I just came from a coaching session with a client and she had a tote bag with all of her “coaching supplies” in it. On the outside of the bag was a tag that says: GRATEFUL. Within the bag itself is a notebook, pens, dividers, Post-It Notes, and research results that she is currently taking action on for “homework.” I love this for a variety of reasons. I love how she is showing up for her sessions READY to work. I enjoy the fact that she is taking notes, jotting down take-away thoughts, and actively engaging in the entire process. I really like that she has such focus and motivation and that she is keeping herself accountable to the process of coaching and to her own personal growth. I adore the fact that her bag is a gratitude bag.

My biggest joy in working with this particular client is that each and every session she meets me prepared. Her expectation for herself is that she will pivot through coaching. She has set the bar high. Guess what? She is pivoting. With tears and with laughter and with joy and with fear—she is moving ahead. Why? She decided she would accept no less from herself. In one of our early sessions, the concept of gratitude played a significant role in our conversation. A few years ago, this client had made a very profound and life altering change in her life. It was a significant life change for her both physically and mentally and one that she is first now fully addressing and taking ownership of. Prior to this event, she had something happen in her life that really pushed her buttons.

Until we coached together, she still thought of this situation as terrible and upsetting even though years had passed. Yet, it was this event that created her defining moment and ultimately spurred on the successful and amazing changes that she has now made in her life. Though this change and through coaching she is rediscovering who she is today and even connecting to long forgotten aspects of her younger self that she is overjoyed to embrace once again. In a word…she is now grateful. Grateful for the situation that angered and upset her so much that it forced her to make significant and healthy changes in her life. Changes that she knew she needed to make but had not taken ownership of. Coaching created a platform in which she could shift her perspective and look in at a different angle at what had transpired. Turning a frustrating and fear based event into a thank you and appreciative one. Without that encounter, she may not have made the drastic decisions she did to literally save her life. She was now grateful for the wake up call this event inspired.

With new perspective…her eyes are now wide open to possibility. She is actively and enthusiastically pursuing new personal passions, refiguring out work/life balance and stepping into a new found self-love that has her sassy and capable of creating the life she most wants to live. For herself and her family she is carving out her own legacy.

So the question is…what is in your bag? Is it gratitude? Success? Self-love? Happiness? What are you filling your personal bag with? We all have things that we carry around with us. How would your life be different if the “baggage” you carried worked for you and not against you?

 

 

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