A great portion of my job as a Life Coach is to help my clients gain awareness into how the thoughts they are choosing (both consciously and unconsciously) create who they are, what their reality looks like, and how they experience the world around them. As a Life Coach, I am an unbiased observer of your brain during a session and point out those thoughts which are creating the outcomes in your lives you desperately want to stop or change. This “thought work” is fascinating. I approach each session as an opportunity to help you discover your truth and your own wisdom to create the change you seek.
I also love gaining awareness in my own life through self-coaching, being coached by my personal Life Coach, or through observations from those outside my coaching circle. This is especially true when my brain has been so intensely focused on one direction that it overlooks avenues of growth and potential above those it’s currently fixated. Let me illustrate with an analogy followed by my experience:
Image that you go in and out of a building so often that your brain begins to believe that there is only one entrance to that building and only one door—the one you have been using—that leads to the place you are going (your end goal). Then one day, you take along a friend and they say to you, “What about that door? Where does that door lead?” They point out the door they are referring to, and you realize that you never noticed there was a door there in the first place let alone tried to discover where it would lead.
Here is my real-life example to how gaining awareness is brain and goal changing: I was having a conversation with my bishop (ecclesiastical leader of my church congregation—I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) concerning my career as a Life Coach. He asked me to explain a little bit more about my work. After a short explanation about buffering and some of the work I do in my Stop Overeating Program, he asked “Would you consider coaching someone who wants to stop viewing pornography?” That simple question shone a light on a path I hadn’t even noticed as an option. I believed I had considered all the possibilities and had found the way forward in my endeavor to make my mark on the world—to lead busy women on their weight loss journey while teaching them the skill of becoming the master of their own mind to achieve the results they want in their lives. But the idea of coaching people who desired to stop viewing pornography piqued my interest, and I began to research and develop a program for that group which struggles for freedom (especially in the LDS community).
This story greatly illustrates the power of life coaching. An outside perspective can shine a light in the dark, unexplored corners of your brain and bring about change and exploration that wouldn’t otherwise happen. The brilliance of having a Life Coach is that we’re trained to find and target those beliefs, thoughts, and patterns in your brains that are stalling your progression. I also believe that Life Coaching helps you access your own wisdom. Too often we let feelings of confusion, overwhelm, shame, and guilt fuel the action or inaction we take daily. Life coaching clears the air, halts the drama, and creates a safe space to explore and decide the next steps with wisdom and clarity.
I’m happy to say that along with my Stop Overeating Program, I will soon be offering a program geared toward men and women (young and more mature) who are looking to cease their pornography use. I have seen the pain and shame that comes with addictions and can’t wait to put on the proverbial boxing gloves and step into the ring to assist those about to tap out of their fight. Watch out world!