Fortune Cookie

Not too long ago I had Chinese food for lunch.  The fortune from the fortune cookie that day read, "This is a good time to consider formally helping others."  I kept that fortune like all of them except this one I kept on my nightstand where I could see it everyday.

I don' t know if that was part of the shift pushing me into the direction of starting my own life coaching business or if it is just time but now I feel charged and excited to begin work in this field.

There were many reasons that I decided to pursue a masters degree in counseling and work in that field.  Boredom and lack of interest in my past career field, the accumulation of my past personal experiences and studies, and a true desire to help people reach their greatest potential were reasons for my studies in that direction.

I have a genuine interest in getting to know other people and I am inquisitive by nature.  I like learning about other people, where they have been, what they have done, and where they want to go.   For thousands of years people have been helping other people, elders or healers, priests, chiefs, medicine men, and the like have been providing comfort, support, advice, and sometimes just a nonjudgmental ear.  The direction I wish to go in now is to combine what I have learned and experienced in my personal past with future formal training to be in a position to exploit my knowledge and interpersonal skills to help others.

I want to do more than just help people with their problems and listen.  Time alone can be a great healer and that healing can be accelerated with some assistance.

After many years of working in the computer and IT industry, I am electing to take a different path in life.  This journey into the helping profession  has been something that I have thought about and considered for many years.  Life circumstances and changes over the past two years have enabled me to begin this exciting stage in my life.  I will not be satisfied with merely helping people “just” overcome their problems.  I want to help people to take their crisis, whatever it may be, and not just have it be an episode in life to adjust to or heal from, but to use it as a launching pad into the rest of theirs lives and a better life.  I want to help people see their situations not as ends or problems, but as beginnings and opportunities to take on with enthusiasm and excitement.  

Just like the fortune said.... it is a good time...