Luanne // Category: I know this post is long, but well worth it….
By…… Nancy Colasurdo, Life Coach
As life coaches, we guide people in bettering their lives. In
doing that, do we have an obligation to implement “the
greater good” into our sessions with clients?
We are living in a time when many people are feeling pinched
financially and overwhelmed in their scheduling and don’t
think they have anything to give, but I say the very solution
to helping lift one out of a difficult situation is giving in
ways that are proportionate and meaningful.
It opens up channels in our lives like nothing else can.
There is always something we can do.
I know of what I speak. My road in life coaching–a
profession I had never heard of seven years ago–began as a
volunteer right after Sept. 11, 2001. To say I was the
opposite of altruistic prior to this is an understatement.
While working as a television producer for Oxygen Media, I
attended a “volunteer fair” on my lunch hour one day and
found an organization that paired adult coaches with
underserved children. At age 39, I figured it was about time
I did something more than pay lip service to the idea of
volunteering, so I excitedly jumped in and was assigned to
coach a nine-year-old boy.
At the end of a mandatory all-day training for volunteers,
the life coach running the program approached me and
suggested I pursue life coaching as a career. “You’re a
natural,” she said after watching me in action. Delighted
that I had found a way to give that really suited me, but
feeling my plate was already full, I didn’t give it much more
thought as a full-time career path. Then I saw an ad in The
New York Times that said, “Become a life coach.” I felt like
something bigger was talking to me then, so I enrolled in an
intensive training program to indeed become a life coach.
I intended it to be a side job, a way to augment my existing
income. Then, in March of 2002, our show at Oxygen was
cancelled and I was laid off, along with over 20 of my
co-workers. Suddenly, life coaching became my safety net. I
believe this is often how life’s most meaningful paths are
born. Sometimes it takes a jolt (9/11) and then a brick to
the head (a layoff) to actually see.
Once I started getting into the thick of coaching people
while simultaneously trying to meet the financial challenges
of starting a business, I began to learn the real meaning
behind giving. Times were lean for a while and as I paid more
heed to my emotional, physical and spiritual health, I
started awakening to the concept of sacrifice.
I realized just because money was tight didn’t mean I
couldn’t share some.
I didn’t have to be one of those whiners who talked about how
easy it is for people like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey to
give because they have so much. It was a simple shift in
thinking, if profound.
For example, buying a banana for a homeless person on a New
York City street was approximately 30 cents out of my pocket.
My fascination with the homeless grew and I began doing pro
bono work through the local homeless shelter. It is one hour
of my time per week, and it is some of the most satisfying
work I’ve ever done. I am far from the only person whose life
course changed because of that fateful day when our country
felt its vulnerability in ways it never had before.
In my acquaintance alone there are many examples.
One of my first life coaching clients was seeking direction
after her fiance died in the World Trade Center a year before
their wedding; she found that direction in helping others
with their grief. A dear friend went from sports producer to
the rigors of becoming a fireman. Others have forged
meaningful paths outside of corporate environments they found
stifling and hollow.
Every day I marvel at the people I meet who are seeking to do
something more worthwhile or satisfying, who want to
contribute to the greater good through careers or
volunteerism.
At even the hint of this desire in a coaching consultation,
perhaps my call to action should be to more vigorously pursue
it with the client, to dispel some of the preconceived
notions I once had.
What can you do this month, this week, this day to further
that? Is it better use of your time to bicker on a message board?
Or, like one friend of mine, send a care package to a
soldier?
What is my obligation as a life coach in these highly charged
times? I think it’s to pay attention to a renewed energy and
motivation to service. That is the essence of our call.
We at Help End Hunger Now, have an obligation to end hunger.
Those that have the ability have the responsibility to do
this thing.
When you have 3 Nutrient Dense Food Servings per day, you are
giving your body what it needs to have and maintain the very
best health possible.
By personally consuming 90 servings per month, you
automatically provide 9 meals for the hungry.
PLEASE HELP YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY AND THE
HUNGRY AT THE SAME TIME
Together We Can End Hunger Now
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