Let’s take a break from the practical, business-y stuff of life coaching and, instead, have a little story time. Ok?
I’d like to share with you my story about becoming a life coach. Why I decided to follow this path and how I turned something negative into an empowering change in life. So, get something to drink, get cozy + sit back for a bit. I’m gonna take you back in history for a little while. And perhaps you’ll see how this path has unfolded, almost as if it was meant to be.
“The whole life of the individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to himself; indeed, we should be fully born when we die – although it is the tragic fate of most individuals to die before they are born.” ― Erich Fromm, The Sane Society
My journey to becoming a Life Coach
I have experienced a few life-changing rebirths in my life. In fact, I dare say that the cycle of birth, life, and death, the cycle of constant renewal + transformation, is exactly what life is all about. This is the same mystery and magic and simplicity of the continuous cycle of life that is so evidently seen in nature.
For me, this is spirituality. This is why I am here. To constantly plant, grow, and sow. To continually learn and transform. Ultimately to discover, with each passing day, more and more of my truest, highest self. And to live life from that authentic place in my soul, so as to be of benefit to this world.
Finding a life of spirit, with or without religion.
In 2008 I was finishing up my Master’s degree in theology and spirituality… exploring all of the ways (from a Christian perspective) that we “know” god. How god is revealed to us. Where we find God. I was being trained and working as pastor/priest/minister (whatever word makes sense to you). But, I always knew in my soul that I would never actually do that for the rest of my life in the traditional way. How it would look, though, I had no idea.
My heart + soul challenged me to find my own path back then. To not simply go with the flow along with my fellow pastor colleagues. But to find my own expression of faith and my own way to share + guide others to discover their own path to spirituality. To not simply take what I learned and use it for myself in my work, but to reach back into my education as a teacher and to use all that I was learning to teach + inspire others. But that process of finding my own path has taken a while.
Back then I felt the call to take all of the religious bullshit that made no sense, and inspire others to see that it’s not about the religion, but about relationships. It’s about living a connected, grounded, mystical life.
It’s often assumed that to be religious or spiritual means that one also is holy, above others, closed-minded, untouchable, perfect. Like a guru or a saint. That religion + spirituality actually have nothing to do with everyday life. And so, it is a big turn-off.
And I can absolutely understand how people feel and think that. Religion has done (and still does) a fabulous job of alienating, excluding, hurting, putting up walls, creating rules, and pushing away real life. People get lost in empty rituals or old routines that mean nothing, instead of being given tools and ways of meeting the spiritual in every single little moment of life. At it’s worst, religion kills in the name of the Divine.
However, that’s fucked up religion. And that fucked up part of religion pushed me right on out the door about 8 years ago. That’s right. I had a Master’s of Divinity degree, 8 years of experience of working with a congregation, and because I married a women (and was honest about it at a committee meeting before my ordination), the United Methodist Church told me to hit the road. Rules over relationships. No matter that I was qualified, eager, experienced, and damn good at what I did. No matter that many people supported me. My relationship as a candidate for ministry in the church in which I grew up was over. Just like that.
So, I moved on. And I began to understand what it meant to create my own life. There was no need for me to have some official stamp of approval. Yes, it made it easier to work in the middle of systems + organizations, but who needed systems + organizations? I learned that I didn’t. (Not that they are all bad). But, it became apparent that my personal legend, my journey, was (and still is) leading me to blaze my own path. And that, my friends, has been more empowering than I could have ever imagined.
Discovering my own path
You see, true spirituality seeks to connect, to unite, to include, to build bridges, to create, to love, and to make peace – within ourselves and around the world. Because, who we truly are, who we are meant to be, are beautiful, whole, divine, incredible beings full of light and love. And we are meant to live our lives authentically as ourselves. And I believe that it is possible, my friends, to live a meaningful, mindful, spiritual life.
I believe it because I seek and live it.
If you’re still unsure about the word “spirituality”, then let me reassure you. That is the word that speaks to me. Perhaps you feel better thinking about happiness or contentment or mindfulness. But, I challenge you to embrace the spirit of the word spirituality.
