COACH YOU BLOG

When is a shortcut not a shortcut? Intuition in the fen …
13/1/2012

Where do you connect with your intuition? When do shortcuts serve you? What are you going to hang on to this year?

 

So, I’m a little sluggish after Christmas and found myself ambling rather than marching … Did my usual sun salutations having erupted from the thicket and continued through the skylark field as usual, pondering upon intuition and how it works for me. I most frequently receive intuitive hits for my clients whilst in the shower in the mornings. They show up as images or more interestingly snatches of poetry or songs (I wish I had a bigger poetry repertoire, I’m sure I’d be more use!)

 

Recently I was given “When kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame” which is in a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem.  Hopkins meant it to mean the reflected glory of God.  For this client however,  it was all about their incredibly inspiring passion.  When ignited, their passion shines out and lights up everyone they come into contact with. There are moments, in all our lives, when we wish we could find the right words to express ourselves enough to inspire those around us.  When were you so enflamed by something that you were driven to ignite the passions of your fellow man? (I’m not talking road rage here …) When were you so consumed by a topic that you felt compelled to inform and persuade others? Their lies the heart of your passion and what, perhaps you might be focusing your time on.

 

The other morning I received “and the camels galled, sore footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow” (the strangely seasonal, if a little late, Journey of the Magi, by T S Eliot) and had no idea what this would mean to my 9.30am client who had been away from coaching for six months.  Sure enough this Global V P had lost their vision and was portraying more camel than King!  Reconnected with their magisterial qualities and vision, they left the coaching motivated to take up their position in the world.

 

So, back to wobbling in the fen … in contrast to the shower, this is where I draw on intuition and indeed inspiration more generally. This morning, rushing back for an early client, I was unable to do the full circuit down to the river and past the pigs, so took a short cut.  The track was riven with tractor tracks and potholes from 4 x 4s filled with oozing mud and brown puddles.  The dyke had been scraped out by a digger and so was lined with a perilously steep mound of slippery mud with a significant drop into the dark dyke below. There I was, more sasquatch than mountain goat, wearing seven layers, a furry hat and mud engulfed walking boots, leaping from puddle island to pinnacle.  Each leap jolting my poor stiff body from “ouch” after “ouch” after an hour of Just Dance III at the weekend.

 

I began to wonder how often it is we take so called “shortcuts” only to find them painful, stressful and risky?  A great believer in expediency where possible, still I sometimes find only playing full-out is enough. There are obvious examples in diet and exercise but abandoned “quality time” with our nearest and dearest can have us pay a heavy price. And how often do we say “it’ll do” – only to feel hurt, ashamed or cheated for ourselves or others. One of the hardest things I come across is people losing their integrity.  It’s not so much the broken promises to other people, although of course that’s bad enough; it’s not being true to ourselves, breaking the promises to ourselves that wears us down and diminishes us in our own eyes.  I think sometimes we get all excited and make too many goals, plans and commitments … we break one, so give up and break them all.  If you can hang on to one thing this year have it be integrity … with yourself.