Session 3 was with fulfillment coach, Jenna Starkey. Jenna is based in Seattle, but works with clients all across the country. Jenna has an incredible spirit about her that is warm, welcoming, encouraging, and filled with hope. When you speak with Jenna, somehow, she manages to give a little bit of all of this to you too. Jenna is simply a good human, and I am lucky to have her join me in this session.
Look For The Breadcrumbs
I'm sure you remember Hanzel and Gretel. They are wandering in the forest, I can't really remember why, and they may or may not get eaten by a witch at the end. Hopefully you remember the story better than me. Maybe they actually push the witch into the oven and escape? I may be mixing up fairy tales.
The important thing, is the breadcrumbs. Hanzel and Gretel, as they walked through the forest, dropped little breadcrumbs all along the way to help them find their way back home. Presumably, all they would need to do is follow the path of breadcrumbs to get back out of the forest.
"And Hansel said to Gretel, “Let us drop these breadcrumbs so that together we find our way home because losing our way would be the most cruel of things.”
We all have some breadcrumbs, and we also all behave like Hansel and Gretel and have a hard time finding them on occasion. Some of us lose them all together, and wander around the forest trying to find our way. The most unfortunate of us, lose them all together, and wander around, without really knowing that we are lost and wandering around.
It's important for us to look back at the breadcrumbs in our lives, to help us figure out where we've been, where we are, and where we are headed. Jenna pointed out, that as she looked back on the clues from her life, it was clear that coaching, serving people, and providing encouragement were a common thread in her life, all the way back to childhood. Life always seems a little more clear in the rear view mirror. We can check back in on who we were when we were at our best, happiest, most successful, or most fulfilled, and then follow the breadcrumbs to determine why that was, what it looked like, and how we can get back to that place.
Because losing our way can be the most cruel of things.
There Is Power In Getting Outside of Yourself
This is not a plug for coaching, not with Jenna, me, or anyone else. This is a plug for not trying to always fly solo and try and figure everything out on your own. We can't see what we can't see, we don't know what we don't know, and we can't always think our way out of our challenges.
There is power in having people around you that can help you see and know the things that you can't see and know on your own. I was reading a book the other day that said something to the effect of,
"Don't try to think outside of your box, GROW YOUR BOX."
I thought this was a really interesting way to look at an old perspective. It's not about stepping outside of what you can usually see, it's about growing what you see and know and can do. And, we can't generally do this on our own.
So we need people that we can speak with and lean on that can help us grow our box. This could be a coach, but it could also be a trusted friend or a mentor, or a group of people that you can rely on to be honest but also encouraging, when you are having a hard time seeing your way forward on things. These types of relationships are incredibly valuable, and I would encourage you to find, create, or begin to nourish these relationships in your life.
A Natural Propensity Towards Joy
When I asked Jenna about how she approaches coaching, and where her enthusiasm and engaging spirit come from, she mentioned that she always had a natural propensity towards joy.
I think that's such a great statement, and a great thing for us to aspire to. My son is 5 years old, and I feel like he has a natural propensity towards joy. I have pictures of him, both mental and actual, where you can just feel the joy jumping out of him. And I know, most likely, the world is going to try and choke some of that out of him, like it has for many of us, and that makes me sad in advance.
But for now, it makes me full, and happy, and hopeful.
And I hope we can all lean a little further towards joy in our lives.
I'm pulling for you,
Bryan
Thanks for listening to Extraordinary Joes! If you have any Extraordinary Joes you think would be great for the show, feel free to email me at bryan@bryanhendley.com.
Comments