You see, spirituality is not a box. It is the recognition that the divine lives within us. We are it. It is freedom. It is connection.And we are all created to live meaningful lives of freedom and unity. Spiritual or religious or not. This is what I have learned from all of my years as a teacher to the disabled and poor, as a minister to the young and old, as a writer and blogger, as a fellow human being simply seeking to discover her own path to inner peace and bliss.
And that, is what I intend to use this next part of my life teaching. How we can create the life that we feel called to live – and then to live it to the fullest! (whether you call it spiritual or not – and that it totally up to you).
Finding meaning in everyday life
In seminary, I formulated my ideas and beliefs on how we can know that life is meant to be lived more deeply, how we are here to do more than exist, and how spirituality is actually a part of everyday life. The creative energies that connect us all (whether you call them god, magic, allah, tao, spirit, or anything else or nothing at all) move in and among us at all times. Empowering + inspiring us, and teaching us to live life from our soul. And when we do that, then we are in creation with each other + the whole world, making a difference, spreading love + light.
I want to share + inspire others to find all of the ways to tap into our souls. All of the ways that energy and divine, holy, magical, sacred things show up,in the most simplest, mundane ways, helping us to align our lives with our life’s purpose. Inspiration is found + created in scriptures, traditions, experience, books, words, people, art, places, stories, music, nature, religions, science, mystery…
Ultimately, I simply believe that we are all searching for a deeper way to live life. To make life more meaningful.
And I have found a way of living with the mystery and magic that brings meaning to my life– by learning to be, love, and live. How to follow my bliss. Of course, my way is not the only way. In fact, my way is only my way for me.
So, I realized that this was the culmination of all of my years of study + work. To be here to help inspire others to discover their own way, their own path, their own soul, their own truth. To be a guide + companion.
The one truth that I do know, and I know it from a deep place that I cannot explain, is that we are all connected. That we are spiritual beings, called to live life as who we are created to be. And all of life is a beautiful journey of discovering + uncovering more of what lies in the depths of our soul, and how those depths are the places where the holy, divine energies of love and peace live.
Life Coaching is how I am blazing my own trail
Becoming a life coach formally took place over a year, through my certification classes. However, it has truly been coming into fruition for as long as I can remember. My intention has always been to guide and inspire others in finding their own bliss, in discovering who they are, in listening to their own souls, in living a mindful, intentional life filled with spirit and peace.
Becoming a life coach is my way of answering my call to minister, guide, teach, and journey with others, as they discover their own souls + create their own lives. This is my way of fulfilling what I once thought would be lived out in a church. My life coaching (and my entire life) looks nothing like I imagined 10 years ago when I was studying theology. But, all of that studying + experience laid a foundation for who I am + what I do today.
I am contemplative, secular, humanist, spiritual, global being. Creating my own spirituality + using who I am to help others figure out who they are + what they want.
Being a life coach does not mean that I have it all figured out, but it does mean that I am much more comfortable than I ever have been before on this crazy journey that we call life.
Becoming a life coach is my way to raise my voice and share my story – in an effort to make a difference in the world. The best way I know to do that is to write and talk about the life that I live – because I believe that, while we each have a story to tell, we are all a part of each others’ stories and the one, great, story of being human. What we seek individually, we all seek collectively: love and hope and peace and equality.
With all of my heart, I hope that this website + my work may be a place where of rest, comfort, fun, inspiration, acceptance and love.
Please know that I am here for you. I will listen to you, just as you have followed and read and listened to me. It’s a mutual give and take. What I seek to offer you, and the world, is a way to discover how you can create a meaningful life filled with simple moments, that allow you to be authentically you, and to follow your own bliss.
So, if you’re looking for a life coach, or a blogger/writer, or even an ordained minister ( I am ordained by the American Ministry Association) who can perform marriage/funeral/naming/blessing/housewarming ceremonies + rituals, then please contact me. If you don’t know what you need or want, or just want someone to listen, then I am here. Even if you just want tips on blogging, photography, videoing, or any spiritual matters, I would love to chat with you.
And now, dear friends, may the spirit of love + peace fill your souls. May each day be a new experience of birth for you, as you become more + more the person that you were created to be. And may you be inspired by all that is around you, seeking the sacred + holy in the most ordinary of moments.
xoxo. liz.
Read more about my story of faith + exclusion from the church { here } and please share it forward. Telling stories is power.
