“Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.” —G. I. Gurdjieff
You are not one thing. You are a collection of aspects that are internal, external, experiential and contextual. Integral life coaching takes all of these aspects into account in supporting your self-development. It’s not just about the problem or the solution, it’s about the journey—how you got here and where you’re going.
The Eight Intimacies
Woven into the integral fabric of your life are eight intimacies, all of which we will consider as we walk together exploring your unique path. The eight aspects are interwoven, influencing your experience, your worldview and your decision-making. By examining their balance within your life and how each plays out, we can examine and unpack your strengths and vulnerabilities, developing strategies to get you where you want to be on all levels.
- Social—we are social creatures. Whether you are an introvert, and extrovert or an ambivert, healthy social interaction is imperative to your well-being.
- Emotional—feelings are facts. How you are feeling at any given moment is your truth at that moment. Learning to own and express those feelings, rather than stuffing them down, brings you to a place of heart-centered freedom.
- Spiritual—you don’t to have met your God to acknowledge a spiritual aspect to your life, even if you’re an atheist. The sharpness of colors after a thunderstorm, the wagging of a dog’s tail or the silence after a snowfall remind us there is a sacredness in the everyday mundane.
- Intellectual—Buddha said, ‘Mind is everything’. We create our lives and our world through mind and understanding how you do that in your unique way, based on both your personal history and your relationship to the other seven aspects, supports you in clarifying your vision.
- Physical—our physical aspect is a manifestation of self. It is, in general, how we think of ourselves first and the relationship with have with our physical self—whether we are an elite athlete or bound to a wheelchair—defines us in the world.
- Sexual—our sexuality is so often subsumed in shame. Instead of being connected to our sexual selves we are disconnected. In being disconnected from this core aspect of who we are, we often end up not as a whole self, but only a partial self.
- Cultural—we all come from somewhere. Whether we think of our culture as where we grew up or an ethnic tradition to which we are connected, we all have a narrative that needs to either be embraced or relinquished.
- Material—whether we like it or not, we are often defined by our ‘stuff’. Understanding our relationship to our material world help us gain perspective on how we operate in that world, what we expect to take from it and what we expect to leave behind.
If you feel you would like to explore the integral aspects of your life, their balance and how they inform your experience, worldview and decision-making, feel free to reach out to me so we can explore working together to enliven, enrich and embolden you and your life.