Often, clients come to Career Coaching looking to transform their work and end up transforming their life. They hadn't realised they had some deep-seated beliefs they needed to release or that they are still carrying the wounds of an old relationship, family issue or work event which is affecting their self-worth and blocking their success and happiness in their career. Here I share my perspective on how you can use your work challenge as a catalyst for healing and feel the benefits across your whole life.
I’m sat writing this blog in Ibiza. It’s a place I’ve never had on my radar or ever imagined I would warm to. I can now officially declare that I LOVE Ibiza! And I actually have Fearne Cotton to thank. It was listening to her audiobook ‘Calm’ back in January which inspired me to visit Ibiza, with the sole mission of getting close to the tiny island of Es Vedra, known for its healing and restorative properties and shrouded in myths and legends.
As a Life & Career Coach (and on a personal level), healing is a topic which I am immensely drawn to. I have seen my own healing take place as a result of my various work challenges and have experienced many forms of healing from Reiki, Gong Baths and Crystal Healing through to the lesser known Access Bars therapy. I also witness client healing taking place both during and after coaching. Something which can often come as a surprise to clients who had a career change as their goal (more about that shortly).
My own healing journey is an important part of my work. Just because I am a Life Coach, it doesn’t mean that I don’t experience difficult situations or emotions! For me, being a Life Coach means that I have the appetite, the motivation and the time for discovering new ways through those difficulties and emotions and am able to transform them into the tools, learnings and coaching programmes which support my clients.
This has been a challenging summer for me, with two family bereavements in less than 3 months and I’ve also had bubbling under the surface the need to let go of some old conditioning which has been affecting my energy. I’ve intuitively felt for some time like I needed to do some of my own healing. And so coming to Ibiza and the healing island of Es Vedra at the end of the summer has felt very fitting.
Every trip for me brings new insights. The insights I’d like to share with you are around how to bring in healing as part of overcoming your current work challenge.
1. Ask for healing and then allow it in
Asking for and allowing healing to take place sounds obvious but often we can resist it. It can be hard to admit sometimes that something in us is not working and needs to change. And sometimes we can feel we aren’t worthy of being healed or that we might be letting go of an old and familiar identity even if we know it’s not supporting us in moving forward. We can allow our healing in simply by stating “I allow healing in” or by taking the time to be peaceful and listen to what emerges. There is great strength in becoming self-aware and in asking for help.
2. Trust in the form the healing takes
We need to then trust in how our healing will happen. It might not be a sudden overnight feeling of being cured (although I do believe that is certainly possible) but more of a sense of something shifting inside of us, a clearing of a fog or a moment of clarity which leads us to a fuller transformation. My clients regularly share with me how the changes they have experienced from being coached have come in a very different way to how they anticipated when they first came to coaching. This is why I recommend (and consciously attract clients with) an open mind. To allow the healing to go where it needs to and trust in the coaching process to see them through it and bring about the career changes they are longing for.
3. Be prepared for it to trigger you
With any form of healing we can often feel worse before we feel better. But this is when the release happens and the magic takes place. I believe we need to go to those dark places inside so we can shine a light on them and bring them out into the open to be healed. Whenever a client is triggered by a question I ask or a homework task, I actually celebrate as I know that this is going to loosen something up for them that was previously stuck and can take them to a new place.
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
Rumi
I appreciate that Career Coaching in this way is not for everyone! But if you’re tired of remaining stuck and getting the same results then a step change is needed and I really encourage you to come at it from a different angle and a deeper approach. Connecting you with a career and a life which lights you up from the deepest place inside and sets you on course for a lifetime of fulfilment needs more radical and profound action that just tarting up your CV, giving you some interview practice or finding a selection of jobs to apply for. The benefits far outweigh the potential difficulties of healing.
There is a clear but also often a fine line between coaching and therapy or counselling and I have huge respect for those professions and I think there is a time and a place for them. I also believe in wholeheartedly (and witness on a regular basis) the healing power of coaching for those clients who are ready for it and willing to roll up their sleeves, dive in and trust in the process. It may feel disconnected from your career, but I know first hand just how much our work can trigger us and affect our confidence, our relationships, our mood and even our health. And so, for me, it provides the perfect context for healing.
The results I see are often profound and far-reaching with clients reporting back that they are now:
- learning to trust their intuition
- finally believing in their self-worth
- following their own path instead of someone else’s
- worrying less about what others think
- carving our a truer identity for themselves
- feeling lighter and more joyful
What do you need to heal to be able to overcome your work challenge?
What one thing could you do this next week to start your own healing journey?
So, back to Es Vedra. After a sunset boat trip around this magical rock and letting its restorative power wash over me, I am reminded of one of the best analogies I know: “Put your own oxygen mask on first before you help others”. Whilst it may seem like a selfish act to focus on our own healing (and to go after that exciting career change), it is vital. It is as much a part of my training as a coach to take care of myself in this way as it is to go on workshops, learn the latest techniques and gain new qualifications. Because nobody wants a Coach who needs more help than them.
CURIOUS ABOUT HEALING THROUGH YOUR WORK CHALLENGE?
About the Author
Rebecca Kirk is a Life, Career & Creative Coach dedicated to enabling people to find happiness through their work and make a living doing what they love. Find out more about Rebecca and the one-to-one coaching available or book a Coaching Taster session.
