‘Have you ever had an experience where someone really listens to your essence and leaves you feeling deeply acknowledged and seen?’
For me, this has happened in different ways throughout my life, but always the experience has left me with some sense of expansion. Sometimes it has arrived unexpectedly like a random act of god. Sometimes by performing to an audience of complete strangers, being on stage and sharing my soul, painfully alive, teetering on the edge of terror and majesty all at the same time.
In the coaching world this can be called ‘Active Listening’ from a ‘Committed listener’, someone receiving you without judgement, without working out what they are going to say next, really getting out of the way so that the presence is fully with you. Sounds good, right?
For me it is, it’s the greatest privilege both holding space and receiving this contribution from others. To be witnessed like this, to be seen fully with all that we love and despise in ourselves and have it welcomed and celebrated exactly as it is, is where I know I have grown the most.
Of course not everyone will like all of us, see all of us, all of the time, but to have a trusted coach, or a friend or a family member that can hold an integral space for you, someone who will listen with a quality that has your soul feel seen, is one of the greatest gifts that can leave you more vital, aligned and in your flow than you have known yourself to be.