I was asked this question yesterday.
“What do you love most about being a coach?”
I was very busy so just replied with one word. I gave it little thought which probably meant the response came from a very deep part of my brain.
The word was “freedom” and then I added “in every sense of the word.”
Too much thinking
I’ve been thinking about this ever since and I’ve had many more insights. As we know by now the unconscious mind is vastly more powerful and wise than the conscious mind with its interfering ego.
As I spend more time trying to connect more closer to my unconscious mind I recognise that it loves the ambiguity of language and joins the dots in ways that we would never find on our own.
So it is with the word freedom because it begs so many questions. I’ve tried to answer some of them below. What freedom means to me and what freedom means to my coaching career.
It’s all about me
In no particular order I want freedom from:
- Anxiety
- boredom
- stress
- time pressures
- fear
- jealousy
- anger
As I write this I realise that these are mainly reptile emotions. So I guess I could summarise this list as freedom from the constraints of the reptilian part of my deep unconscious mind.
It’s all about you
This was going to be a separate list from the perspective of my clients. However I’ve just realised that the list is exactly the same as mine although my clients may not know it yet. Taming the reptile brain is the foundation of my coaching programs. Always has been and always will be, although this is the first time I’ve identified it so lucidly.
I’ve just remembered another two similar posts on this subject that I wrote at the height of the Covid pandemic. If you have read this far you might be interested in them. http://drstephensimpson.com/fear-vs-hope-part-1
Next week I’ll take these thoughts a bit further with a great technique to calm down the lizard within. I call this the reptile relaxation reflex.
I welcome your comments and questions as always. I think it’s time to go and lie down and close my eyes.
