by Arjuna Ardagh: Most people who seek out the services of a coach do so because they want to overcome obstacles in their life, or because they want to realize some outcome…
People come to a coach to complete a book, to found a company, to overcome procrastination, or to become a more present and caring parent or partner. We want to serve our clients’ needs as directly and effectively as possible, so why do we call our work Awakening Coaching?
You might go to an appliance store and buy yourself a brand new shiny, powerful blender. Right there on the box, you can see pictures of all the great things you can make: smoothies and purees, ice creams and soups. You get that blender home, take it out of the box, unwrap the container that goes on the top, and sit it on top of the motor. You might go to your refrigerator and plan something delicious: Let’s see… a base of coconut water, some spinach, an apple, and blueberries. Then you could put these ingredients in the blender and do nothing but sit and wonder why all they all still look very solid and intact. After a while you might plunge your hand down into the base and try and turn the blades by hand. But still no joy. You could get frustrated with it, yell at it, and you could even blame yourself for being fooled again by some bright shiny gadget that looked like it would promise you everything, but gave you nothing.
Of course, anybody in the know realizes that for a blender to work, you have to take that skinny little cable that comes out of the back and plug those two little metal prongs into an outlet. But wait a minute… I want a smoothie! What do little metal prongs and holes in the wall have to do with my smoothie? I’m not interested in electricity, I’m interested in healthy drinks!
In order for a blender to work, or a vacuum cleaner, or a television, or a computer, or an electric light, you have to give it juice. You have to plug it into the source of power and then it will work.
All day long, we are hypnotized by thoughts and reactive feelings. It is like being in a trance, limiting beliefs about who we are and what life can be. Most of the thoughts and feelings that preoccupy attention almost all the time are connected to fear, indecision, and confusion. But there is a wonderful little trick that has been known by the wise and the brave and the free, in every part of the world, in every tradition, which can set you free (at least temporarily) from the tyranny of thought. The trick is to pay attention for a few moments to that which is aware of thought, to get interested in whatever it is that sees and hears and feels in this moment. When the attention shifts from rapidly changing thoughts to the nature of awareness itself, immediately there is a recognition of stillness, of awareness without boundaries, of silence.
At first this might seem like a mystical thing, the preoccupation of yogis and mystics and poets. But if we can train ourselves not to renounce the world but to remain fully involved, we discover that such a moment of awakening is also full of creativity. It is the source of all good ideas and all good solutions. Tapping into your true nature in this way, taking a little break from the endlessly changing content of the mind, is like plugging an appliance into a power outlet: then everything works magically, with no need for additional effort or decision. That is why we call it Awakening Coaching, because trying to solve problems or to realize dreams from the limited arena of thinking and emotion only leaves you confused and frustrated. When you take a few moments to tune into the deeper dimensions of who you are, everything else falls into place.
