Coaching with a Big C: Tours of Self Discovery

Yesterday I completed the first day of my 23 day intensive NLP Life Coach training in San Francisco. I took a delayed flight straight into SFO and arrived at the hotel, bags in hand, in just enough time to check in and start the course. So what did I learn on this first day?

Why Are You Here?

I learned why I came. This may sound a little funny because I obviously thought extensively about taking a course before deciding upon this training, and I had all of my ready-made reasons for being here but in the coaching session I had to burrow deeper and in a more focused way than I did on my own. A coaching session reveals much more because you can hear yourself speak, the words you choose have significance, you are forced to be exceptionally clear so that you can be understood and this makes you develop an intense focus on yourself and how you relate to the subject matter.

Our first coaching session revolved around choosing a memory of a positive learning experience and then figuring out what you need to have in order to be prepared for learning. In my case, I am exceedingly clear on what I need to learn. In order to have myself in the right place I need lots of rest, exercise, meditation, food and space. I am so aware of it that I packed around all of these needs, so it was very front and center for me. This session did not bring those sorts of things out for me, it brought out why I came, instead, which is deeply interlaced with what I need in order to have a positive learning experience

The Memory

Only one memory came through really strong for me during the selection process of this exercise, so I knew it had significance although I wasn’t quite sure how. I saw myself very clearly in the Crossroad’s Music & Entertainment Boardroom. It was a Saturday so the studio was relatively empty save the skeleton crew necessary for mixing the first project from the Crist Family that the label would release. I was there as a manager to the group and to provide a bridge between them and the Executive Producer, Mickey Gamble. Our mission was to go over all the points and conditions of a recording contract and sign it.

In the memory, I was sitting next to Mickey, the other members of the group were seated around the table. I slipped out of myself, as this meeting was not about me in any way or form, or any of my personal agendas. This was about them, about the health of the two parties involved and about creating a synergy between the two that would allow them both to flourish. I merged into a place where I could see everyone and everything as equal, beautiful, real and connected. I clearly remember that shift as I was aware of these others (whom I love) in a very conscious way…I think for the first time I saw them as they truly are. That shift of perspective was the beginning of how I would later come to be in a life coaching class. Without realizing it I was following the trail to learning how to purposefully create that shift and I guess you could also say that these changes of perspective have become necessary for me to create a positive learning experience as well.

Through getting this memory and making these associations, it really started to click. It was shortly after the signing of this group that things began to change…I found myself moving toward a scent on the wind…a shift of the tide…a change in consciousness.

Consciousness is the most stubborn substance in the cosmos, and the most fluid. It can be rigid as concrete, and it can change in an instant. A song can change it, or a story, or a fragrance wafting on the wind. ~ The Fifth Sacred Thing

Comments

By Slade | Spiritual Blogging on July 29th, 2007 at 7:41 am

I am vicariously living through your experience, and see even more why I have been guided to find you.

My partner is a psychotherapist, and we often end up talking about the intersections (and differences) between holistic ministry, counseling, and coaching. I am certainly looking toward Life Coaching Certification as a step on my path, so I’m watching and learning from your experience.

Can’t wait to hear more!

By Paula Kawal on July 29th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

Hi Slade,

I think you will love coaching!
I am having so many amazing experiences that I am so excited to share…I will write about as many as I can!

Love,

PK