316. A Philosophy to Lighten Your Life

After studying philosophy and teaching it in college, Laura realized how cut-throat academia could be. Looking at the professors around her, she thought, “That will be me in 10 years, and I don’t want that!” Her father, a gifted professor and creator of a method to prevent the recurrence of kidney stones, enlisted Laura in creating a healthcare company. “I did love the entrepreneurship piece. I just didn’t like the subject matter. A dear friend from college told me, ‘You should be coaching.’ I didn’t even know what coaching was,” Laura recalls, “but I started learning for myself. When I started applying the entrepreneurial piece to work that I loved, everything just fell into lockstep.”

Well into her exploration of her next step in life, Laura discovered, “It was the little steps, little things, that were making me happy instead of the big plays. I’d had writer’s block for awhile. I sat down, put on a nice playlist of music, and started to think about writing. I made a commitment: every day I’m going to come back, and try to get through it for an hour a day. All of sudden, a tremendous amount of information flew out of me! Within an hour, I’d written several pages. I had that same feeling I’d had in high school, like goosebumps. I called my partner, read it back, and I started crying. I thought, ‘Oh, my God. I love this!’ It was a real ‘Aha!’ turning point for me.”

“First of all, there’s no reason to go through anything close to what I did. There’s so much great information out there. My life shifted when I got a coach, and I just had somebody walk me through basic steps to connect back to that authentic self. Outside of that, it’s about connecting back to the part of yourself that knows what you want and what matters to you. I always say the process is upside-down. Stop looking out into the world and thinking, maybe I should do this or that. You become completely overwhelmed by the external world.”

1. Find a coach, or someone to guide you to your authentic self.

2. Write down a list of all the stuff you love, try doing a few of them, and use that as a feedback loop.

3. Pay attention to what makes you most excited, what turns you on the most, where you feel most alive. Simply being good at something does not mean it’s what you love.

4. Think through—and FEEL through—your experiences of exploring your options.

Emotional Obesity: A Philosophical Guide to Lighten Your Life, by Laura Coe

The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children, by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

The 2016 New Year Guide, by Jullien Gordon (download PDF at http://julliengordon.com/nyg)

Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears, by Pema Chodron and other books by this author.

The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety, by Alan W. Watts