1) What is a good coach to me? 2) How to be more sustainably robust each day?
1) A good coach is one that is sincere to themself first. How can one coach without knowing the essence of the craft itself. We understand paradoxically, that a coach is also a student. Forever. But there are some baseline understandings a coach must have. To better phrase it, some baseline understandings and pursuit: the steady erosion of one's ego and the steady pursuit towards finding and shining one's soul sincerely. Only then, I believe, we can begin talking about what a good coach in relation to a student. A good coach should seek depth. I have walked in many various directions, believing quite oxymoronically, that width will eventually amount to depth. How naive, egocentric and illogical. But the beauty is in its subtle yet powerful realisation. I believe a good coach will inspire a student to search for the essence of a craft too. Of course, the essence is somewhat relative to each and individual person on this planet and there also, lies the beauty. Both the coach and the student are both embarking on a journey to find true meaning. Their destination is somewhat in the same direction but oh so different. I repeat this blissful quote by Ram Dass, "in the end we are all just walking each other home."
2) Opportunities where I am undergoing dissonance to accept some very difficult things will build my capacity to be more robust. As I write, I'm reminded about one of the first conceptual ideas that stuck with me, "micro-dosing on suffering." By taking on more challenges day to day, such as taking the stairs, eating the part of the dish you dislike... our elasticity physically, mentally and spiritually increases. This is highly scalable as from a bigger picture, what is a challenge once becomes easier and easier and the relativity of what a challenge grows with you. Alongside this, I'm reminded again as I tell myself over and over, catch myself out, feel when I'm rushing, that life is a marathon. This difficult and powerful process of unlearning and relearning. This journey towards inner peace and embracing of things for what they are, I begin to slowly see some of the most difficult things currently in my young life, as part of the natural process of life. Loss, failure, the sinful inherent nature of humankind. Inversely, I begin to understand that we must not hold the 'good' things too tightly (no cynicism here). Things come and go. And that's okay.
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