These days, the world seems to us to be accelerating out of control (which, to be fair, it sounds like Earth is actually spinning faster). In the face of overwhelming planetary suffering, you would think that life would slow down.
But slowing down unfortunately hasn’t been our experience. All over the world, business demands to happen as usual, even as the humans who make business possible tamp down their emotions like baristas preparing to pull perfect shots of espresso. Many of us need espresso to keep up with the relentless pace of Business as Usual During Climate Crisis, Genocide, and the Descent into Fascism.
If we must drink coffee, we’d rather sit still together for a few minutes than take it in a paper cup to go. Over the past two months, it has been a blessing and a joy to see many of your faces in our Coaching Café spaces. Opening up free spaces to coaches, non-coaches, and the coaching-curious was an experiment for us this summer, and we’re incredibly grateful we went for it.
So far, the Coaching Café spaces have welcomed people from every continent except Antarctica (side note— if you know anyone from Antarctica who is curious about coaching, please put them in touch with us). Experienced coaches, aspiring coaches, and people who are just interested in what a little coaching can do for them gathered with us to share and learn in intimate online communal gatherings. We’re especially grateful for members of our community who joined us in the middle of the night!
Ten minutes. That’s how long a micro-coaching session is during the Coaching Café. We do an exercise called Coaching without a License, where people split into breakout rooms to “try out” coaching (some of them for the first time). Both of us got to experience the benefits of what it means to be coached. Ten minutes is all it takes to reconnect to a remembrance that the sacred essence of life is right at our fingertips, and we can access that wisdom and power with just a little compassion and support from another human being.
As summer winds down, we will be dancing, coaching, laughing, putting our toes in the sand and the dirt, and trying our hardest to spend little moments doing absolutely nothing, even if it is just for 10 minutes.
With love and care,
Briana & Jenny