Life Coach Training
Lesson 11
Client as Wizard
The Totally Hidden Video television show set up a gag in which a FedEx driver was asked to deliver a package to a religious temple. Unknown to the driver, the pranksters had taken his photo I.D. and used it for a trick I will reveal below.
When the delivery man arrived, the disciples (actors hired by the program) took one look at him and began to buzz excitedly. They ushered him to the front of the sanctuary and invited him to sit on a huge plush cushion of honor. There they told him, “You are the chosen one, the long-awaited prophet foretold in our scriptures.” To allay any doubts, a servant parted the altar curtain where, lo and behold, hung the majestic portrait of “the deliverer” in the robes of the sect, “painted by a visionary centuries ago.”
“Please,” implored the chief disciple, “give us some words of wisdom.”
The driver studied the portrait and surveyed the throng of expectant devotees. A hush fell over the assembly. Then he took a deep breath and spoke: “Life is like a river,” the deliverer explained. The disciples “oohed” and “aahed” on the heels of his utterance, hanging on every sacred word. “Sometimes life flows easily, and sometimes you encounter rocks and rapids,” the guru explained, “but if you just hang in there and have faith, you will arrive at the ocean of your dreams.” Again the students swooned with ecstasy. More “oohs” and “aahs.” This was indeed the auspicious day they had been waiting for!
“Well, that’s it,” Swami FedEx curtly concluded, “I have to go now and make some more deliveries.” Reluctantly the devotees rose, bowed reverently, and the anointed one made his way to the door.
The program played the same trick on several FedEx drivers, each of whom found profound words the moment he or she sat on the cushion. There was indeed a wise guru within each of these people, which came forth when acknowledged and invited.
Treat your clients as gurus for their own life. Call forth their inner sage. They have come to you not for you to tell them what to do, but to connect with the part of themselves that knows what to do. It is there. Your role is to assist them to find their own wisdom rather than needing it from you or someone else. Thus you will help them in the most important way.
A friend of mine advertised himself as a psychic counselor. He was not particularly psychic, just clever. He would ask each client to pick several cards from a Tarot deck, and then he would lay them out in a formation. Then he asked his client what he thought the symbols meant. “Ah!” a client would exclaim. “This confirms that I should move ahead with my business plan.” “That’s right,” the counselor would agree. His next client surveyed her cards and declared, “I knew it―this relationship is killing me and I need to get out!” “It is so,” the “psychic” agreed.
If a client did not get an obvious answer to a burning question, the counselor would ask, “What would you like to do?” When the client stated his preferred action, my friend would say, “Yes, that would be wise.” This fellow had a high success rate with many repeat customers, and his clients were happy to pay him for his services. In my opinion, he was not a charlatan. He was simply helping people tune in to their own guidance, and eliciting their confidence to follow it.
Give up any notion that you are supposed to know what a client should do. Instead, see yourself as an elicitor of wisdom. You are helping your client tap into his or her own divine mind and connection to universal intelligence. Everyone has this connection, but not everyone uses it. If you can direct your client to this vast pool of wisdom, you are not just giving him a fish. You are teaching him to fish for a lifetime.
Exercise:
1. When someone comes to you with a problem or a request for advice, do not give it. Instead, ask him or her:
What would you like to do?
Which option feels the best to you?
In your clearest moments, even if they are few or subtle, what do you know that you do not know in your less clear moments?
If someone came to you with the same question you are asking, what would you tell him or her?
If you had to decide right now, what would you do?
2. Take a question or issue you have been working with and ask yourself these questions. You will be amazed at how wise you are!
Affirm:
I honor and draw forth the wisdom in my clients and myself.
I recognize the presence of universal intelligence.
My clients rise to my positive vision of them,
and I rise to the most positive vision of myself.
The material in this lesson © by Alan Cohen is proprietary for the education of students enrolled in
Life Coach Training Program by the Foundation for Holistic Life Coaching.
Using for any other purpose without permission is strictly prohibited.