The most rewarding moments of my coaching are when I can help my client see the world, or themselves, in a new and more accurate way.
There’s an art to creating the right environment for a paradigm shift. But sometimes, a bold statement just slaps you with one. Like this gem from The Valorie Clark…
Letting go of false assumptions feels a little like being let out of a cage. Did this help you see something differently?
There is something so pleasurable about connecting the dots and coming to a new, inspired understanding. That moment when we exclaim Aha! with the new found perspective that changes everything.
I’ve come to realise that the Aha! moment is a primary driving force in my life. It happens in at least four ways.
In humour. The punchline of a joke is intended to sharply turn us from one understanding to another, and it feels great to let go of a set of assumptions.
In coaching. When I delve into my own, or another’s, assumptions, beliefs and habits and to find a new way of being. To suddenly understand the limitations of a belief or a relationship or an approach, and to just let go and be filled with the energy of the new potential. This is the best part of coaching for me.
In puzzles and cryptic crosswords. Like in humour, we are often intentionally misled to amplify the satisfaction wen we finally get the solution.
By simply being curious. Looking a little deeper into our history and culture, language and science. I have found the more I learn, the more I can connect the dots, the more Aha! moments, the more I want to learn!
I have recently had a wonderful little Aha! moment. I always used to think that the Milky Way was a little bit boring as a name for our galaxy. Our nearest galactic neighbour is Andromeda – cool name. Why do we call our own the Milky Way? Did the ancient Greeks call it ‘galaxy’?
It then struck me that lactose and galaxy share a syllable.
It turns out that the Greeks called the Milky Way galaxías kýklos or ‘milky circle’. Also, the galactic band is an anatomical description for part of the nipple, so we come full circle.
Is the pleasure of an Aha! moment associated with gaining new insight, or is it the pleasure of letting go the old assumptions?
