I met James by mistake

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Last March, I spent a few days in Singapore to discover the city. I had been travelling for months. While at the beginning of my journey I really wanted to plan and organize and control and fill time, little by little I had adopted a different pace.

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Giving me space and time.

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I had travelled around Asia, and I had mainly discovered and explored myself.

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I was between the Philippines and Bali. At the time, I was travelling to wonder at the beauty of the world, and I was exploring healing.

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I was learning, and I was transforming in a very subtle way. Micro step by micro step. I felt that I was developing a new way of being in the world. I was building deep convictions and inner density. I was getting more and more grounding. I was feeling more and more flexible and solid at the same time.

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I knew that I was becoming more and more ready for creating my future dream job : being a coach.

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I knew my way of coaching would be specific and unique. I knew I was becoming a holistic coach who considers human beings in a very integral way. A coach that helps people to connect the mind, the heart and the body. A coach that brings spirituality to our material world.

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Over the months of travelling, I had been working on myself, preparing the ground, somehow. I had been working on my quality of being, of presence. On my connection to myself, others, and the world.

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I had started already coaching people.

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I was good at it – I had great feedback. But I was doing it mainly instinctively.

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I knew that at some point I would need to find the right professional coaching training for me.

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But I was not in a rush. I was giving me time.

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And then something happened.

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When I was in Singapore, I looked at the Meetup website.

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I wanted to find a way to connect to people I shared interests with. I found a « Coaching for coaches » event. A perfect way to meet coaches ! I registered.

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Monday evening. I go to the Impact Hub, the coworking space where the event was taking place.

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I arrived a bit early and met Marion, a German intercultural coach. She was also participating to the coaching event. We start speaking. We speak for quite some time.

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A few minutes before the beginning of the event, I realize that there are two coaching events happening this same night at the Impact Hub !

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And I am waiting with Marion for the other event !

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She tells me : « You should come to THIS event ! It is a conference by a famous coach coming from the US, it is organized by the International Confederation of Coaching. Not to be missed ! »

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I decide to go with the flow.

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The speaker actually arrives at that moment, and sits just next to me at the bar to have a glass of water.

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I don’t know what his name is. I have never heard of him. I have no idea about what he will be speaking about.

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I know he is a coach.

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I say hello to him – a bit worried about knowing nothing about him and what the conference is about. And – I don’t remember what leads us to this – we start speaking about Auroville where I travelled twice in the previous months.

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He says to me that the work of Sri Aurobindo, one of the spiritual founders of Auroville (to make a long story short), is a great source of knowledge and inspiration to him.

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And then it is time to get into the conference room.

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At that moment, I have asked Marion more details : his name is James Flaherty and the conference is about « Listening with the whole body ».

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Sounds interesting.

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I spend the whole conference in a state of joy and amazement.

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What James says, the way he behaves – with a lot of wisdom and humour and kindness and strength, the drawing he makes on the paperboard, the exercices he makes us do… everything resonates and feels so evident to me.

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I find it quite amazing indeed to find myself in this conference, almost by mistake.

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The mistake that puts me in the right place, it seems.

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And this is only the beginning.

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While I was waiting for a taxi after the networking cocktail, I start speaking with another participant of the conference. Marc-André. He is from Canada and lives in Singapore. He works as a coach and consultant. He tells me that he recently attended a one-year coaching training in Montreal with New Ventures West – the organization founded by James.

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We end-up going for a drink with Marc-André and his business partner.

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And I ask him to tell me more about the coaching training. It is « integral coaching ». He tells me about the philosophy and convictions of the coaching school, what he learnt, the way they learn, the faculty, the community.

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And I feel totally aligned both with the way of considering coaching, and the way James and this man embody the values they speak about. The way they are in the world. The coherence.

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They walk the talk. I feel exemplarity.

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Later, I meet again Marc-André in Bali and we travel together for a few days.

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Again, we talk about the coaching training and I end up looking for more information on internet.

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I see that there is a one-year professional training program starting mid-April – one month later – in San Francisco, with James himself as the course leader.

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In San Francisco !! I had planned to come back to SF.

