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Do
you make a living or do you make a dying? In
response to the growing number of clients that I see manifesting a very modern
condition of stress and overwhelm in their lives, I have cobbled together the
following commentary. Forgive me
for providing an intellectual narrative, I have written this in the hope that it
is causal in getting at least one person to change themselves for the better.
Our
culture has got itself into quite a bind… and as a Life Coach I enjoy clearly
showing people, one-at-a-time, that there really is a different way to live your
life. A way that is better for you,
your family and all peoples.
We've
turned our personal shortcomings into a disease. Individualism has generated
chronic self-indulgence and hugely inflated aspirations to happiness while
sapping our will to overcome adversity. Past generations had much worse to deal
with, but showed stoicism, forbearance and fortitude. Chimney sweeps and match
girls had no time to worry about stress; they were too concerned about where
their next meal was coming from. While parents once buried their tiny children
in droves and suffered pestilence, war and poverty with a cheerful smile, we are
running to the therapist's couch over the smallest setback. It can all be boiled
down to "Buck up!"*
-- as a Life Coach… I do not think so!
Our
modern way of life
Information
overwhelm, constant change, unlimited options, great wealth, instant global
communication, always-on, profit-centred living is claiming its quarry… Nature
always seeks equilibrium – is the awakening of people to the insanity of this
reality nature’s gentle way of slowly bringing the madness of our culture to a
gentle stop? The stress and overwhelm that so many people wallow in on a daily
basis is a very modern set of phenomena that urgently requires that the
old-fashioned distaste for emotion is abandoned if we are going to grasp the
nature of the beast we are dealing with. There's a real danger of an ostrich
mentality, insisting to all with depressive tendencies that what they feel is
not real, they're just unwitting victims of a gigantic cultural fraud. Rising
stress and dissatisfaction seems an inescapable consequence of the kind of
rapid, disruptive change driven by market capitalism.
It's
not that people have gone soft so much as that they are profoundly disorientated
by the ceaseless discontinuity of change. Experience becomes utterly random and
meaningless. You were doing really well in your job but you still got fired; you
thought your relationship was strong but your partner has fallen out of love
with you. Appalling images of suffering in the world are interrupted by
advertisements for car insurance: barbarism and banality, cheek by jowl. What
lies behind the escalating weight of emotional distress is that awful struggle
to make meaning, that instinct that our lives should have a narrative and a
purpose and should make some sense.
Whereas
previous generations had a very strong grasp of the meaning of their lives,
whatever the catastrophes which befell them. Meaning inspires resilience: if you
have some explanation for what happens, it gives strength. That's what past
generations drew comfort from. It is the sheer meaninglessness of the chaotic
instability of our experiences, which exposes us to despair.
We have no answer to "why me?"
We have no account for the suffering that is the inevitable lot of human
beings - death, disease, betrayal, frustration - other than to employ desperate
strategies to avoid them.
Inevitably,
there are many casualties many of whom turn to a life coach to catalyse their
awakening. A life coach bestows
help, not disbelief. Coaching that
can develop an account of our lives which connects with that of others in the
wake of declining religious and political narratives.
Coaching
can play a crucial role in the lives of many who manage, as Baudelaire put it in
1845, a kind of heroism of everyday life, in which they make themselves at home
in the maelstrom of modern life. It's an achievement all the more remarkable for
the fact that it can call on few of the markers such as extended family,
community and faith upon which previous generations relied so heavily. Perhaps
as a coach I can stand-in for some of those missing roles.
I
know that in each of you there is just as much endurance, forbearance and
cheerful determination as shown by any previous generation.
As a life coach I can help you answer all these
questions and more! Are You ready to transform how you live your life? Ready
to get un-stuck? Remove Problems? Are
you committed to being all that you can be? What
if you could not fail? or how about learning how
Meditation can change your life?
Take up the challenge of confident life purpose
discovery. Using a safe and supportive foundation of trust, freedom of
expression and commitment, I always work to help you explore your inner being,
to de-stress in your personal and working life and to align with your life
purpose, true
values and fullest potential. Using a stimulating face-to-face, phone support and
email program customised to fit your current personal development needs, my
coaching focuses on your inner guidance, purpose, skills, beliefs, techniques
and processes necessary to assert yourself into a great future. If you have more
questions about life coaching - Click Here.
I partner with intelligent, successful
people who want to excel at their passion, gifts and unique talents in a way
that brings them success, happiness and balance. Otherwise, do what you always did and you will get what you always got!
*Italics are based on an article
reported in the Guardian newspaper.
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