Pat's Ponderings - Are you reserving parts of you?
My wife and I just returned from a ten-day trip to Costa Rica, spending five days at an eco-lodge in Montezuma (http://www.elbanano.com) We were there during their "green" season, which also means rainy season. But hey, …it IS a rainforest. What a relaxing, spiritual, reflective, rejuvenating place! Costa Rica is about 75% protected forests and the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) recently designated Costa Rica a world BioGem in honor of the efforts made to protect more than 500,000 species of flora and fauna found in Costa Rica.
There are 13 BioGems throughout the Americas, but this is the first time that an entire country, instead of a region, has received this recognition. So while that is impressive and should be a model to countries everywhere in the world, how does that relate to the world of life coaching?
Here's how: How much of yourself, your energy, your resources are you protecting? How much of YOU are you wasting, misusing, or depleting? We are a system just like a rain forest, and we also coach our clients to move toward optimal living that requires a commitment and an understanding of the value of personal reserve.
Countries, national parks, and cities often have places called preserves. Think about that word. Preserve in coaching could mean the act of pre-serving – or creating a designated way to save your energies and human resources so that you are ready to serve when you are called. So preserving is actually preparation for serving in whatever way you are called to in the life you live.
Coaching is a service industry and you must have the resources to serve. We as coaches must engage in and value self-care as way of life, and encourage our clients to do the same. We cannot live fully if we are living unconsciously and wasting the resources (from our SOURCE) that are God given.
You may be inspired to visit Costa Rica because it is very unlike anyplace else. There are no high-rise hotels, none of the cookie-cutter resorts you see elsewhere. Every eco-lodge and hotel is unique to Costa Rica (with few exceptions) and the country is not being ruined by traditional tourism, yet it's tourism that supports the biodiversity preserves. Costa Rica tourists must see, feel, smell and touch the beauty by being willing to be wet, hot, drive on bumpy roads, and hike trails in the middle of jungles, waterfalls, rainforests, and beachside villages. They must be willing to tour places that are often not easy to get to – yet this is the only way to witness nature's majesty in this unique country
But my ponderings are not intended to be a commercial for Costa Rica. I have traveled to many beautiful places of nature around the globe; but this one left me inspired in a new way – seeing the earth as it was centuries ago – alive with volcanoes, rich soil from earthquakes, and a land that breathes spirit and inspires me to do the same. I am not the same person as I was before these ten days in Costa Rica.
I encourage you to pick a place where you can be so rejuvenated. It could be near where you live – a state park, a preserve, a botanical garden – or maybe it's many miles away. Wherever it is, go there – be unplugged from cell phones, computers, television – and listen to nature, it has much to teach us…
As always.
Dr. Pat
Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT
Department Chair, Professional Coaching, International University of Professional Studies
Author: Becoming a Professional Life Coach. Therapist as Life Coach, Total Life Coaching,
Law and Ethics in Coaching
Recipient of Global Visionary Fellowship for Non Profit www.CoachingTheGlobalVillage.org
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