There was nothing fundamentally wrong with my life, in fact I thought it was good. I only started this exploration for the benefit of my clients. Little did I know what I would discover and uncover for myself.
In 2017 I read a book called Buddhism Plain and Simple and it had a profound impact on me. I saw that the essence of Buddhism that the book described was like coaching plus plus plus! Like coaching beliefs on steroids. I knew that, if leaders saw this for themselves, they and their teams would be off and running.
But I also thought rocking up to talk Buddhism in business wouldn’t open many doors, and so I was on a curiosity trail to see how I could bring this essence to business without needing to use something that might be seen as religion. (By the way, did you know that Buddhism is not in fact a religion? Although we’ve latterly dressed it up as if it is one.)
Anyway, I then came across Piers Thurston who seemed to have done it and brought this Buddhist essence into business — just as I’d been looking for! I later learned it’s not just the essence of Buddhism but in fact the essence of life — which is exactly why it resonates with people because it’s working with universal, first principles, like gravity, relativity or thermodynamics. It’s true for everyone, whether you know about it or not.
At first I felt a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. When you’ve been in the world of personal development and coaching for a while it’s easy to think this is just another model, another approach, old wine new bottles.
Thankfully my curiosity knew what it was doing and I started being coached by Piers in August 2018. Our first session blew my mind, leaving me unsure of what ground I was standing on, but then just a few weeks and two conversations later, on the 23rd, I had a huge realisation and awakening moment. You can read more about that here. The fundamental realisation I had was that “I am OK. Deeply, deeply OK” — always have been, always will be.
The relief that came from that moment! The weight that lifted. The tears that fell.
And this realisation has not left me. This is what realisations do. They get into your bones, into your cells. They’re felt experiences. The bigger the realisation, the more deeply they penetrate the layers and the more they stay with you and influence your day to day actions.
From there, Piers and I continued to work together for the next three months with Piers pointing and pointing, helping to break down the habitual stories, the conceptual models that limit us and keep us trapped and in suffering. And more realisations came. Now as a drip, drip, drip. Each one removing a layer, a veil, and allowing me to see more clearly.
Don’t get me wrong, ‘suffering’ sounds like a strong word. If you’d asked me how my life was when I started with Piers I’d have said ‘good’. Not perfect of course but definitely good, I felt like I was fairly sorted. My curiosity about working with him was to help clients more than I thought it was for my benefit. But little did I know. As the conceptual thinking dropped away in our work it revealed how trapped, stuck and in suffering I’d been in various aspects of life, just unwittingly. Unaware of the other side of the drip, drip, drip coin which is the constant, low level stress that most people experience every day. Like the boiling frog, we don’t realise how bad it is until someone takes us out of the water.
My life changed then and continues to change today as I stay curious and learning — relationships are easier, decisions are clearer, I’m more productive, I don’t get stressed with the kids like I used to, I laugh louder and more freely, I try things I’d have avoided before…the benefits are endless.
Fundamentally I’m more myself. Excavated from behind the layers of conditioning.
This work is profound. Its upstream in nature so it has a holistic, all-encompassing downstream effect.
From that point, the only thing that made sense was to start sharing this understanding with my clients and so that’s what I’m doing. I spent 2019 immersing myself in learning with a plethora of teachers and coaches, and I shared that with my existing clients who trusted me and jumped into the exploration with me.
“My work with Helen lead me realise how my experience of the world and other people is filtered by my own thoughts and, by recognising this, it has given me a new peace of mind and confidence in (and out of) the workplace.” Head of IT
Now, 2020 is the year I’m taking my work online — there’ll be courses, 1:1 coaching, group coaching, as well as free content like e-books and podcasts.
My work is to reconnect leaders to their innate brilliance.
This work is for leaders who — in spite of their success — are feeling jaded, disillusioned, missing something — and who know there’s something else available, they just don’t know what.
Leaders who feel they’re plodding, stuck in a rut, going round and round the hamster wheel — and who know they have more potential.
Leaders who have a niggle that things shouldn’t feel as hard as they do — and who want that to change.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in then head over to my website where you can sign up to my newsletter, read more about me and get in touch to set up a call.
I’m so glad you’re here.
With love, Helen