I turned the corner, and a woman opened her window and said “I love you”.
Life just keeps getting better, I thought.
She went on to say that she hurt her leg during power yoga, and instead of quitting, she remembered a blog post I had written about falling and continuing to run instead of using it as a valid excuse to quit.
This inspired her to continue the class, and although she found it painful initially, by the end of the class she felt energized and powerful and strong.
A few weeks earlier, an acquaintance thanked me. Her father died a few weeks before Father’s Day, and as she decided what to do that Sunday, she told herself that she had a choice – she could be sad, or she could celebrate his life. She asked herself “what would Bev do?” and she decided to celebrate. She had a big BBQ, was busy and celebrated an amazing Father’s Day with her husband, children and family.
Now, before you conclude that I am an amazing coach,
(and if you are about to fly me, based on these stories, to your deluxe yacht for private coaching, stop right here and email me directly)
I should let you know that I have not coached these women.
One is a former walking partner who witnessed me dropping pounds effortlessly and gaining joy as a result of examining and designing my mind and my thinking.
I don’t even remember us talking about ‘coachy stuff’ – I gave her a copy of If I’m so Smart Why Can’t I Lose Weight, and she is my biggest blog fan.
She’s since lost about 15 pounds, and become a toned, strong yogini who balances in tripod and touches her heels to the floor in downward dog (man am I jealous).
The second woman attended one of my workshops and follows my blog.
That’s it.
It doesn’t always take much, in my experience.
We were talking about this during Weight Coach Training the other day –
How long it takes for people to change their thinking and the type of resistance our brains create.
Here’s what I told the students:
For many of my clients all it takes is permission.
Permission to think differently.
Permission to look at whatever happens positively.
Permission to choose to celebrate even when sad things happen.
Permission to test your strength and see how far you can go even when common wisdom says you’ve done enough.
Permission to love your body even if you’re overweight.
Permission to not care if other people think you’re too much, or too little, or too braggy.
Permission to decide you are lovable even if noone else tells you so.
Permission to decide how you will perceive this event, despite how everyone else is perceiving it.
Permission to choose peace, even if everyone else is fighting.
Sometimes, just knowing that one person is doing it
Is all it takes for another person to choose it too.
This blog is dedicated to our brave, intuitive, funny, strong, powerful and brilliant Weight Coach students at the Life Coach School. I am so excited to think of each of you giving people all over the world permission to think in a way that feels better, no matter what, and inspiring them to do it by doing it yourselves. Namaste. The Light within me honors and respects the Light within you.