On Monday, people living in North America, had the rare opportunity to witness an eclipse of the sun. For some lucky Americans, a total eclipse was the reward for creating viewing scopes out of cereal boxes. In Calgary, the moon eclipsed 81% of the sun; enough to really give us a profound sense of the wonder of this phenomenon.
As I read and listened to information about the eclipse, I learned that the eclipse occurred because the moon was directly between the earth and the sun. Not only that, because the moon is 400 times closer to earth than the sun, it appeared to be the exact same size as the sun. Thus, for people in the same line as the moon and the sun it appeared as though the moon could block the sun in its entirely. The truth is that the moon is not the same size as the sun. It is, in fact, 400 times smaller.
I often find myself looking to my surroundings to make sense of things happening in life and this eclipse provided some great thinking for me. Every client I work with, whether in the corporate world, in the world of entrepreneurs, in the private sector, or in private lives has dreams. They may have an idea for their organization that they believe will really set it apart. They may be raising a child and have a dream for the kind of parent they wish to be. They may have a personal goal of travel or fitness that is calling to them. When given the opportunity to voice these dreams or goals, I can tell how meaningful the goal is to them by watching their face. Faces light up and eyes sparkle when people talk about things they long to do.
Not only do dreams cause faces to light up, they can hold a lot of power, just like the sun.
I also know, that whenever we try to make changes in our world, our inner critic becomes very alert. I’ve introduced you to this fellow before. He can act just like the moon did this week. He gets really close to us, he blocks our vision, he pretends that he is bigger than he is and that he has more power than he has. If we are not careful, he can lure us into staring right at him. In certain moments if we stare at him, we lose sight of our dream completely. We become blind to our dream, seeing only what he chooses to show us. In our worst moments, we believe that our dream has disappeared, never to be achieved.
When I write this on paper, it sounds preposterous. No one could be fooled by such a small thing as a tiny moon; a moon that is 400 times smaller than a dream. But I see this regularly, and I admit, I have been fooled just as many times as anyone else. I have let a small obstacle block my vision and fool me in to thinking that my dream is so far away as to be unattainable.
A new strategy for you this week is to begin to think of obstacles as eclipses. Two wonderful things about eclipses, in this context, is that they are predictable and they are fleeting. None of us was scared on Monday when the skies darkened midday. We were expecting this. In a similar way, we should expect things to eclipse our goals. This is a natural occurrence. Additionally, on Monday, the actual eclipse lasted only minutes. Before we knew it, the moon went back to doing it’s regular beautiful thing and the sun seemed to have nothing standing in it’s way. Once we quit focusing on the moon, and once it moved ever so slightly, most of us never gave it another thought. The bright shiny sun appeared, just as powerful as it had always been.
Most things that stand in the way of us achieving our goals and dreams are just as predictable and as fleeting as the moon was on Monday. Even more interesting, in terms of the dreams we have for ourselves, some of the obstacles that get in our way are not even real. They are complete fabrications. They are thoughts that our Saboteur or Inner Critic, puts in our minds to stop us from making changes. As I posted on my Critchley Coaching Facebook page this week, ‘Don’t believe everything you think’.
Take a little time this week to think about a dream or goal you have. Expect to have a moon show up, puff up it’s little chest and try to make itself much larger than it is. It might even make itself appear to be 400 time bigger than your dream. Take a good look at this moon that is eclipsing the plan you have for yourself. Take your forefinger and thumb, gently grasp that moon, and move it aside. It only takes a second or two. Then, before you, will still be waiting the incredible life you are busy creating.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘What is eclipsing my dream?’
Book a coaching session with Elizabeth to make sure you have the tools to cope with unexpected eclipses in your life. Elizabeth provides professional and personal leadership coaching. She also facilitates custom workshops for teams, groups and businesses. Please take a minute to ‘like’ her Critchley Coaching Facebook page!
As I read and listened to information about the eclipse, I learned that the eclipse occurred because the moon was directly between the earth and the sun. Not only that, because the moon is 400 times closer to earth than the sun, it appeared to be the exact same size as the sun. Thus, for people in the same line as the moon and the sun it appeared as though the moon could block the sun in its entirely. The truth is that the moon is not the same size as the sun. It is, in fact, 400 times smaller.
I often find myself looking to my surroundings to make sense of things happening in life and this eclipse provided some great thinking for me. Every client I work with, whether in the corporate world, in the world of entrepreneurs, in the private sector, or in private lives has dreams. They may have an idea for their organization that they believe will really set it apart. They may be raising a child and have a dream for the kind of parent they wish to be. They may have a personal goal of travel or fitness that is calling to them. When given the opportunity to voice these dreams or goals, I can tell how meaningful the goal is to them by watching their face. Faces light up and eyes sparkle when people talk about things they long to do.
Not only do dreams cause faces to light up, they can hold a lot of power, just like the sun.
I also know, that whenever we try to make changes in our world, our inner critic becomes very alert. I’ve introduced you to this fellow before. He can act just like the moon did this week. He gets really close to us, he blocks our vision, he pretends that he is bigger than he is and that he has more power than he has. If we are not careful, he can lure us into staring right at him. In certain moments if we stare at him, we lose sight of our dream completely. We become blind to our dream, seeing only what he chooses to show us. In our worst moments, we believe that our dream has disappeared, never to be achieved.
When I write this on paper, it sounds preposterous. No one could be fooled by such a small thing as a tiny moon; a moon that is 400 times smaller than a dream. But I see this regularly, and I admit, I have been fooled just as many times as anyone else. I have let a small obstacle block my vision and fool me in to thinking that my dream is so far away as to be unattainable.
A new strategy for you this week is to begin to think of obstacles as eclipses. Two wonderful things about eclipses, in this context, is that they are predictable and they are fleeting. None of us was scared on Monday when the skies darkened midday. We were expecting this. In a similar way, we should expect things to eclipse our goals. This is a natural occurrence. Additionally, on Monday, the actual eclipse lasted only minutes. Before we knew it, the moon went back to doing it’s regular beautiful thing and the sun seemed to have nothing standing in it’s way. Once we quit focusing on the moon, and once it moved ever so slightly, most of us never gave it another thought. The bright shiny sun appeared, just as powerful as it had always been.
Most things that stand in the way of us achieving our goals and dreams are just as predictable and as fleeting as the moon was on Monday. Even more interesting, in terms of the dreams we have for ourselves, some of the obstacles that get in our way are not even real. They are complete fabrications. They are thoughts that our Saboteur or Inner Critic, puts in our minds to stop us from making changes. As I posted on my Critchley Coaching Facebook page this week, ‘Don’t believe everything you think’.
Take a little time this week to think about a dream or goal you have. Expect to have a moon show up, puff up it’s little chest and try to make itself much larger than it is. It might even make itself appear to be 400 time bigger than your dream. Take a good look at this moon that is eclipsing the plan you have for yourself. Take your forefinger and thumb, gently grasp that moon, and move it aside. It only takes a second or two. Then, before you, will still be waiting the incredible life you are busy creating.
My inquiry for you this week is, ‘What is eclipsing my dream?’
Book a coaching session with Elizabeth to make sure you have the tools to cope with unexpected eclipses in your life. Elizabeth provides professional and personal leadership coaching. She also facilitates custom workshops for teams, groups and businesses. Please take a minute to ‘like’ her Critchley Coaching Facebook page!
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