Last year I participated in a coaching program that was transformational. It was a group environment but all of the work was individualized. We were each given the same assignments to complete and then bring back to the group. By bringing our work back to the group we were learning to articulate with clarity what we had learned and confirmed as our personal beliefs about ourselves, our work and our vision for our lives.
The initial focus was on our roots, our core values and beliefs. But there was an additional caveat. We also explored and shared their genesis and evolution. We can take a myriad of assessments that will help us identify and define core strengths. I use them regularly in my practice as a life coach. But those tell us who we are now. Not how we came to have those beliefs. Examining the source of a belief can be powerful work. It can help us explain something that drives us that we’ve never been able to see before. It can help us let go of beliefs that no longer serve us. And it can help us recognize that only those beliefs that are the product of our own conclusions create true change. Everything else is just a temporary persona we’ve taken on and does not reflect our true selves.
As I found myself in this particular group, I realized that with the exception of one person whom I only knew through the social media universe, I was surrounded by strangers. No one knew me. They knew nothing about me. I was a profile picture and a name. This doesn’t happen often for me and that very fact made it a far more remarkable experience. Not only were there no assumptions about who I was, there was no knowledge of my life before and how that might have impacted who I had become. There was only who I am. No apologies and no explanations. No judgments.
I believe that over time we begin to assume that all of the people around us actually know us. They know our history, our values and beliefs. And we are the same for them. There can be a danger here because over time, we all change. Our values and beliefs should change because we should be challenging them. As we grow personally, so must our belief system. But sometimes those changes are so subtle that they go unremarked and unnoticed. Even by us.
So this was fascinating to me. I learned a great deal about myself. I also learned about my fellow group members. We learned about each other and together we witnessed more than few miracles in our midst.
That experience has enriched my life in ways I could not have imagined. When we take the time to know ourselves and embrace the incredible person that we are and our unlimited capacity to grow and expand, our entire landscape of opportunity changes.
So go ahead, find those roots and let them show. Allow yourself the gift of some magnificent obsessions around what matters to you and your role in the world.
Only then will you have a true passion to live today like you want tomorrow to be. Live well.
Great read Kathi.