"Answering Your Own Questions...With Help From a Life Coach"

Whew, it' s been awhile since my last post. Where does the time go? My whole purpose for this blog is to pass along good thoughts, notions and ideas on how to live a more action-oriented, mindful and genuinely, enjoyable, inspired life. With that in mind, I need to be inspired by something enough to comment on it and post it here.

Yesterday, I happened to pick up a copy of the LA Times. After looking, first, for the Target ad and not finding one, I moved to "Parade" magazine and my horoscope. On the same page as the horoscopes, was the "Ask Amy" advice column. The question of the week came from a young woman who said she will be graduating from high school in May; she has been accepted to her "out-of-state school of her dreams" as well as a local university where her boyfriend of three years would be attending. While she believes the relationship with her boyfriend will last, (he helped her as she grieved the loss of her mother a year earlier) if she chooses to go away to school she is "afraid of losing him".

Amy answered the young woman in very much a life coaching way in that she responded with, "You answered your own question in the last line of your letter ("I'm afraid of losing him"). You've already survived a tremendous loss. Now it's time to grab onto your dreams and see where they take you".

Life coaching is all about helping people achieve their goals and dreams; working with them to see they come to fruition. So many times, we get going on something but then it loses steam. Maybe it's because the idea or direction just wasn't a good one for us or maybe we just give up on it because no one else is supporting us in doing so, and it's not because they don't want to; it's because they have their own goals and agenda.

One would hope the young woman in this situation would choose to follow her dream and go away to school and, who knows, maybe her boyfriend would choose to follow her or maybe their relationship would grow and mature with distance and time or maybe it just might end; however, I believe, if we don't follow our dreams, we are doing a great injustice to our spirit and soul.

The "Sound of Music" was on TV numerous times over Easter weekend and while there are a number of memorable songs from this film, one of the major, I guess you'd say, "showstoppers", is "Climb Every Mountain" sung by the Reverend Mother; just before she starts to sing, the Reverend Mother says to Maria, "live the life you were born to live". Here are the lyrics:


"Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every by way, every path you know
Climb every mountain, ford every stream
Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream
A dream that will need, all the love you can give
Everyday of your life, for as long as you live
Climb every mountain, ford every stream
Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream"

If you're someone like me who lives a "not all who wander are lost" lifestyle, the words to this song remind you of who you are and what you're attempting to accomplish; they also offer support, hope, encouragement and, not to mention, personal empowerment.

As my life coaching career continues to grow and as I work on my lecture series and book, I think I'm gonna print these lyrics and hang them over my desk for added support and inspiration.