Slightly Off-Balance

I shared with you yesterday that I am exploring a coaching program.  I hadn’t planned to share  more details of my proposed coaching business yet or who I hope to coach, but my friend Kelly at Dances with Chaos wrote a post about kindness and paying it forward, read it, that inspired me to reveal more of my dreams.  Dreams are fragile, please be gentle with mine…

The day before I left for Santa Barbara and my transformational weekend I attended a funeral for my great-aunt.  I barely knew her and simply went out of respect.  My dad did not go, she was never his favorite person.  Because of this, I didn’t have much exposure to her.   As I sat listening to the eulogy, I was struck by a sadness for not getting to know the amazing woman being described.  Some of my relatives are tough, they focus on the perceived negatives of others.  As I sat, seeing an opportunity missed, I realized I love people.  I love seeing the good in people.  The world would be a better place if we found joy in the goodness of people rather than identifying other people’s challenges as proof of our own goodness.

My dream is to coach women on being good to themselves and others.  I want to encourage them to go after their dreams without guilt.  To support them when they struggle with balance.  I want to help them live fullers lives by their own definitions.  I want to inspire kindness and see it spread like a virus. 

Do I hate men and not care about their balance?  Of course not, but I want to focus on a group that isn’t very united.  Think of the mommy wars as an example.  Stay at home moms judging working moms for ‘abandoning their families’ to make money instead of raising their kids.  Working moms judging stay at home moms for not doing “more” with their time.  All these arguments are meritless and painful.  We’re supposed to be a sisterhood, but how quickly we can tear each other down.  So my focus will be women, but one of my new LifeLaunch friends is focused on coaching men, so balance has been achieved yet again.

I realize, as a coach, I will have to coach on the topic my client and I contract on.  I won’t be able to push my own agenda, but I hope to create a safe place for people who share my philosophy.  I hope to leverage my training to help women be kind to themselves.  As part of my grand plan, I want to launch a women’s group that provides women a positive support network who share the common goal of uniting and supporting other women.  So my pay it forward is coming…

In the meantime, I want to highlight an inspirational women, who already makes the world a better place.  Patience Salgado aka Kindness Girl, practices random acts of kindness and was just featured in Oprah Magazine.  Read her blog, follow her lead.  As I am writing this post in advance, I will follow-up with my Pay It Forward action for today, but there will be one.

Thank you Kelly and Patience for sparking kindness on this beautiful Friday.

What random act of kindness have you committed or been the recipient of?