Karma and Coaching

Yesterday as I snowboarded down the bunny hill and walked back up; my choice since I only had a fifty percent success with the rope tow; I noticed how silly snowboarding and skiing really are. There really isn't much point in going up the hill and then down the hill again. I was boarding alone and not really having a lot of fun so I went inside. I sat and watched the others on the hill. Eventually realizing I would be here a while I committed to the exercise of going up and down the hill at least ten more times. I began to recognize other newbies on the hill and we exchanged smiles and encouragement. As my connection to these other boarders grew, I realized I had started to really enjoy myself. As I scanned the hill again, I realized it was as much about the relationships as the action of skiing.

That got me thinking, as a personal trainer and coach, it has been my job to give people the karmic seeds to help them get better. Every action is the seed that blossoms into future actions. There are seeds being planted at multiple levels. I have the karmic seeds of choosing to exercise and the karmic seeds of how I feel about myself when I exercise. Likewise, there is the choice to not exercise and how I think about not exercising. As a coach, it has been my job to change the thinking about the fruits of exercise. So many clients always just looked at the success at the grade. My job was to make them excited about the effort, not the outcome.

Having this support, someone who encourages and believes in the effort is a key element to success. And perhaps this is why I have struggled with reaching my own goal in recent months, I have tried to do it in isolation and kept my eyes on the outcome.

This New Year's my resolution will be to share my goals and more than that, look for a coach to keep my eyes on the efforts. ;)