This is the start of a journey, my first step in a self-coaching journey. I will use for map to navigate the unknown sea a book called “The Invitation” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (http://oriahmountaindreamer.com/). Each paragraph of the poem in the book inspired questions that I will use to reflect and to move forward in this journey while completing a Mandala about it.
My goal is unclear, my purpose is blurred and the frustration and discontent of the last months, possibly years, find their roots in the unmet needs, wants and desires that have not found yet a clear description, which had no voice for too long, in a Life purpose that have not definition at the conscious level but it is very much alive and restless at the subconscious level.
Any journey that hopes to have some degree of success and to reach a safe harbour somewhere needs to start from making an inventory of what you need to bring in the journey, what support you need to have and most importantly from where you will depart. For this reason, my first step was to draw my personal Wheel of Life and identify the aspects of my life that I believe are important to me right now, not what I think they should be or what I would like them to be, or what I think others would think appropriate, but what they are for me in the present moment. Once I choose my headings, the next step was to reflect on them and score my level of satisfaction for each of them and to link the dots. The final steps were to take a step back and look at the “Wheel” that emerge and reflect on the picture of my life that resulted, the bumps and the deep dives.
Once I have clear my starting point, before to clarify my goal, I need to clarify what is that I profoundly long for, “I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.” (From the Invitation). This is the first question I will reflect on. I will sit with the question without rushing into answering, letting the message sink in deeply. And as suggested in the book, I will then play writing sentence that start with: I need…, I want and I desire.
In few words, for this first coaching session, I will use the Wheel of Life to assess the here and now, my starting point, then I will reflect on my values and then I will work on identifying my needs, wants and desires so that I hope I can start delimiting my goal.
At the end of this Journey I hope to have completed a Mandala that I’m naming the Invitation Mandala, where the most external circle represents the first questions I wish to work on: What do I ache for? What is my heart’s desire?
My Perfectly Imperfect Life 