Moving Forward #1

The first class for this course was held on Thursday, May 24, 2007. Joanne started by sharing a reading by Cheryl Richardson that was focused around eliminating fear and anxiety. Her overall point was “inaction = anxiety” and “action = peace of mind”. I thought this was a great way to simplify the power of action. The next part of the class was used to share what inaction was like, felt like, looked like, etc. Many people talked about how they physically felt when they were not in action, nausea, headache, ‘yucky’. Some people shared how their mind was mentally stagnant.

So the reverse of inaction being action, how does that feel? Lighter, motivated excited, more joyful, content. Being in action can change what you feel or think about that ‘thing’.

What are some motion questions? Ho w do you get your client to start thinking and moving forward? “Where do you want to be…?” “What can you do this week about…?” “What would happen if…?” “What would someone who is fearless do about that?”

Towards the end of class asked if we as coaches had examples about how we have moved our clients forward…what we did. I tried to come up with an example and I’m not sure that I haven’t done that but I guess I just focus in the moment with my clients and it was difficult to think of a pivotal point where I have used this technique. I am going to try to be more aware of this in my upcoming session and future clients because I think it would be very rewarding to be able to pin-point a time where a client shifted and began to really move forward.

Why do people not move forward? Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of change, unable to envision what would happen after they accomplished the goal, complacency because it is comfortable, not aligned with their values (internal disconnect), goal may be too large, they aren’t clear about where they want to go or there may be a UAC that is holding them back.

I thought this was a good class that really covered the reading material and gave a good foundation for the next two classes. Our homework for the week is to bring to class a place that we are not in action. I’m not sure I have an area like this because isn’t my personality…I’ll think on it, we’ll see.