A little clarifying note on life coaching, just because most still have only heard of the term ‘coach’ in relationship to sports. Although there might be similarities, professional coaching is not competitive. Coaching is a collaborative effort that is solely based on what you want and would like to do with your life and career. It’s brainstorming together to identify and solidify how you define success and how you desire to embody it. Life coaching is a partnership between coach and client in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires to maximize your personal and professional capacity.
Basically, your coach is your cheerleader, your fan, your partner, your guide if you will – but you are the adventurer, the explorer. Your coach supports and encourages you to achieve success – however you define that. You are the expert in your life, your coach is your facilitator in your discovery of your full potential.
“To affect the Quality of the Day that is the highest of all Arts.”
Henry David Thoreau
What is life coaching?
A life coach is only similar to a soccer coach if you see life as a sport. Coaches will encourage you to keep practicing, cheer you on, and celebrate your goals! We will coach you to become a winner at your game of choice!
A life coach will work with you to help you identify your personal desires and professional goals while motivating you to achieve them. A coach will inquire, encourage, advise, educate, challenge, make requests and listen to ensure that you are aligned with your goals, values and vision. Coaching can be done face to face and/or via telephone or in writing, whichever is most convenient and effective.
Coaching is action-oriented and focused primarily on the present and future. Therefore, it is not therapy or consulting. Coaching techniques are based on research in mainly Positive Psychology however, but most life coaches are not licensed therapists, psychologists, psychiatrist, nor social workers. Positive psychology is the field of study of “positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions” and promises to improve quality of life. Positive psychology focuses on both individual and societal well-being, happiness, and positivity. It is a pretty new branch of psychology, established by Martin Saligman in 1998.
There have been motivational speakers, and life coaches since the 1960s though. It’s just like modern science wasn’t able to prove ancient eastern wisdom until just recently. In these past few decades particularly, we have been able to scientifically prove ancient philosophies. It’s exciting when contemporary Western science can validate ancient Eastern knowledge, don’t you think?!
Even though Life Coaching is not therapy, it has a lot of similarities with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in approach and strategies. Life coaching is not therapy, but it can be quite therapeutic.
What is self-coaching?
Traditionally, students have learned from mentors over the past few centuries. Our modern evolution has made mentorship and mastery almost extinct, however. Fortunately, literacy and the internet have empowered human beings to self-educate as never before in history! We don’t need to become monks or give up our worldly lives to follow gurus around any longer. Spiritual freedom is accessible to each and everyone of us today.
Self-enquiry is a modern day evolvement of the Advaita Vendanta Teachings. (But self-inquiry techniques have been around for ages, and was known to be utilised by Socrates and his scholars for example.) Self-enquiry is based on the knowledge that ‘Go(o)d lives within you as you. Namaste.’ Divine truths can be revealed through questioning what is, questioning the ego, questioning this human-mind-machine without identifying with it. It is based on the belief that we embody the answers to our very own questions.
I like to think of self-coaching as a practical application of self-inquiry. Self-coaching is the ability to bring mindful attention to the beliefs, stories, thoughts, patterns, and habits that define our life. Self-coaching teaches us to practice self-awareness and affect change through intentional behaviour. Consciously choosing how you want to show up in your life, and non-judgmentally analysing your results to re-evaluate your trajectory and progress regularly. Living intentionally, not accidentally!
We will all have passages on our life’s journey where we will benefit tremendously from having a guide, but we should never become dependent on another human being for long term direction. I honestly believe we all embody the answers we seek, we just need to fine-tune our listening skills… and embrace truth.
“ I never teach my pupils,
I only attempt to provide the condition in which they can learn.”
Albert Einstein