I once had a client who said she didn’t want peace because it sounded boring. She apparently knew my tagline – pursuing your potential, passion and peace, so she quickly let me know that she only wanted the first two ‘P’s. She said she came to coaching because some stressful situations were depleting her and causing her life to be less than what she wanted. The verse “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” came to mind. She said fully realized that it was her troubled heart that was zapping her passion and keeping her from stepping into her full potential.
I explained that I love that verse because it says “Do not let,” meaning we have the power to not let it happen. We do not have to let ourselves have a troubled and fearful heart. Putting that power into action takes conscious effort for most of us, but is absolutely doable, although it may not be easy because it calls for a shift in our thinking.
When we want to change a mind set it often helps if we combine both physical actions and/or visual reminders with mental determination. I think of it as circular. Our mental state is altered by what we see and do and our ability to act comes from our mindset. After exploring some ideas of what might work for her and implementing them she was free to feel passionately again and able to do the work needed to grow in her potential.
A light bulb came on at some point and she said, “well, if this is what it means to have peace, then ok, I do want it” which was good because she got it!