Listen Like a Life Coach

How are things going for you?

Are your projects on track? Do you remember how to dream about life's possibilities?

Are you living like you always imagined you would?

Is there a disconnect between what you really want, and what you do each day?

Some people have a strong vision of how to live, others flounder in a sea of choices.

Some have big goals to strive for and others focus on the very important tasks of day to day life.

What's your style? What's your story?

Who are you and what do you want?

Do you wish it and wait for it? Or do you study it, learns its ways, and track it down?

And (most important of all,) what if we don't know what we want? What then?

Many years ago I saw a fridge magnet that said - "This life is only a test. If it were a real life, you'd have been given better instructions on where to go and what to do."

I was young and broke, wandering the country in my van when I saw that and it stuck with me. Why IS it that no one can, or does, tell us how to create our perfect lives?

There's society and academia to tell you how to live, and culture will give some hints too. Your family and friends have opinions on this question also. But if you listen only to those outer influences, it's a bit like picking your favorite cookie because tv commercials tell you it's the most popular brand.

They tell you in grade school that you're unique like a snowflake, but they don't tell you what to do with that.

At some point (methinks, since you're on this page) you begin to wonder if the things you've done so far are going to get you where you want to go. Maybe you think it when you're 25, or when you're 65 - it's all the same urge and it deserves your attention.

So you start to think.

Maybe something has to change.

If you have a genuine desire for something to be different, this is the point at which you can most benefit from Life Coaching.

Life Coaching starts from the premise that somewhere inside yourself, you know what's right for you. You know what you need to do in order to feel fulfilled and successful.

It's why no one can tell you how to live your best life - because only you know what matters most to you.

There is no right or wrong way to live. There is no one-size-fits-all definition of the best possible life.

Life Coaching is a field of services that's growing and changing and still being defined. There are Career coaches, Relationship coaches, Artistic coaches, and I suspect that if you search the interwebs deeply enough you can find a Life Coach for any niche demographic that you (wish to) belong to.

Life Coaching can provide you with a way to increase self awareness, and be better equipped to make decisions that will support your unique values and ideals. Life Coaching can show you new ways to think about the situations in your life; See challenges as opposed to obstacles, opportunities instead of dead ends. It can give clarity about the differences between what you want now and what you want most.

Life Coaching is most often a long term commitment whereby you meet with your coach (in person, on the phone, or via the computer) on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. But I have a slightly different vision of Life Coaching.

Many people I enjoy working with simply cannot afford a long term commitment and so I've decided on a new way to do things.

I offer Life Coaching one phone call at a time to those who cannot afford or otherwise balk at a long term commitment.

I loosely call it Life Listening.

Certainly, with just one phone call, one cannot gain the deep insight and the massive results that long term coaching can achieve, but I'll tell you - it's better than no phone call at all. And you can make as many phone calls as you need.

I feel that, without the sustained weekly support, I can't rightfully call it Life Coaching.

Hence Life Listening. Hence the website name - Listen Like a Life Coach.

The number one tool in a Life Coach's tool bag is listening.

We listen to your story and your challenges, your desires and your dreams for yourself.

We listen to hear what's being said, and with what words, as well as to hear what's not being said or where the hesitation is. We listen for when we hear the spark in you or the sigh of resignation.

Listening is powerful.

When was the last time you really felt listened to?

When you don’t have an outlet to be heard, there’s a closedness to your thinking. (Yes, I make up words when needed.)

You can run around and around the same circles in your own head, and not see any good way out of the cycle. Or there's too much to see and consider. With everything crowding your head space at once it can be hard to clarify priorities.

I know. I've been there.

There have been times when I would have loved to have someone to tell it all to.

Times when I’ve wondered what the hell am I doing exactly?

Times when my friends were too close to help as I tried to sort it out.  Or when they just couldn't, or didn’t want to understand the parameters and depth of the details that concerned me about my latest business idea, or my mapcap desire to do a certain thing.
Or maybe they didn’t know how to support my vision, or my passion, or my drive.

Or worse; When my vision, passion, or drive seemed threatening to those I love.

If you need to talk your ideas out, if you want someone to brainstorm with you, if you want someone to help you raise your self awareness, to help you find new definitions of self, the very best way to see it all anew is to tell someone who truly hears you.

If you are lost in daliness and want to find your way back to your dreams, if you have too many options or no options, or even if you just want to rant, I'll listen.

No advice, no judgments.

But with my Life Coaching experience, if you want some feedback, I'm happy to tell you what I hear. Happy to provide you with perspectives and ways of thinking that can allow you to begin to figure things out for yourself.

I’d really like to help you find the best paths forward from here to live your best life and be aligned with who you truly are.

Full disclosure – I’m a hippie and I believe in magic. (I may define magic differently on any given day.)

(Furthermore I reserve the right to contradict myself. Walt Whitman said it best in his poem Song of Myself –

“Do I contradict myself?

Very well then, I contradict myself.

I am large. I contain multitudes.”)

I believe that you, too, are large and contain multitudes.

I believe that you are also strong, resilient and capable – after all, look how far you’ve come. Look how far I have come.

And neither of us came this far only to stop here.

For most of my 20s I lived in a van and traveled the country exploiting my youth and soaking up the diversity of America. For the entirety of my 30s and much of my 40s I put a spotlight on my love for quality consumables. I opened a small gourmet coffee café at the age of 29, in Connecticut, and sold it 17 years later. (You may do the math if you like, I don't mind.)

I have had everything, and I have had nothing. I understand the freedom of each. And even when I’ve been broke I have learned to revel in abundance. When I found that I had far too much I became a Personal Organizer and let most of it go. The many pretty or cool tchotchkes I had accumulated added nothing to my life.

I’m a reader and a writer and a seeker and a friend. I have been wise and silly and smart and foolish.

I know that our stories and the words we use to tell our stories, make us who we are.

I have listened to your stories on the road and in your hometowns, and while I served coffee to Armani suits and adventurous souls alike.

I know we have the power to create our best lives and that has lead me to Life Coaching.

I do this for both your benefit and mine. I can’t wait to meet you.

If you decide you'd like to talk with me - send me an email, telling me a little about your issues, or the things you'd like to talk about.

Let me know some times that are good for you.

I'll write back and we'll arrange a time.

I'm offering my service in markets that appeal to me (for whatever reason - most likely because I've been there and loved it) and they may be far flung from my physical local. I'll work around your time zone, but it should be noted that I live in Connecticut and I'm on East Coast time.

You can tell me anything you want in our emails to get me up to speed before our first call if you'd like.

I probably won't write much back, but I'll make some notes about things we can talk about on the phone.

Payment via PayPal will need to be made at least 24 hours before our chat.

If I've reserved time for you and you don't claim it 24 hours ahead of time, then I'll know I can allocate my time to other projects.

First Call Special:

The first 20 minutes is my "get to know you gift".

You pay $30 for Forty (40) minutes.

If, after the first 20 minutes, you don't think I'm the right person for you to talk with, we'll end the call and I'll PayPal your $30 back.

Pricing Structure:

30$ for Twenty (20) minutes

50$ for Forty (40) minutes

60$ for Fifty (50) minutes

If you think there's a better option for you than PayPal, please let me know.

When you call me, we chat. And I listen. I'll give feedback where necessary and let you lead the conversation.

I cannot guarantee that you'll turn your life around in one phone call, but you'll have some new perspectives on it all.

(And if you've gotten this far on the page, you'll definitely enjoy it.)

Start the process today - get in touch...

Please note - If you really need me and cannot afford the above fees, I will work with you on a sliding scale basis.

Send an email (address is listed below) together we'll figure out how we can make it happen for you.