane Willaimson’s quote came to me when I was in a spiritual crisis in my late twenties. I will never forget how I felt after I read it. I woke up from my self induced slumber. Her words...
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~A Return to Love by Marriane Williamson
Whether you believe in God or not the point is you can put in any word/s around energy, something you value or even the Universe and the message is the same, a unique valuable contribution is in all of us, not some of us. Imagine believing in your ability, imagine if success was guaranteed...how would you be living life differently? Who would you be? These are just some of the questions that I will ask you as we begin your life coaching journey together.
If you are interested in learning more about life coaching, see my article titled What is Life Coaching? I look forward to connecting with you.
- Alina