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New School Year

Posted September 29th, 2009 by Joanne Hunt

The new school year is well underway. Children are back in class with favorite teachers, dreaded homework, a new locker, unknown class-mates, and a backpack of new school supplies. They take on so much ‘new’ at the end of each summer, don’t they? As adults, many of us are also continuing our studies this Fall, taking up the Masters Degree we always wished we had pursued, learning a new instrument, and continuing our deep development in ways that are refined from year to year to year. Cycles of development never ending.

Change. We love it. We hate it. And we often need to let go of something in order to take on something new. Surrender to a new schedule, a renewed practice, a teacher, a coach, a spouse (often our greatest teachers). I am looking for a guitar teacher this Fall. Chances are that I will be surrendering to a youthful instructor who can play bar chords in ways that I can only dream about. I haven’t played my guitar for almost twenty-five years. What will I need to surrender to as I head into this new school year? Discipline, practice, sore fingers, less free time as I add a new practice, having to show up for lessons with an already very full schedule. All this disruption just to learn an instrument. It’s good to get disrupted! And resistance – even for something I dearly long for – will be my constant companion in the unfolding months ahead.

What are your plans for this school year? Perhaps you have already started. I have often found my September resolutions have way more staying power than my January ones.  What about you?  Maybe it is time to have your body become more aligned with how you would like it to feel, express, be capable of day-to-day. Endurance for some. Flexibility for others. Or perhaps you want to address some of the leadership challenges you face at work or better understand the complex system you work or live in? Or communicate with more depth, honesty, and intimacy with your spouse? Perhaps you long for a deeper connection and relationship to spirit?  Or you’re just tired of procrastinating? (Which I often hold as the mother of all topics to take on related to ANY topic.)

Having worked for decades with clients in deep development on behalf of changes that are profoundly important to them, here is one thing that I have discovered regardless of coaching topic: If I could have tackled my topic on my own, I would have. For example, if we could have built a healthier body on our own, we would have done it by now. It is easy to know what to do. That’s actually uncomplicated, even for those of us who don’t know our resting heart rates, caloric intake or other related important health measures. We know what we need to do:  Eat less.  Exercise more.  And, if we could have done it on our own, we would have done it by now through various combinations of motivation, willpower, and/or a good plan to carry out.

But sometimes we need another human being to support us along the way. Someone to bring new perspectives and fresh ways of pursuing our development. Someone who can enable us to see ourselves, work with our unique ways of approaching and resisting development.

We all have unique ways of taking care of ourselves (or not), ways of attending to our well-being and the relationships that we are in, ways of making sense of our worlds, or ways of surrendering and being with our own development. I don’t mean surrender in terms of a ‘giving up’ or ‘giving over’ to someone or something. I mean really surrendering to the fact that sometimes we need another skilled human being to support us. Someone who knows more than us in the territory called, “how sustainable change occurs.” 

With that, I want to welcome you to our new Integral Coaching services offering and Integral Coaching web site. We have assembled coaching material and videos on these new web pages. We will be adding new content related to change, development, and Integral growth in the months ahead and we want to know how to better support you. I’m glad that you have found the Orienting Quadrants and Native Perspectives pieces on the Integral Life web site so helpful. Thank you for all your kind words about how these resources are supporting you. The final component (Part IV) of our conversation with Ken about Integral Coaching also goes live today. Thanks for tuning in and providing such positive feedback!

On the Integral Coaching web pages, you will also find profiles of the coaches who are currently available to work with you. These coaches are here to support you with whatever topic is calling to you as this new school year emerges. You will not be disappointed. You will gain traction in any topic, no matter how gnarly! We will meet you where you are and grow from there. And if you cannot afford one-on-one coaching services, we will also be launching group coaching in the future and will continue to provide resources for you on the web site.

Here’s what I really want to say on this beautiful Ottawa, Ontario sun-filled day: We are all waking up and growing up together in this emerging Integral landscape. That’s the good news. And, as we grow up and wake up, there are fewer and fewer people capable of providing effective and powerful support to us. That’s the not so good news. However, there are good teachers out there and there are Integral Coaches. You don’t have to do it alone.

It’s a new school year. Pick a new locker. Pick your next area of development. Get a new notebook and fast-writing pen. Maybe new running shoes (or your old ones from the back of the closet). Shake out your zafu. Dust off your prayer book. Take your guitar out of its case. Take your seat. There’s no time to waste.  

With my love,
Joanne   
 
Joanne Hunt
VP, Integral Coaching & Development, Integral Life
Chief Executive Officer, Integral Coaching Canada