âMy advice is: still your mind until you reach the state of no thought. If you do, you will find many of the answers you seek.â — Sydney Banks
Coaching is simple: you let your client’s wisdom emerge by hearing them into speech.
But itâs hard for them and sometimes you.
Thereâs so much baggage: labels, social conditioning, assumed knowledge, living up to expectations and self-worth. For most people, these are felt experiences, lived out through thought, speech and actions. Call it the thickets or their truth but sometimes itâs impossible to work out who they are.
I donât always lead with this question (thank you Darryl Bailey for the insight), but Iâll often ask:
âWhat is there when there is no thinking?â
Everything?
Just this?
Who really knows?
Itâs (almost) impossible to describe; but one thingâs for sure, when a client has less on their mind theyâre much clearer about life.
Consider: you go for a walk, youâre one with nature, youâre lost in the reverie of music or youâre just chilling? Life feels a lot easier. Why? Youâre mind isnât killing you with the incessant noise.
The truth is a blog post canât do justice to what Iâm describing. At best, itâs a pointer to the fact that absent a busy or distracted mind, there is only âthis (moment)â — however you wish to describe it.
If thereâs an aim to my work, itâs to let you see that for yourself. As Iâve learnt from bitter experience, prescription, formula or adopting a cheerleader modality doesnât work. If anything, it confuses the clarity that comes from understanding our innate wisdom.
One last thing. This isnât about doing anything. Thatâs not to say that mindfulness practice, exercise and relaxation techniques donât have a place, but itâs only when the penny drops that you are not your (thinking) mind that everything changes.
And I mean everything.