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A True Story
For years now, whenever I’m on vacation at Cape Cod, one of the things I love to do is walk the beach and collect these beautiful, flat, black, round, small stones.  I must have over a hundred of them in a copper bowl on my desk, and I haven’t stopped collecting them.  The more the better.  I just love them.

Recently, I was in Mexico on vacation and couldn’t wait to walk the beach, take in the beauty and of course add to my collection.  But they weren’t there.  I couldn’t find any stones like the ones on my desk.  I tried again the second day and still couldn’t find any.  Now it’s hard to be disappointed about anything when you’re in Mexico but nonetheless I was a bit disheartened and just couldn’t believe that these gorgeous stones, which are on every beach, really weren’t there.  It just couldn’t be.

On the 3rd day, I began my walk along the same beach, walking in the same direction and without even thinking about it, did the same thing; I scanned the beach for my stones.  This time, I noticed the sand populated with these beautiful white, and sometimes, pinkish shells.  They were thick, smooth, flat, and often round.  They were beautiful!

The metaphor is by now obvious.  In looking for my black round rocks, I missed the white, sometimes pinkish shells that were right in front of me all along.  

I guess it’s a lesson I need to keep learning – that all too often the uniqueness, the gifts, the beauty of a situation or a human being is staring you in the face, but you can miss it if you’re looking for something you think, or really “believe” ought to be there instead.

Coaching helps people notice and appreciate the shells in our lives. 

I love coaching, both as a coach and as a client, because it is so effective in expanding the possibilities when we think we’ve exhausted them all.

I love how coaching encourages us to see what’s already working and what’s positive in our lives so we can build on those gifts as we reach for new goals.

And finally, I love how coaching helps us realize that the way we live our lives is largely based on the stories we choose to tell ourselves about the world, the people in our lives, our past, and what we expect our future to be.  Getting clearer about those choices, and living out a story that brings out our best is not only good for us, but for all the people we impact as well.