In my coaching practice I often use the tool of “Perspective” to help clients make change in their lives. Sometimes the hardest changes are not things we need to but rather they are learning new ways to think about things. Again, it’s the ‘being’ vs the ‘doing’.
Jim and I moved last month, from our beloved acreage where we had lived for 22 years, into the big city. It was the right time, but it was a difficult transition. I had convinced Jim that for this move, we (and our family and friends!) should not be doing the moving ourselves, and so we hired a moving company.
The day of the move was not what we expected. Let’s just say that it involved damaged walls in both homes, scratched furniture and floors and one dropped and broken treadmill. It ended with me firing the movers at 5:30pm after only one load had been complete. Jim was sitting on the back deck of our new house, head in hands wondering what we would do. I quickly texted a couple of friends, and they texted two friends and they texted....
When we arrived back at the acreage at 6:30 we were greeted by one horse trailer, 6 pickup trucks and about 20 happy, hardworking friends and family. My friend, Susan, set up a table on the lawn, complete with a table cloth and served a dinner of burgers, salad, cookies and lemonade to all! By 9:15 we were all standing in the kitchen of our new house with full stomachs, with every last piece of furniture moved and with the acreage house completely clean and ready for the new owners.
Later that night Jim mentioned that he felt just sick about having to ask our friends and family to help when that was what we had been trying to avoid by hiring movers. I told him that I was looking at it another way. To me, the evening had felt like an old fashioned ‘barn raising’. We had needed a rescue and our friends were the ones to do the rescuing. Jim and I both know that people love to be needed – and boy, were they needed that night. In so many ways, the evening was absolutely perfect. I am quite sure that each of them had a great story to tell at work in the following days about their adventure of rescuing us. It was an evening that brought us all closer together, gave us a sense of community, a great story to tell and it reminded us that while we might be moving locations, our friends were steadfast. It really was a gift.
Whenever I work with a client on perspective the magic question is, “What is the gift here?” In every situation, there is a gift to be found. We do not have to wait until the crisis passes to see it. We can train ourselves to find it amidst crisis, amidst difficulty, amidst plans gone awry, amidst heartache. The gift does not erase the challenge; the gift stands beside us as we face it.
This week my question for you is, “What is the gift here?” May you find an abundance of gifts in your everyday life.
Learn how to find the gifts in your life through coaching. Contact me for details.
Jim and I moved last month, from our beloved acreage where we had lived for 22 years, into the big city. It was the right time, but it was a difficult transition. I had convinced Jim that for this move, we (and our family and friends!) should not be doing the moving ourselves, and so we hired a moving company.
The day of the move was not what we expected. Let’s just say that it involved damaged walls in both homes, scratched furniture and floors and one dropped and broken treadmill. It ended with me firing the movers at 5:30pm after only one load had been complete. Jim was sitting on the back deck of our new house, head in hands wondering what we would do. I quickly texted a couple of friends, and they texted two friends and they texted....
When we arrived back at the acreage at 6:30 we were greeted by one horse trailer, 6 pickup trucks and about 20 happy, hardworking friends and family. My friend, Susan, set up a table on the lawn, complete with a table cloth and served a dinner of burgers, salad, cookies and lemonade to all! By 9:15 we were all standing in the kitchen of our new house with full stomachs, with every last piece of furniture moved and with the acreage house completely clean and ready for the new owners.
Later that night Jim mentioned that he felt just sick about having to ask our friends and family to help when that was what we had been trying to avoid by hiring movers. I told him that I was looking at it another way. To me, the evening had felt like an old fashioned ‘barn raising’. We had needed a rescue and our friends were the ones to do the rescuing. Jim and I both know that people love to be needed – and boy, were they needed that night. In so many ways, the evening was absolutely perfect. I am quite sure that each of them had a great story to tell at work in the following days about their adventure of rescuing us. It was an evening that brought us all closer together, gave us a sense of community, a great story to tell and it reminded us that while we might be moving locations, our friends were steadfast. It really was a gift.
Whenever I work with a client on perspective the magic question is, “What is the gift here?” In every situation, there is a gift to be found. We do not have to wait until the crisis passes to see it. We can train ourselves to find it amidst crisis, amidst difficulty, amidst plans gone awry, amidst heartache. The gift does not erase the challenge; the gift stands beside us as we face it.
This week my question for you is, “What is the gift here?” May you find an abundance of gifts in your everyday life.
Learn how to find the gifts in your life through coaching. Contact me for details.
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