Connected Coaching

This is a post directed at you the reader.  This is a simple test to help determine your story and the direction of it.  Are you ready- who is the author of your life story?  Please leave your answer in the comments section.  This is a survey I am doing and will in no way use your personal information, I am just conducting a study to further pursue.  Thanks for your time!

Have you ever finished the phrase: Life is a ______________?  From my experience whenever I try and finish that phrase, it is usually blurred by my present experience with life.  Many psychotherapists and life coaches today view the process of partnership as a rewriting of a story.  When you look at your life as a story you can begin to notice different themes that keep reappearing and presenting themselves in the overall story.  One of the questions I ask myself often is "Do I like where my storyline is going?"  As the author of my life story I must take responsibility for where I am, where I have been, and where I am going.

Today is the newest day of your life, you have never been here before, and you will never be back here again!  However, I am sure that today is a part of your life story that has some similarities to other days gone by.  You wake up, shower, get dressed, you know your routine.  So the question I have is- Is this where you want to be?  Do you have an idea of where your life is going?  Are you on the road that you planned to be on, or do you find yourself off on a side-road inching away from your life destination? 
Many times we do not take the time to answer some of these important road sign questions, and we eventually find ourselves in a different place than where we were expecting to be!

I was watching a seminar by Donald Miller today, author of Blue Like Jazz and To Own a Dragon.  One of his comments really struck a chord with me- it was about being in a marketed culture that is selling me spirituality!  I have been thinking about it all day, and here is what I have resolved:
1. Our culture is all about stuff, so why wouldn't our concept of religion and spirituality be all about stuff?
2. If stuff is not the answer to fulfillment, why do we want it?
3. If a relationship with God is the answer to fulfillment, why do we not want it?
4. Has our culture so influenced my individuality that I am no longer an individual, but a cultured stuff possessor who wants community but is too selfish to actually be in community?

Still working out the kinks,
Connected!

What does this phrase have to do with anything?  Actually it has to do with everything!  I just read an article that asked the question "So what?"  It is a phrase that is asked when a question is posed that we basically know already, or are wondering how it affects my life from this point on.  So what does change have to do with everything?  Change is a fabric of every aspect of life, we just miss it for the most part.  Think of time in matters of seconds rather than days.  It is realizing that change happens faster and more often than we acknowledge.  Time is only one facet of many- relationships, family, jobs, careers, finances, cars, homes, lifestyle, and the list goes on- So what?  Here is the moment of truth- how do we respond and react to these never ending changes, do we resist, do we encourage- how do you change with life as it continually changes?

Answer: Value!

Question: What is it that you personally value and would like to create more of in your life, in your relationships, in your career, and in your community?

Hint- Value is something that you give your most treasured asset to (time, money, energy...)

One of the elements of Connected Coaching is to help reveal who you are connected to and why that connection is important.  Due to the cultural environment of North America, we have made a huge shift in the past 50-75 years on even where family exists.  I am not sure about you, but the family I grew up with has spread out.  This has caused me to reevaluate what I have been responsible for in creating a family that seems more disconnected than connected.
Likewise with friends, friends who were so close to me in High School and College, have now been distanced by time and space.  It is great that we are all doing what we love to do, if that is the case, but as far as connecting and disconnecting, we are a culture that has adapted to a "close, but not too close" mentality.  The days of community barn building are over, we find it difficult to even get to know our neighbor's first name!

Comments always welcomed and read,
Brandon  

As of June 1, 2008 the first issue of Connected was released.  If you would like to receive your free quarterly issue that is designed to help create Meaning, Value, and Purpose.
For your copy please submit your name and email (which is held in highest confidence) and you will receive the Connected E-Zine every 3 months!
Get Connected!

OK, so I fell behind already, there is a legit reason- strep throat!  One word- Not Fun.  Anyhow things are progressing.  I played in a golf tournament on Wednesday, first outing of the year, glad to get that torture out of the way, it was a fun day regardless.  Needless to say I am spent after this week of sickness and swinging of the clubs.  So until this weekend is over, I am off!

Life is full of experience- we wake up (an experience), roll out of bed, have breakfast, or whatever morinng routine you have and then... work!  Everyday is full of experience and choices.  Now not everyday is full of those memory causing experiences, but everyday you and I create days that determine life shaping memories, and beliefs that determine what tomorrow looks like.
Life and the experiences we have are facts, it is in the interpretation of those facts that are important as to how we live life.