In life and career coaching, we have an important tool that I will simply call Consciousness. The more aware and clear we are about the perceptions, patterns, personal choices, values and belief systems that are impacting a client’s life, the more we can create lasting change.
I graduated from one of the top coaching schools, IPEC, over ten years ago. One of the reasons I chose that particular school is the philosophy of internal change leading to external change. In other words, if you want to change your life, you better start with your own inner clarity. It is still a rich community of learning for me and one of my colleagues recently shared this picture that illustrates the layers of self-discovery:
The powerful inquiry process that we use in coaching brings the unconscious feelings and beliefs into the light of consciousness so we can see what is at the heart of any resistance or stuck-ness. When a client says things like: “Well, one part of me wants it and one part of me doesn’t…” or “I feel like I have one foot on the gas and the other on the brakes…” or “Its like there is a battle going on inside of me…” I know that the there is something unconscious that needs attention.
So if you are feeling like creating lasting change right now, take some time to study the layers in our self-discover lemon! What can you learn about your perceptions or patterns right now? What choices are you making and are they in alignment with you truly want and need? What are the internalized values and belief systems that you might not realize are impacting you? Allow these questions to simmer and see what rises to the surface of your consciousness!
