What I Believe

Coaching Philosophy

I believe that everyone is a leader - regardless of title or role - and that each of us is far more powerful, wise, creative, and capable than we give ourselves credit for.

My approach is both co-active and soul-centered. Co-active in that we look both at who you’re BEING (the “co”) and what you’re DOING (the “active”). When we coach, you set the direction, and I help you stay connected to why it matters, accountable to your goals, and in motion. My approach is also soul-centered, meaning that I’m always listening beneath the surface to what your deeper self is saying. Together, we tune in to your intuition, values, and inner wisdom, so that the actions you take are not just strategic, but meaningful and congruent with who you truly are.

I also see every person as naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. When I’m coaching someone, while I’m happy to share anything and everything that will be helpful, my role is not to give people the answers (as if I could anyway). Rather, my job is to help you find your own authentic answers already within, and to expand those possibilities into authentic and tangible action.

Finally, at the heart of my work is a simple belief: lasting change begins within. It’s been my experience that true change starts within: with a simple decision, a mindset shift, a commitment, a change of heart, a new idea. We can work to change our circumstances on the outside (ie, other people, our environments, our work, etc), and, unless we shift on the inside what created these circumstances in the first place, we’re likely to end up with much of the same.

That said, my clients and I look at both the soul-line and the goal-line of their life, tending first to the soul line to provide direction to the goal line.

I believe that when we align our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs with our deepest sense of purpose - ie, our soul - new outcomes naturally follow, and we become who we are truly meant to be.

——

Here are a few more things I believe:

I believe in soul, and I consider myself to be a midwife for the soul. One way I define soul, which is very different from the common definition with religious connotations, is how a teacher of mine, Bill Plotkin, defines it: one’s unique ecological niche. It’s how and where a person fits in to her or his ecosystem, and all of the intertwining relationships.

I believe that we are each born with a very particular genius - or, as Michael Meade puts it, “…the spirit that’s already there….the inner muse, the divine twin, the resident spirit of the Soul present in each person, that involves our own unique way of seeing life...” - and that our real work in life is to find, embody, and inhabit that genius as fully as possible.

Another way to say it: I believe we’re each here to share our gifts and take our place as true adults in the world. Furthermore, I believe that our planet actually wants (needs) us to take our true place at the table, in order for the entire ecosystem to truly thrive.

To quote Angeles Arrien in “The Second Half of Life”,

“Where we don’t bring our gifts and talents to the world is where the Earth becomes sicker. It’s important for us to bring our medicine to the sweet face of Mother Nature, to bring our gifts and talents into the world, and to begin to drop our shrouds of insufficiency.”

I believe that having guides, mentors, teachers, coaches, true adults, and elders in our lives is essential for our maturation. In healthy cultures, the elders help the youth along, noting when it’s time to push them out of the nest and into the next stage of growth. While we’ve lost much of these rites of passage in Western culture, I believe that having true elders and mentors is essential to our becoming.

I believe that when we are feeling confused or unclear about our direction in life, we have actually come to a very potent place: we have come to the end of the known road, and to the beginning of a new path filled with infinite possibilities. At such moments, we have the potential to experience life and ourselves in a completely different way. As Wendell Berry said, “…when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work….” The key in these moments is to have patience, keep an open mind, get support (if needed), and just take the next indicated action.

I believe that imagination is one of the most potent, important, and powerful resources we have as humans. I believe we are here to use our imagination in service to Life, and that our dreams are exactly what the world needs now.

I believe that there is no time to waste. Now is the time to listen to that still, small voice within and to make visible that which you feel in your heart and see in your soul.