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(I love the energy of this city. I am in love with the « everything is possible mindset ». The sunshine. The health-conscious and entrepreneurial way of being. The yoga studios. I feel thrilled by all the exciting things that are going on here. I am charmed by the beauty of the city. I love the idea that this is a place where the future is created. I am fond of the hills and streets and houses and cable cars.)

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And with James.

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And in April.

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Bref.

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This is crazy.

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It seems that « planets are aligned », as I like to say. It seems that Life / the Universe are showing me the way…

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At that moment, I am in Bali, in Uluwatu.

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I write to James on LinkedIn, asking him if there are some spots left in the April training.

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He connects me with his team. 2 spots left. I have to make up my mind quickly and send my application asap if I am interested.

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As any long term quality professional coaching training, it is quite expensive. Around 12.000 dollars.

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It represents more money I have ever spent on something in my life. Aïe. It is stressing. It is a big decision.

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I feel lonely, faced with this decision to make. I am the only one who can make it.

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It is my life.

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My choices.

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My future.

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I think about Lise Bourbeau’s book « Listen to your body, your best friend on Earth » which was a wonderful spiritual guide to me. She speaks about responsibility in a way that stroke me.

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I am the only one responsible for my life, and for my happiness.

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I talk to some of my mentors and to my parents.

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And while I share with them, I feel that what they tell me is important, of course, but it does not really impact the way I feel about the situation. Deep inside, I feel an evidence. I feel that deep inside, the decision is already made.

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I feel, I know this is the right thing to do now in my life.

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It is a big decision. It is an investment on my future. It is the way I am an entrepreneur of my life. It is the way I decide to create for myself the life that I really want to live.

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But still, I feel that there is fear in me. I feel quite stressed about spending so much money.

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I repeat to myself :

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« It is okay. You know deep inside that it is the right thing to do. It is an investment for your life. It is the most perfect investment you can do now for your life. »

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I am alone in my small but nice hotel room in Uluwatu. There is no desk, there is only a dressing table (une coiffeuse) and a chair.

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So here I am, late at night, sitting in front of the mirror, working on my laptop, intensely finishing answering all the questions for the application to the Professional Coaching Course.

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It is a very thorough questionnaire and it takes me more time than I imagined.

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They ask us what is our experience as a coach and coachee, and why we want to be trained as a coach. We then have to assess our level of competence on the cognitive, emotional, somatic, relational and spiritual domains. And we need to give examples. They also ask us how we integrate all these dimensions in our daily life. Lastly, they ask us what we learned while answering these questions.

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I like the fact that the application is deep, demanding, exhaustive. I feel that I have so much to learn. And I feel very excited.

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I do it in a very genuine and wholehearted way. The answers flow.

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It is late in the night. I am tired. I decide that I don’t want to rush too much.

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I decide that I will go to bed, and that I will re-read my application one last time and finalize registering the next morning, before leaving Uluwatu and go to Ubud.

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I get up early, do yoga, meditate. Sit again at the dressing table.

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At the moment I have to make the online payment, I stay in front of my laptop for a minute.

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Then I press the OK button. And I cry.

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I am moved. Very moved.

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I am confident with the decision, but still, it is such a big decision ! I let emotions out. It feels good to cry, and let go, and release the tension.

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And then I feel more peaceful.

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I am at peace with the choice I have made.

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And very soon it is time to go. I take my luggage and leave.

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I travel to Ubud.

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I feel strange in the car. I feel very alive.

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My mind is empty. I integrate.

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I look at the landscape, outside.

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And I become more and more familiar with the idea that one month later, I will start writing a new chapter of my life in San Francisco.

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And it feels so right. I feel vulnerable and strong in the same time. I feel I am experiencing a leap of faith.

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When I think again about what happened that night at the Impact Hub in Singapore, I feel amazed and blessed. It is such a powerful experience of serendipity and synchronicity. Life can be so fluid and magic.

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I just need to be centered, grounded, authentic. To be present. To set intentions from the heart and then let go. « It is not about doing, it is about being », as Thomas d’Ansembourg likes to teach.

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And the path unveils. It is the law of attraction. I manifested exactly what I needed.

This kind of miracles happens when we create the space and time for them to happen.

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the lifelab project

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