TUESDAY
6 January 2009
For many years now, another profession that has appealed to me (in addition to writing/filmmaking) is that of Life Coach. Yes, I know – add this to the list that also includes stage actor, dog whisperer, roller coaster designer, novelist, fitness magazine cover model, professional psychic, full-time sexy person and trained snorkeler. So what of it? I’m layered.
In 2008, when I was still living in Minneapolis, I decided to do a little research about Life Coaching. A little research never hurt anyone, right? And it’s free. Of course, in 2004 I decided to “just do a little research” about nose jobs and a month later had a new schnoz, which definitely was NOT free, as fond as I am of the revised sniffer.
Anyhoo – with Life Coaching, you have the opportunity to help other people become the best version of themselves they want to be, which seriously jazzes me. THEY still do the work, though, much like a basketball coach is not out there on the field, diamond, court, track … whatever the playing surface in basketball is called … but rather there to help the players focus on their strengths, develop other areas and apply their natural skills to the team and to the goal of winning.
I realized about a week ago that I’ve been seriously studying all of the things that are part of Life Coaching – at least the kind of Coaching I’d like to do – for more than four years! Clearing life clutter, focusing on what makes you feel good, the Law of Attraction, living presently, etc. Dang! As I continued to ponder my studies, I thought of still more research/prep work I’d done even further back in time – such as discovering Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” in 1998/1999 (LOOOOOOVE this book), and even reading Louise Hay’s seminal “You Can Heal Your Life” in my early 20s. Cool. I’m not as much of a newbie as I thought. The Universe has been winking at me all this time. Who’da thunk?
One of my accomplishments in 2009 (here’s the full list) will be certification as a Life Coach. Still, I’m intrigued to start sharing what I know, how I can communicate it to others, designing a plan for them, what the whole process will be like for me in the real world and so forth. This past weekend I was chatting with one of the animal rescue volunteers – the only one who isn’t still a teenager. He’s an actor, and he mentioned he’s somewhat frustrated with life, career and other things, so I offered to help him out. I’m sure he’ll be a famous television or film star soon enough, so out of respect for his privacy, we’ll call him Bryan.
We met for coffee today and I said if he was willing to be my guinea pig, I would coach him for free. As payment, I joked that I would like to be mentioned during his acceptance speech at the Oscars. (Of course, I might not hear it because I’ll likely be backstage taking questions from the press because I just won too, but these are logistics we can suss out later.) Bryan’s an ideal client because he is ready for and wants to make changes in his life, and those are the kind of Life Coachees who will make the best progress. I’ll keep you posted on how all of that goes!
LA365 