Coach as Instrument: When Things Seem Bleak

This Week's Attunement 

We don't have to look very far to find something to be utterly devastated about.

The mass shootings, the war in Ukraine, and the shocking political rhetoric that's creating deeper and deeper divides. And we coaches can be rocked by the struggles our clients face as well. The loss of loved ones, illness, or heartbreak.

What are we to do in those times when there is simply nothing to be done?

We can bear witness.

What does it mean to bear witness? (I share more on that in this 5-minute video).

Bearing witness means to simply attend to, accept, allow, attune with, and acknowledge whatever our clients and/or the world is experiencing.

Bearing witness is NOT a passive act of resignation. To bear witness is to honor and hold space for whatever is happening.

“I used to think bearing witness was a passive act. I don’t believe that anymore. I think that when we are present, when we bear witness, when we do not divert our gaze, something is revealed – the very marrow of life. We change. A transformation occurs. Our consciousness shifts.”
— Terry Tempest Williams

As Terry Tempest Williams says in her quote, when we bear witness, something can be transformed and consciousness can shift. This is so at both an individual and a global level.

As much as we want to "help" and "add value" and "coach" our clients, sometimes simply being with them, without anything needing to happen or change, is not only enough, it's what's needed.

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