1,000 miracles a day
Busy busy busy! What a couple of weeks I've had!
This past weekend I was in my second life coaching course, CTI's Fulfillment. What an awesome course and group of participants. In the Fundamentals class I took back in July, there were a number of people that were just testing the life coaching waters. This time the class was filled with people who have made a choice to pursue a coaching career, and that commitment really showed up in the coaching exercises we did together.
As an exploration of our personal values, we did a guided visualization where we imagined ourselves visiting the home of our future self 20 years down the road. We did the visualization twice. The first time I got a clear picture of a home sitting on a low hill that was lushly landscaped with tropical plants. The house had a courtyard and was filled with light. I had a sense that it was a gathering place, a place where people came together for conversation, for planning, for fun. And I got some sense of who my future self was. When I was asked what name my future self was known by other than my given name, the word Leader came to mind.
The second time we did the visualization, I was actually able to see my future self... a 60 year old version of me. It was like seeing my face morphed with that of my maternal grandfather's. And it wasn't that bad... I got that it was okay to grow old. My face was happy. I had gray hair on my chest. My nipples were still pierced. :-) Best of all, my future self had wisdom to share with me when I asked him questions: will I find a true partner? what path should I take?
When the visualization ended this second time, I found myself very sad until the woman leading the exercise told us we could return at any time. Somehow it is comforting now to know that I have that place--and that sense of my future self--to return to whenever I choose.
Overall the course was amazing. I love what life coaching is opening up for me, and I have a sense of having found my passion. What's more... I'm going to be good at it; throughout the weekend I received such wonderful acknowledgment from many people in the course. We did an exercise where we got into two lines facing each other, acknowledged the person across from us for three minutes, and then rotated, repeating this seven or eight times. How great it was to get to tell people what I admired about them... and to open myself in turn to hearing what in me people wanted to acknowledge.
And so I'm starting my coaching business. I have two sample sessions scheduled for this week with potential clients, and I'm having another session with a woman whom I may take on as my own coach for the next few months. This new adventure is coming into reality!
THE WEEKEND BEFORE MY MOTHER WAS IN TOWN for the third weekend of the Wisdom Course. She's taking the course in Denver and came out to share this particular weekend with me.
I got so much out of the weekend. I am coaching the course and on the team responsible for grading the participants' coursework: a display of the people they regularly communicate with, an autobiography, and collages. Friday we had some breakdowns: there were some surprises to which we had to adapt and some breakdowns in procedure. With roughly 200 participants and eight to ten pieces of coursework per participant, there were a lot of items to be handled. The three of us accountable for getting the coursework graded by the coaching team were told that we had "failed."
I left the course that night committed to not getting on it about that statement, but as I got into bed I was totally in my head about it and unable to sleep. I woke on Saturday expecting a long, unpleasant day: I would arrive at the host hotel at 8am and be there until 11pm.
Instead something else showed up. I chose to live inside the idea that all was well. We had a coaching meeting in the morning and got really straight with each other about what was and was not working. Out of that we came together as a team and made great progress throughout the day, in the process growing and developing ourselves.
What opened up for me was an ability to really hear the course participants that I'm coaching. In a conversation with one of them that was occurring for me as an argument, I suddenly stopped resisting and just heard what was being communicated to me. In that moment I got how committed I was to having this person in front of me get a new life out of the course. And standing in that place, I was able to speak in a way that had my participant feeling understood.
It was an intense conversation, but it opened the world for me. I was left with a feeling of love for everyone in the course.
That night we had a community and social event attended by the everyone in the course as well as their guests. Tony came as my guest, and I got to introduce Mom as my guest as well which meant so much to me: "Who you are for me, Mom, is art, generosity, and from beginning to end, love."
On the way home, I was talking to Tony outside my car when a homeless man asked me for money. My wallet was in my car, and I told him I didn't have any. I returned to my conversation with Tony for 10 to 15 seconds, and then I realized I was full of shit. I went to the car, got my wallet, and gave the man $5. He reached into his bag and pulled out a drawing and gave it to me, humbling me with his generosity and acknowledgment. And for the first time in my life, I hugged a homeless man.
For a second night, I had difficulty sleeping. But this time the culprit was excitement. I literally couldn't wait to get back to the course the next day. I couldn't wait to be back with that community of people who were committed to making a difference in the world.
The course was great on Sunday. Mom and I were going to see Love, Janis immediately afterwards, and I collected my things to go. I had to walk about 50 feet to get to the escalator, and in that space I encountered 20 or 25 people. Some wanted to thank me for what I had done during the weekend. Some were people that I wanted to acknowledge. Some had lost their coursework and were upset... and relieved when I took the time to help them find it. Some wanted to share breakthroughs they had had.
And there it was... I got why I choose to contribute to this wonderful Wisdom community. I got why I get on the phone for the conference calls and the conversations with my participants. I got why I'm going to all of the five three-day weekends and the team training days and the coursework parties. It's because when these people get together, I am so present to witnessing 1,000 miracles a day happening around me.
And thinking back to that homeless man on the street, I also got that having a life filled with miracles every day only takes a simple choice, only takes a moment, only takes that short journey which sometimes seems so desperately long: stepping outside of one's self and into the world of another.
