Public Coaching Course – Phase 1, Houston, Tx

It's 3am, and I am still jazzed. The weekend was such a rich mixture of laughter, tears and breakthroughs, on a bedrock of spiritual maturity. The sanctity of the human spirit, respecting other human spirits, in the service of the AS-IS-NESS of Life – how could I possibly have better spent my weekend?

It started on Saturday morning in Houston, TX – 11 MTL Coaches from all over the US, 5 team members from different parts of the country, and me – in a hotel room, with Hurricane Gustav heading our way. (We were updated regularly re the specifics on Gustav.)

We spent the day preparing ourselves for the shift in context from coaching people who had already done the More To Life Weekend to coaching people who knew nothing about MTLW. At first, it seemed like a no-brainer. However, the effort to rid ourselves of jargon and the "we-all-know's" proved to be more slippery than first perceived. So we explored and invented and tested ourselves, coaching each other to refine our communication skills. In that process, we bonded in our common pursuit, supporting each other to unload even more of our unnecessary personal burdens. Rich, indeed!

By Saturday night, we were all excited (with occasional forays into mild irrationality – mostly funny) about Sunday morning. Everyone seemed confident of their ability to be present and to attend to the next steps of 11 people who would be joining us at the hotel for 'free coaching' – 11 people who had never attended any More to Life Program event.  Oh, yeah – the real deal.

Sunday morning, while we were in the room finishing our preparation, Jenny Meadows and Stephen Rushton were welcoming the coachees as they gathered in the lobby. Sherry Merritt was organizing the 'coaching space,' Carolyn Baehr was supporting us all in the room, and Adriana Holt was capturing the whole process on the computer – it was like a symphony with all first chair musicians.

I walked around for a couple of minutes, just to give everyone a chance to settle – yes, me too. Then I settled at the back of the room, breathed, and beheld real people being real with real people. I felt humble as I watched the coaches connect – easily, without artifice, imminently trustworthy, skillful and knowledgeable – with those that came seeking guidance for the next steps in their lives.

An hour and a half later, we had our answer. The feedback from the coachees was overwhelmingly excellent. The feel of the room was grounded satisfaction, with sprinkles of euphoria – YES, we did it! As we began our shares about our experience, one coach after another told how their interaction with their coachee resulted in a personal revelation about their own life – how perfect their coachee was for them! e.g., One coachee was saying the exact same words about his spouse as the coach had previously uttered about her spouse – and even more bizarre, the coachee has the same name as the coach's spouse. Mysterious? You decide!

Actually, I had asked Jenny, who had talked with each of the coachees, to practice using her sixth sense to choose which coachee would go with which coach. She did. Still mysterious? You decide.

I feel full – heart-full – and a quiet excitement about what's happening here.