RALPH WALDO EMERSON …. “Not in his goals but in his transitions is man great”
Transitions seems to be what life is all about….one after the other, maybe a few at the same time. I see what Emerson is talking about: shifting from one life stage to another is more the challenge than goal achievement. We outgrow our achieved goals, and quest forward, as it is in our nature to expand, outgrow the old, and transition into the new. Any observance of nature evidences this time and time again. So mastery of navigating transitions, navigating change is where we must focus – it is where our truth continues to emerge from within us. We all need to be life change artists.
One young man decided to handle one of his transitions creatively. After losing a job, Andrew Fosthoefel decided to try walking across America from his home in Philadelphia all the way to the Pacific. And he made it. 4,000 miles, talking to people he met along the way. He produced the radio feature with Jay Alison about these stories. (An hour-long version of the story and photos from the trip are at Transom.org, a nonprofit website that explains how to record and produce your own stories.)
And at the end of this program, he concluded with his 23 year old wisdom, harvested from folks along the way:
You know what to do – There is no need to be afraid – Just keep walking.
This pretty much sums up the life coaching process. You may come asking for direction and answers to your questions “What do I do?” “What’s next?” Shedding some light on your resources, your guidance within, and equipping you with needed support or skills, you are quickly on your way forward. You DO know what to do, and may just need to learn how to tune into yourself; you can benefit from the coaching encouragement to actually follow through. You learn along the way that there IS no need to fear for you acquire skill in managing that emotion that always comes with forging yet another new path. And you learn to take baby steps consistently, for that steady action continues to open the path forward – it shows itself as you just keep walking.
Click here to learn more about walking in life’s transitions