“We’re going to visit the past, but we’re not going to live there.”
That’s the mantra of life coach Diana Hendrix and the basis for how she helps her clients improve the way they see themselves and begin the road to a better, happier, more confident self. But what is this “life coaching,” and how can it help?
“Life coaching is a co-creative relationship that provides the client with an accountability partner, truthful dialogue and new perspective designed to create BIG shifts in thinking and forward movement toward the achievement of personal and professional goals,” Hendrix explains. And it not only helps individuals achieve well-being, but it also helps businesses – though you may have heard that referred to as “executive coaching.” A life coach can partner with a group of employees to strengthen their relationships with each other, encourage them to accept accountability for their work, and, to use yet another sports analogy, work together like a team. This starts with helping upper management see what’s right in their organization and giving them the tools to help those right things grow.
Life coaching began several years ago, but was brought to the forefront when author and coach Cheryl Richardson wrote “Take Time for Your Life” in 1998. Richardson’s book offers a seven-step solution to enjoying a fulfilled life and is the basis for many life coaches working today. But it was Martha Beck, Oprah Winfrey’s personal life coach, who really gave the practice a popularity boost. Interest in coaching rose substantially after Beck’s appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and regular features in “O Magazine.”
Now there are a number of organizations that train life coaches. One of the better and better known is the Coach Training Alliance, a member of the International Coach Federation. This is where Diana got her training and became a Certified Life Coach. Some may confuse life coaching as the same thing as therapy or counseling, but actually the two are quite different.
A person might see a counselor to help get through a traumatic experience, or see a therapist to help overcome depression, for example. Those professionals are trained to help fix problems, usually rooted in the past. Life coaching looks at the present and where a person can go – and grow. It helps set strategic goals and finds the place to achieve those goals. Diana likes to refer to it as therapeutic, not therapy. A married mother of two, Diana has always been a big supporter of the GLBT community. While training to be a dancer and then living on the West Coast for several years, she always had very close relationships with GLBT people.
“That gives me a special sense of what GLBT people are feeling, and what might be keeping them from achieving their life’s goals,” she said. “Through life coaching, I help my clients set goals and discover what’s in them to achieve those goals, whether it’s about love, relationships, money, business or anything.” To find out more about life coaching, or to schedule your own free sample session, contact Diana, now resident life coach at Escape Spa, at dianahendrix@bellsouth.net or give her a call at 615-395-4943.