The most common question I am asked is, “What is a Life coach?”
As a fairly new career “title”, there is much speculation about the effectiveness of Life Coaching. To add to the confusion, there are so many different niches in this category: Health, Business, Spiritual.
In our everyday lives, we encounter much of the same things as everyone around us. We are all trying to “do something” or “overcome” something.
Here are the most common phrases I hear when clients contact me:
“I haven’t accomplished what I want”
“I’m just not happy with my life and need to find joy”
“Something happened and it’s affecting everything in my life”
“I feel stuck”
“I’m overwhelmed and can’t focus”
“Everyone tells me I should…”
“I want to make a change but I don’t know where to start”
Do any of these sound familiar? What I have discovered is that no matter what a client brings as an issue, there are so many more behind it. They think it’s just one thing, and then discover through their coaching sessions, that it is deeper.
Many of my clients have been to Counselors and Therapists for years, but just can’t seem to get to the goals and feelings they want. Finding the inner reasons are good, but I take it to the future rather than staying in past.
A Life Coach brings more than psychological know-how, they bring empathy and their own life experiences to assist. To sit in front of someone who says, “I know how you feel, I’ve been there too” makes a much larger impact on the person trying to learn and change.
A good Life Coach will assist you in finding out the “why’s” and then give you the “hows”. Almost every person who has come to me says, “I know what I need to do, I just don’t know how”.
We are surrounded by friends and family who know us. When they give us advice or suggestions, we sort of tune them out. It’s old news, they don’t understand, I’ve changed, etc.
By going to a Life Coach, you get an objective, outside, emotionally detached person looking at what you are experiencing and feeling. The tools and methods that are used are “outside the box”. At least my coaching is… I am currently remote coaching a client via video, and after our session (which she does in her car between tasks), I asked her to roll down her window and yell “I am amazing”! She was SOOOOO uncomfortable but she did it and I could see the joy she got from doing that. Just a simple affirmation in an unconventional way.
I have found that the two most sought out emotions all of us are needing and wanting: Acceptance and Validation.
This is why we struggle so hard with others in our lives, because we don’t get those often enough. Our well-meaning family and friends think that advice and lectures will help us to be better, but they don’t understand the wiring of our brains. We do not need to hear the same programming we’ve received over and over, we need new beliefs and ideas in order to succeed.
If the old ones worked, we wouldn’t be feeling negative about our lives.
I give my clients the acceptance they desire,(there is nothing I judge or criticize), with understanding and affirmations to have patience with themselves, and to take things one step at a time. I see the relief on their faces when this happens, like they’ve been waiting for someone to just say, “it’s ok, you’re doing great”.
Today’s society puts so much pressure on achievement and action. The older generations are trying to keep up and the younger generations are constantly comparing themselves to one another.
My goal is to bring everyone back to a place of joy, satisfaction, empowerment and peace about their lives and their purpose. This life is to be enjoyed and experienced in every way possible so we learn and grow.
And this…. is Life Coaching
Love and blessings,
Lifecoach Maureen