Thursday, September 22, 2016

A New Direction in Coaching

From Life Coaching to Life-as-Art-Coaching

In most general terms, the purpose of life coaching is to make it possible for people to succeed in getting a better life. Individual life coaches have different ways and strategies to help their clients reach goals that will change an unfulfilling life into an exciting, rich and rewarding one.

Traditionally coaching designates relationships between trainers and athletes.  Besides training for specific skills, coaches also help their players discover and initiate ever-improving strategies.  Nowadays, the paradigm of coaching has expanded far beyond sports to include areas like business, career, financial, personal relationships and any other element that is part of life.

The underlying aim of life coaching is for clients to achieve a life that is worth- while in all of its components. So we are talking about "the good life." How do we determine what this is? A simple answer might be that it is the life of someone who has "everything" and is content with what he or she has.  Take it one step further, and ask how do you know if you have everything? It's easy to find out:

Mr. and Ms. X are happy because they each have a good marriage or partnership, good health, enough money to satisfy needs and wants, and enough time to enjoy it all.  What happens when any one of these elements  is lost or at least temporarily missing? If one piece of a jigsaw puzzle can't be found the picture is no longer whole. If several pieces have disappeared, then the joy of working the puzzle turns into little more than frustration.  Stated simply, you only know the real value of what you have when it is gone.

Assuming  major basic needs have been met, life may be okay, but somehow you cannot get away from the feeling it is not all that it could be. Why are some things in your life  exciting and fulfilling while the rest are boring and/or frustrating?  The answer is that the better life is spirited, lively, and above all creative. It does not matter if you are working in a profession, practicing a trade, or making your way as an artist; if you are creatively engaged, you will not feel exhausted at the end of the  day.  The more room there is for creativity in your skills and talents, the more fun it is to do your work, and with work turning into play, your morale stays high-- your workday becomes colorful and rewarding.

Those who have found a fitting career direction are happy and fulfilled because it is easy for them to be who they are in their true nature.  They become better and better at whatever they are doing because their work has become play and play is the pathway to creativity.

Does that mean that those who have a satisfying career are leading a life that is as good as it gets?   Unfortunately this is most often not the case because the creativity which comes into play in one's vocation is all-too-often barely present in other parts of one's life.  A genius in science, an outstandingly successful entrepreneur, a doctor renowned in his or her specialty may have nothing but trouble with relationships with friends, family or partners. Why is the creativity so manifest in one's work simply not present in others parts of one's life?   Why? Because the person's mindset says "the area of discovery exploration and creativity is in my work and nowhere else. The rest of my life is simply something to 'take care of, at best a nuisance, at worst a pain.' "

Having only one part of one's existence alive and exciting while the rest is a wasteland is a wide-spread dilemma.  Life should not be part paradise, part desert.  Yes, the wasteland can be ignored. But wouldn't it be better if it were turned into a garden, a park or a healthy nature preserve? The remedy I am offering is to find ways in which life in all its beauty can be experienced as art. I will support you to find ways to let your creative energies permeate any or all parts your existence.  To help bring this reality into being, I offer my services as your Life-as-Art-Coach.