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Pay It Forward with My Coaching Dream
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?
Re-Pay It Forward
Do you ever have those moments in life that you wish you could do over and be a better you? Here’s one of mine:
My cousin, Lisa, is like a sister to me. I love her so much my heart wants to explode. So naturally, when she was in labor I had to be there to support her. I was stuck at work all day and couldn’t leave for the hospital when I first got the call. When I got off work, before I started the 45 minute drive to her hospital, I stopped at the grocery store to get her flowers. I was excited, I was nervous and I was in a hurry!!
As I stood in line to checkout, the woman in front of me had 4 cans of green beans, but there was something wrong with her form of payment. They had to go get a manager, it took ‘forever’. I am ashamed to say I was rolling my eyes and tapping my foot with impatience.
As she finished her transaction and walked away, I realized the problem was with her food stamps card. I will never forget how horrible I felt. Had I not been so absorbed in my life, and realized what was going on, I would have gladly paid for her green beans to expedite things or… I could have just been more patient. That woman will never know that I wasn’t rolling my eyes at the form of payment and I can never make up my rudeness to her (something I will never forget).
But there is still a lesson to be learned and a way to create something positive out of my negative behavior. I use that day to re-pay it forward. You have likely heard of paying it forward, buying the next person’s coffee, paying the next driver’s toll fees. I love those gestures, but also practice small acts of patience and kindness with strangers. I need to make amends to a stranger for being rude, so I make sure to treat other strangers better.
- I wait patiently when someone is trying to park their car next to mine (it’s a big SUV and seems to intimidate people).
- I pull the lever so the next person has a paper towel in the airport restroom.
- I help people get their baggage up to the ticket counter.
- Helping people who are lost (directionally – if they are lost in their lives, I probably would only hurt the situation).
- Holding the elevator doors when you know the person is just around the corner even though you can’t see them and can get away with letting the doors close.
Since I can’t ever apologize to that woman in the grocery store, I try to pass on other goodness that I hope will come back to her.
I also know there will be other moments when I am distracted, stressed or simply not being the best Paige I can be, so I re-pay it forward for those moments too.
How do you show kindness to strangers?
Pay It Forward
Slightly Off-Balance 