A xylophone is my new best friend.    A  limiting belief that once tortured me became a playful colorful musical instrument on that day.   Ok this is an obscure one-  I will get to the xylophone in a bit.   I am a Life Coach (and part time interior designer, part time MD-  I know it might seem odd but its perfect for me) – and to me there is absolutely nothing better than working with my coaching clients!  They are some of the most amazing, courageous, smart and fabulous people I have ever met.  They are all changing the world with their own brand of greatness.   I enjoy coaching so much that I decided to treat myself to an intensive 8 month addtional  training with Martha Beck, of Oprah’s O magazine.  She has written  many fabulous books- including Expecting Adam,  Steering by Starlight, The Joy Diet and Finding your own Northstar.  I think I fell in love with her because I could relate to her academic roots (PhD in Psychology at Harvard) and she is really a stand up comedian in disguise.   The training has been nothing short of Ah- MAZING.   One of the fabulous tools we work with in this course is “thought work”  based on the work of Byron Katie (author of Loving what is) .  I will not go into detail  but if you are interested you can go HERE to learn more.

 So,  we were on the class teleconference call with Martha last week discussing the hows and whys of the “work”  and I asked a question ……Martha said-  “You know the best way I can really explain this is to demonstrate it-  so Sarah tell me something that’s bothering you- something you want to get coached on….”  For a moment I was stunned-  like “oh my gosh-  I think I am about to be coached by “America’s most famous Life Coach”  Martha Beck!!!!!”     A bit of an adrenaline rush-  even though I spent a Saturday in person learning from her-  and she is absolutely the most loving person out there-  I think I was STARSTRUCK.   And then I thought-  ok,  here goes.   So,  I said I had been struggling with the thought that at some point this coaching career I love and my Medical Career will clash-  and that  will be a bad thing.   Martha listened and asked a few questions and was funny and fabulous and then took me through the “thought work” on that the belief (highlighted above) that was bothering me.    We arrived at an opposite…”at some point the coaching career I love and my medical career  may HARMONIZE and that will be a good thing.”    When she said it-  I was like (super AH-HA moment)-   wow-  that feels SO MUCH BETTER!   The new statement actually felt truer than the original and it felt like relief.   Then Martha said -  “what comes to mind?”   I opened  my mouth and blurted out “a xylophone!” (we had been doing a lot of work with metaphors the previous weekend so a metaphor (or an object)  was what popped into my mind)    she squealed with excitement and delight-  “A XYLOPHONE”???  “Tell me more about the xylophone”  and I was like “its easy-  fun, colorful and all you have to do it plink away at it with a little mallet-  its easy and fun- no big deal”   Martha said, “That is what its like to be in the vein of gold (what some people refer to as a flow state)”   Since being coached by the lovely Martha Beck I have a new found sense of peace about my work life and it feels fabulous.  That is what a little bit of thought work can do for you.    Having  a recurring painful thought?  Interested in dissolving it?   Hire a coach,  walk yourself through the WORK or call Byron Katie’s   hot line to do it with a volunteer for free.   Me?  I am off to Amazon to see if I can find a xylophone for my desk . 

Here Jenny McCarthy talks about the work and what it has meant for her..