What do these all have in common?
I read a story about an eagle, which had been chained so long to a stake in the ground that he had worn a rut in the ground, by going around and around it.
The bird was getting old. Its master felt sorry for it and thought, “I’m going to set it free!” He took the metal ring off of its foot. Then he took the eagle and tossed it into the air. What do you suppose happened?
The bird sort of fluttered around, but it had forgotten how to fly! It flip-flopped right back down to the ground, and went back over to the stake and the security of its rut and started walking around the rut again! No chain! No bird band! Just the habit!
Here was this eagle designed to fly, to be free, to soar high in the sky. It’s not meant to stay on the ground, where there is danger and it is at risk.
The greatest danger to the eagle proved to be getting in a rut, and once the eagle was stuck in its rut, it didn’t even have the desire to fly anymore and was no different from a chicken.
A life coach is not only a change champion but also a freedom fighter – fighting either for:
- Freedom from something
or
- The freedom to do something.
A coach will help their client find freedom from the circumstances which make them feel unhappy or unsatisfied. And then a coach will facilitate his client to discover new choices and options.
If a coach and a client engage in the fight for the client’s freedom, then who is the enemy that needs to be defeated? In the story of the eagle, what was it that kept the eagle down even when there was no physical chain holding it? Habit; the thoughts we think, the deeds we do, not for any other reason but simply out of habit.
Habits have power because they fulfill certain purpose in our lives, otherwise they won’t be created and in place. However, when there is a change or a new direction, old habits might not be helpful any more in serving us to get to our new goal.
- A coach will challenge the habits which hinder the client. Sometimes he might challenge them in a subtle way, in other cases he might challenge them head on. At the end of the day, the life coaching process and the coaching relationship will change the course of the client’s life, in some shape or form.
- The coach will not only fight to liberate his client from the bondage of hindering habits, but will also challenge him to learn new skills and create new habits that can strengthen his wings and keep him flying, setting safeguards to prevent the client from falling back into the old rut.
In other words, through the process of life coaching the person can transform into the best and most magnificent eagle he can be.
