My coaching philosophy
I truly believe you were born whole and, over time, lost touch with that. As your coach, I always see you in your wholeness even if you can’t. You’re not broken and you don’t need fixing. You likely just need to reconnect with who you are now and what is important to you moving forward.
When you were young, you figured out how to get your needs met as you were shaped by your early childhood experiences. In your wisdom, you layered behaviors, strategies, and beliefs that worked great for quite some time, but are probably no longer serving you as the adult you are today. By shedding some of what is not working, you create space for discovering more supportive behaviors, strategies, and beliefs. And, you create more space for you to live with intention, centered on what is meaningful to you at this point in your life.
Awareness is key to making long lasting change. It is a muscle, a skill, and a commitment. The more you notice, the more freedom you have to choose. As you develop more awareness of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, needs, and sensations, it is easier to recognize patterns and motivations. Maybe you start by reflecting on something after it has happened. “What would I do differently next time?” Then you build the capacity to notice while you are in the middle of a situation. “This isn’t going the way I want it to, how can I shift it right now?” And then you anticipate what you need beforehand. “What do I need to be grounded and present because I know this is going to be stressful?”
Your capacity to be grounded and present is largely rooted in your body. Your body is wise and has lots to teach you. Often, wisdom is associated primarily with the mind and the capacity to think our way out or through. But you will find as you build a deeper connection with your body that you will learn to leverage what it has to share. Your emotions, intuition, and capacity for being with what arises become more accessible. This happens over time as you practice and develop new habits.
We know through science that it’s possible to rewire your brain and nervous system through practice, movement, awareness, emotional engagement, connection with others, and disruption of automatic behaviors. So thoughts like “I am the kind of person who…” or “I am who I am and can’t change” are very self-limiting. Although change can be scary, you innately have what you need to let go of what isn’t supporting you and embrace what makes you come alive!
In my personal and professional experience, this journey is deeply enriched by being in partnership with a trusted coach. It is an honor for me to have the opportunity to support my clients in letting go of patterns that don’t serve them, building new muscles and neuropathways that do serve them, and creating the quiet they need in order to hear what their hearts are whispering.
Michelle Weston, Certified Integral Coach
Artwork by Kelly Kenworthy and Michelle Weston