“The key to living the life that you love and doing the work that you love is living true to the essence of who you are.” – Fran Fisher
What does it mean to call forth our greatness and live from our essence? And why is it important, particularly as a coach? In this session, Alison Whitmire, President of Learning In Action, is joined by master certified coach, Fran Fisher to explore what it means to call forth your greatness.
Fran Fisher is a visionary leader, international speaker, and published author. She is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the field of coaching and specializes in mentoring experienced coaches for their PCC and MCC accreditations. Fran founded one of the first coaching schools to be accredited by the International Coaching Federation and currently serves as a founding executive board member. Her vision is a world where everyone is enjoying a rich and fulfilling life, living true to their essence, and a life purpose and values. Fran believes the world needs us to be true to ourselves and that coaching is the contribution we make for this transformation in our world.
Our greatness is synonymous with the essence of who we are. Calling forth this deeper place within ourselves involves asking three questions that humanity has been asking since the dawn of consciousness: Who am I? What is my purpose? How do I live my purpose? The essence of who we are is about tuning into the true, pure nature of ourselves instead of our developed or habituated personalities. It encompasses our core values, our core strengths, our empowering beliefs, and our true authentic vision for the world. It also includes who we want to be being in the world, our life purpose, and our life mission.
Author and speaker Deepak Chopra offers that our essence is the unified field of all possibilities, of pure being, pure awareness, and pure consciousness. The more we live from this field of pure being, the more our doing expresses it. Our being leads to our doing, so when we know who we are at our core essence, we create a point of power that we can live from and draw on. To put it in Fran’s words: “The key to living a life that you love and doing work that you love is living true to the essence of who you are.”
The deeper qualities of our essence are within each one of us — they are part of our consciousness and they are all true. We get to choose who we want to be, call forth those qualities and give them attention in ways that empower us.
Being aware of and grounded in our essence creates the foundation for living from our highest and best self, and to experience more ease and joy in our lives. As we live into our greatness, we experience the freedom to be who we are, learning to trust that the world is a safe place to show up as our authentic selves. Our essence can also be a useful tool in accessing our creativity more fully and developing a stronger sense of confidence. Once we have worked through the exercise to discover our essence it can be helpful to articulate it in an, “I am” statement, a word or a phrase, or perhaps even as a symbol.
The gift of learning to live true to the essence of who we are leads us to live a more meaningful life and make more fulfilling contributions to the world.
How do we know if we are tuned into our essence?
Being in touch with our essence starts with being aware of ourselves and others. It takes intentionally creating practices on a daily basis that support our greatness and provide accountability. When we are connected to the power and the deep meaning of the words, “I am,” and the impact that’s available from them, there’s a profound shift in how we show up.
The challenge in staying connected with this deeper part of ourselves is to keep the qualities of our essence conscious. Our personal filters are what tend to get in the way of our greater essence. If we’re lost in our thinking minds, feeling fear or anxiety, or allowing limiting beliefs to take over, we will inevitably be disconnected from our higher selves. Many times we can sense this with physical cues if, for example, we find ourselves holding tension in our shoulders or some other place in our bodies. When we find ourselves disconnected it can be helpful to ask ourselves, “Who do I choose to be?” as a way of intentionally calling forth the qualities of our essence in an empowering way.
Living from our essence not only serves our personal lives, it also enhances our work as coaches. One of the gifts of living from our essence is the opportunity to step into our work as a coach in a more real and authentic way.
It’s important to be aware that coaching from our essence can be challenging at first. Embodying our essence allows us to be present with our clients in a much larger way. Coaching from this place involves awareness, getting ourselves out of the way, and learning not to make assumptions. It requires us to let go of our egos and instead put our clients in the limelight. It also calls us to release attachments and old habits that no longer serve us. What it’s truly about is making the journey from feeding our egos to feeding our souls.
Here are five guidelines for living true to our essential selves:
What does it take to call forth our greatness? We must connect with our essence — our higher and most empowered selves — and intentionally infuse that essence into all parts of our lives, including our work as coaches. It includes finding practices to remind ourselves on a daily basis of that deeper place within ourselves, to let go of our egos, and ultimately to love who we are being in each moment.
Posted in: Heal The Divide|Podinar Series
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