Inner work works! My life coach clients can certainly attest to this. Recently I read Parker Palmer’s, Let Your Life Speak. This came as recommendation from Will Mancini and Dave Rhodes while attending Younique’s Personal Vision Journey. There is much I could say about this little book; however, my biggest takeaway can be found in the title. Palmer’s journey was to find his “ideal self.” Palmer was a Thomas Merton disciple, and Merton’s writing caused me to fall in love with Christianity.
Like many the journey begins when Palmer’s family and friends told him what he should do with his life. This is a little misleading because those words were never really proclaimed. They were implied by the things he found most useful in his life. I have a friend who received the same message from a teacher. He became a nuclear engineer. However, his true calling was not tied up in nuclear engineering at all. He is an idea guy who can also execute if he thinks an idea is worthy of his energy.
I currently coach two attorneys who may have erred in a similar way. I’ve worked with engineers, code writers, government contractors and other professionals who have the same experience.
All these stories have a lot in common. Most people don’t have any idea they are in a transition. The process goes something like this:
- We begin to feel uncomfortable about our surroundings
- We have a notion that something is afoot
- We begin a journey inward
- In that journey the things we saw as familiar begin to look and feel differently
- As we exit this journey we begin to find clarity
- We bring a greater understanding of self and our actions forward. This new self has a greater sense of purpose than before
We spend our early life making a name for ourselves; to win a place in society. We go to college, get married and have children. We abandon some of the things we loved to do as children. Grandma Moses loved to paint as a child. She grew up in the daughter of a farmer. She married a farmer. Her job became to be a farmer’s wife and mother. Her husband died and while visiting her past, she realized she loved to paint as a child. At age 78 she quickly became a world renowned folk artist.
Your transition isn’t much different than Grandma Moses. Early in life you did your duty. Now you are seeking to understand why you are no longer satisfied. Your journey can be difficult or you could get the help of a life coach.
I was lucky in my journey. I read the right books. Identified the things from my past that caused me to fail. I identified my core values, wrote a mission statement and developed a plan. The most import thing I did was stick to my plan.
My journey didn’t end there. I became very successful as a leader. My next transition when I became a Christian. I would later go back to school to be trained as a minister. I just ended a position as an executive minister for a multi-site mega church and president of the church’s largest outreach, the nZone. My next journey is as a life and leadership coach. Let me know if I can help you in your journey through a free consultation.