This past weekend I was in my second life coaching course, CTI's Fulfillment. What an awesome course and group of participants. In the Fundamentals class I took back in July, there were a number of people that were just testing the life coaching waters. This time the class was filled with people who have made a choice to pursue a coaching career, and that commitment really showed up in the coaching exercises we did together.
As an exploration of our personal values, we did a guided visualization where we imagined ourselves visiting the home of our future self 20 years down the road. We did the visualization twice. The first time I got a clear picture of a home sitting on a low hill that was lushly landscaped with tropical plants. The house had a courtyard and was filled with light. I had a sense that it was a gathering place, a place where people came together for conversation, for planning, for fun. And I got some sense of who my future self was. When I was asked what name my future self was known by other than my given name, the word Leader came to mind.
The second time we did the visualization, I was actually able to see my future self... a 60 year old version of me. It was like seeing my face morphed with that of my maternal grandfather's. And it wasn't that bad... I got that it was okay to grow old. My face was happy. I had gray hair on my chest. My nipples were still pierced. :-) Best of all, my future self had wisdom to share with me when I asked him questions: will I find a true partner? what path should I take?
When the visualization ended this second time, I found myself very sad until the woman leading the exercise told us we could return at any time. Somehow it is comforting now to know that I have that place--and that sense of my future self--to return to whenever I choose.
Overall the course was amazing. I love what life coaching is opening up for me, and I have a sense of having found my passion. What's more... I'm going to be good at it; throughout the weekend I received such wonderful acknowledgment from many people in the course. We did an exercise where we got into two lines facing each other, acknowledged the person across from us for three minutes, and then rotated, repeating this seven or eight times. How great it was to get to tell people what I admired about them... and to open myself in turn to hearing what in me people wanted to acknowledge.
And so I'm starting my coaching business. I have two sample sessions scheduled for this week with potential clients, and I'm having another session with a woman whom I may take on as my own coach for the next few months. This new adventure is coming into reality!
THE WEEKEND BEFORE MY MOTHER WAS IN TOWN for the third weekend of the Wisdom Course. She's taking the course in Denver and came out to share this particular weekend with me.
I got so much out of the weekend. I am coaching the course and on the team responsible for grading the participants' coursework: a display of the people they regularly communicate with, an autobiography, and collages. Friday we had some breakdowns: there were some surprises to which we had to adapt and some breakdowns in procedure. With roughly 200 participants and eight to ten pieces of coursework per participant, there were a lot of items to be handled. The three of us accountable for getting the coursework graded by the coaching team were told that we had "failed."
I left the course that night committed to not getting on it about that statement, but as I got into bed I was totally in my head about it and unable to sleep. I woke on Saturday expecting a long, unpleasant day: I would arrive at the host hotel at 8am and be there until 11pm.
Instead something else showed up. I chose to live inside the idea that all was well. We had a coaching meeting in the morning and got really straight with each other about what was and was not working. Out of that we came together as a team and made great progress throughout the day, in the process growing and developing ourselves.
What opened up for me was an ability to really hear the course participants that I'm coaching. In a conversation with one of them that was occurring for me as an argument, I suddenly stopped resisting and just heard what was being communicated to me. In that moment I got how committed I was to having this person in front of me get a new life out of the course. And standing in that place, I was able to speak in a way that had my participant feeling understood.
It was an intense conversation, but it opened the world for me. I was left with a feeling of love for everyone in the course.
That night we had a community and social event attended by the everyone in the course as well as their guests. Tony came as my guest, and I got to introduce Mom as my guest as well which meant so much to me: "Who you are for me, Mom, is art, generosity, and from beginning to end, love."
On the way home, I was talking to Tony outside my car when a homeless man asked me for money. My wallet was in my car, and I told him I didn't have any. I returned to my conversation with Tony for 10 to 15 seconds, and then I realized I was full of shit. I went to the car, got my wallet, and gave the man $5. He reached into his bag and pulled out a drawing and gave it to me, humbling me with his generosity and acknowledgment. And for the first time in my life, I hugged a homeless man.
For a second night, I had difficulty sleeping. But this time the culprit was excitement. I literally couldn't wait to get back to the course the next day. I couldn't wait to be back with that community of people who were committed to making a difference in the world.
The course was great on Sunday. Mom and I were going to see Love, Janis immediately afterwards, and I collected my things to go. I had to walk about 50 feet to get to the escalator, and in that space I encountered 20 or 25 people. Some wanted to thank me for what I had done during the weekend. Some were people that I wanted to acknowledge. Some had lost their coursework and were upset... and relieved when I took the time to help them find it. Some wanted to share breakthroughs they had had.
And there it was... I got why I choose to contribute to this wonderful Wisdom community. I got why I get on the phone for the conference calls and the conversations with my participants. I got why I'm going to all of the five three-day weekends and the team training days and the coursework parties. It's because when these people get together, I am so present to witnessing 1,000 miracles a day happening around me.
And thinking back to that homeless man on the street, I also got that having a life filled with miracles every day only takes a simple choice, only takes a moment, only takes that short journey which sometimes seems so desperately long: stepping outside of one's self and into the world of another.
Labels: being human, m
posted by michael at 12:19 PM
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