Apprehensive! Nervous! Excited! Empowered! This was the range of emotions I experienced as I did my first LIVE Facebook coaching session as a part of SWIHA’s 31 Days of 31 Minutes of Life Coaching. My topic was 5 Ways to Connect with Spirit, and my “ah-ha” was that the ways we connect with Spirit are the exact same ways we prepare to do a LIVE Facebook gig… and the same steps it takes to fully show up in life in a very “alive” way! In retrospect, going LIVE was just a metaphor! Let me explain…
To go L.I.V.E. you must first LEAN IN!
The title of Life Coach is about learning to “lean in” to your life in a very real and vulnerable way. To be a good coach, you must have a real life– one which goes through the full spectrum of emotions. There will be times when you are apprehensive, nervous, excited, and even empowered! As a coach, the more human, vulnerable, and real that you are willing to be, the more you can be of service to others.
So, yes, I was nervous as I prepared to go LIVE on Facebook. Here’s the best part of the story: when I admitted my fears on a Facebook post, hundreds of people reached out to encourage and coach me. That’s how vulnerability works: when we can admit our feelings and fears, answers show up in the form of fellow-coaches and friends offering encouragement, as well as in new self-awareness. The “coach within me” realized I needed to transform the word “nervous” to “excited”! That small shift in perspective changed my physiological experience. Once I said, “I am excited to share with others how to connect with Spirit,” my excitement was channeled into service and empowerment. And, by the grace to God, a good number of people tuned in to my first LIVE presentation!
What’s the metaphor? When seeking to connect with Spirit, we must “lean in”– meaning we must be willing to show up and connect! One of the most powerful statements we can make as a coach is, “I am willing to connect with Spirit! I am ready to connect with Spirit.” Willingness is the opposite of resistance.
Try it! Practice saying, “I am willing to connect with Spirit! I am willing to go LIVE! I am willing to lean in and show up for my life.” Without hesitation, I know that if you are willing to speak these sentences–preferably out loud—you will feel a change! Perhaps you will get goosebumps (or “god-bumps” as I like to call them) or some other kind of physical confirmation that you have called in a new and empowering energy-source.
To go L.I.V.E., you must INVITE by name what you want!
Imagine calling a friend by name when you want to get their attention. It’s the same when connecting to Spirit! As you look to connect with Spirit, determine the name that most resonates with you and use it. An example is to say, “Oh Divine Guide, I’m ready and willing to connect.” What is the name you give to the great mystery or the great “I AM”? Is it God, Dear Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit? My personal choice is to say, “Come Holy Spirit, I need you.” For those who do not have a name for Spirit or Source, my suggestion is to use GUS – God, Universe, Spirit. The prayer would sound like this: “Hey, GUS, I need you! I am ready and willing to connect.” Again, try it!
How does this translate to life? Call by name what it is you want to have appear! Recently in a life coaching session, a client said, “I really, really want to connect with Oprah Winfrey!” We spent a good amount of time calling in Oprah– and strategizing how my client might connect with her! With excitement and glee, my coaching client called to report that the very next day she received Oprah’s newest book, Wisdom of Sundays: Life-changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations in the mail from a friend. What’s the lesson? We never know the way Spirit will show up… yet if we never call or ask, we will never know!
On Facebook LIVE, I learned that it’s important to ask people by name to tune in… and when they do, to acknowledge them. Yes! As humans we crave human connection, and a virtual connection can be extremely satisfying and spirit-filled!
To go L.I.V.E. surrender to VULNERABILITY
“If there’s anything I’ve learned over the past decade,” says Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor who has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, “It’s this: Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose.”
The same is true when connecting with Spirit, going LIVE on Facebook, or showing up in life! When we are willing and courageous enough to just show up ready for something to happen, something happens.
When calling in Spirit, the vulnerability may involve kneeling or folding your hands in readiness. The very act of looking toward the heavens and speaking your request to connect is all it takes to shift the energy and feel an energetic change in your body or in the room– proof you’ve connected with spiritual vibration.
Committing to showing up in the World Wide Web via Facebook is a courageous act as well. Once you go LIVE, your vulnerability is likely to shift to a feeling of empowerment. Of course, this is true in life as well. Being a Life Coach is an opportunity to show up in a fully expressed, authentic way. While vulnerability is not easy, it’s the surest sign that we’re alive.
To go L.I.V.E., you must EXTEND
Ask yourself this rhetorical question: “If I am feeling far away from God or Source, who moved?” Part of connecting with the Divine, or the joy of life, is to extend ourselves– to reach up OR out.
In a LIVE Facebook session, one of the most powerful invitations is to hold up your left hand, as if you are reaching for the Divine-Source connection, and imagine plugging into powerful healing energy. With your right hand, reach across your heart, touch the palm chakra of the right hand, pass over the heart again, and extend your hand out into the world with the affirmation, “Oh Divine Guide, let me be an extending of the Divine Light… Let me be an extension of the good in the world.” This was a very powerful experience in my own session and one you can repeat.
When Mother Theresa was asked how best to connect with the Divine, she smiled and said, “Serve others!” She was telling us to extend ourselves. When we offer to help someone, even with a smile, handshake, or hug, something spiritual happens. Physiologically, chemicals are released during the act of extending yourself. One theory is that human connection stimulates the vagus nerve, which triggers an increase in oxytocin levels, which creates trickle-down effects throughout the body, causing a decrease in heart rate and a drop in the stress hormones cortisol and norepinephrine. Another theory is that we have connected with Spirit and are blanketed with angelic confirmations– AKA god-bumps.
As a life coach, I often refer to the words of theologian and civil rights activist Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask what the world needs; ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.”
We could editorialize and add to this comment: “The world needs people who are willing to go L.I.V.E.– who are willing to Lean-in, Inviting Vulnerability, and Extending themselves so as to be connected with Spirit and others in a very real way.”
Let’s continue to go LIVE! I will be doing more LIVE Facebook sessions as a part of January’s National Life Coaching month… and my prayer for everyone is to fully lean into their life in a new connected and alive way! Blessings!
