The coach also used several powerful questions to shift Nada’s perspective – or reframe her perspective in coaching terms, to support her to become an alive and positive person. She quickly responded to positive thinking and acting. This is because Nada decided to take everything that happens in her life from a positive perspective, as she began to feel and experienced the difference between seeing things from positive and negative perspectives.
Thinking positively helped Nada to detach herself from the external negative stereotyping and stigmatizing thoughts of others in the society about her age and her desirability as a wife. She began to feel Aliveness versus Just Living because Nada chose to be her authentic self. She defined what aliveness means to her versus just living in one sentence, “being liberated from the negative surrounding environment.” She was able to state this because she was supported to explore clearly her own values and how they are aligned to her goals. Hence, Nada went through a supported discovery journey with her coach to assure that her values and goals are connected to her own definition of being alive in every aspect in her life. In other words, she decided to be alive in every moment. Nada became a conscious person about her thoughts and actions by getting coaching support in seeing life from positive perspective and acting upon that. In addition, she became aware of what aliveness means to her and hence started taking positive steps toward herself, for example, loving herself, and detaching herself from the negative external aspects which
She used to face on a daily basis. Although Nada works toward all steps of her action plans, she sometime sink in a down, frustrated, and stressed mood which disabled her to continue being a positive alive girl. When Nada in this sort of mood, she does not want to be life coached, and her coach respects this in accordance with the vital Code of Ethics by the International Coach Federation (ICF: 2008). After these times when she is by herself standing up and facing these periods of down mood, she contacts her coach and is eager to continue the sessions.
Sinking in Negative Mood and PMS among my Women-Clients
The coach highlighted in this case study usually ask women about their Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) (Dickerson et al, 2003) as some women go through difficult and challenging emotional and physical symptoms during this time which can have an impact on the coaching experience. Knowing their PMS timing and keeping this information in each clients’ file helps this coach to bring more awareness to women clients so, if they sink in a down mood, it is discusses as something common and understandable. Women clients are encouraged to be committed to the sessions before their PMS period to begin an action plan to overcome this period positively. They are also encouraged to consult a professional licensed physician/ medical doctor if needed.
This coaching style was very beneficial to Nada. To overcome the latter situation, an action plan was created based on her request to work while she feels sinking in negative emotions and down mood during her PMS. At this point in the study, the coach introduced Nada to the concept of meditation. In the next session, Nada reported that she found practicing daily meditation an effective technique to bring physical and emotional relaxation besides spiritual awareness and inner peace. The coach suggested at this time that she go to a medical doctor to help her as well. Suggesting seeking professional support from another profession is one of the IFC Code of Ethics (ICF: 2008). While following the medical doctor instructions and being coached, Nada is using the meditation technique often as tool during the times of sinking and dropping in a negative mood.
The Power of Acknowledgement and the Underlying Beliefs
Nada’s tone after accomplishing any step in her action plan communicates the strong positive energy and positive vibes which she is sending to the universe. The coach observed in Nada’s tone more positive energy when she was acknowledged by the coach for her accomplishment. This coach acknowledges Nada even when she is blocked to take any step in her action plan because knowing what stops you bring more awareness into your life and conscious. Nada worked on many underlying beliefs to bring them to the surface and discuss them. Once she overcame those blocking underlying beliefs, she said, “I do feel that I am liberated from those negative beliefs.” Nada and her coach are still working together to bring more aliveness, awareness, and achievements which she desires to reach via creating action plans around them. She said she wanted to expand her network to meet new people and mainly wants to find a groom that fits her desired criteria. Therefore, she and her coach began creating a social map since she has good visualizing skills to create different network arenas where she can meet new people to socialize with. Nada was keen in taking positive steps to her action plan, and she added and worked on extra positive steps to her action plan. Nada is a good example of how a person is “creative, resourceful, and whole” (ICF, 2008) which is the essence of life coaching traditions and shows the positive benefits of coaching this Egyptian woman who, at the beginning, did not know even what life coaching was all about.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to show how effective and beneficial life coaching is, and how the Egyptian women in this sample perceive life coaching. The author found that the same patterns found in Nada’s case study are appearing in a broader group of Egyptian clients. The author concludes that Egyptian women are open to life coaching once they understand it. While being coached, the Egyptian clients showed clear benefits from life coaching in respect to feeling Alive versus Just Living, and taking action in their lives. The positive results of being life coached were fruitful, based on their feedback provided orally in different sessions. While the results of this research are clear and positive, the results cannot be generalized to a broader audience at this time due to small sample size.
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[1]About Coaching. 2011. . International Coach Federation. Acceded November 1, 2012.