Thomas Whigham

Real coaching doesn’t judge life’s dramas, it doesn’t judge the causes and conditions leading to them, and it has no fear of the outcomes. Real coaching is about clarity, going from darkness to light. Real coaching is life coaching, but not the kind that says optimize this way, build this habit, tweak this thing, do shadow work! Real coaching is clearly seeing life as it is naturally unfolding, as it really is. Strategies, behavioral optimizations, and psychological help is useful. “Get up 15 minutes earlier and sit in open awareness to start the day” is useful. And while all of this may occur during coaching sessions, what is really happening is that life becomes lived consciously. Seeing and experiencing all the feelings, seeing how those feelings guide behavior, and seeing life as a drama to help expose us to our unconscious. Real coaching is going from unclear to clear, dark to light, through the naturally arising drama of life as experience, through the energetics of the nervous system, through the bounded patterning of psychology, and, eventually, through inner heart awareness. This kind of coaching is vital. It makes every situation a positive situation. Difficult, painful, and unfair realities become opportunities for clarity and expansiveness. Life becomes the teacher, and the real coach is just a translator and relational support system