Sometimes it’s not physical pain my clients are dealing with but the deeper “ache” for transformation. That’s why I say I assist people who want to transform their lives and create greater fulfillment – and become a fullfillionaire!
When I began coaching Lisa she has just “celebrated” her 59th birthday. Except she didn’t really celebrate … she felt unhappy with her job, her life, and her body weight. She was working with a therapist from her Buddhist community, and her goals were to reduce weight by her 60th birthday and experience more joy with her work.
Although she had studied Buddhism for more 15 years, she realized she was not incorporating what she was learning into her daily life. This is way more common than we imagine. Many of us “know what’s good for us” and yet fail to develop the proactive habits that make these ideals real. No blaming or shaming here — it’s more a lack of consistency that prevents the progress that makes us want to keep up the new habits.
We began working together, and for the first 6 weeks or so Lisa struggled with making any changes whatsoever. Week after week, she would set goals for herself and not follow through. It wasn’t until she began a daily practice of meditation for just 5 minutes that things began to change. This was initially challenging for Lisa because it seemed to contradict what she had already learned in her Buddhist practice — that meditation to be worthwhile had to be at least 30 minutes.
With my encouragement, however, Lisa agreed to experiment with sitting in meditation for a minimum of 5 minutes. That’s when everything began to shift for her. Beginning her day honoring a simple commitment made her instantly feel better about herself. Once she had that momentum in the right direction, I coached her to create other meaningful and realistic agreements with herself, agreements she could see she could and would keep. At that point, progress accelerated as success built upon success. By the time she had completed the coaching, Lisa had shifted her relationship with food and more importantly, with herself. She lost more than 15 pounds, changed jobs, and was beginning her own business — well on her way to becoming a “fulfillionaire”.
Many of my clients discover their own brief exploration with self-care in the form of quiet time, prayer or meditation. It’s amazing how such a “little” practice can go such a long way.
