Conscious | Cool | Chic

This week's guest post contribution is by Bridgette Boudreau, a master life coach and CEO of Martha Beck, Inc. Below she shares the personal truths she is experiencing right now. Get ready to love this list.

1. You know those things you secretly were kind of judgy of others about doing or believing? You know, those ones you were outwardly totally cool about, but in your heart-of-hearts -- you were judgy? That very thing is going to be served up for you to walk through. When it happens, you will either grasp onto your judgy beliefs, or use it as an opportunity to re-examine them and find more compassion for yourself and others. I will tell you the latter is a lot more joyful.

2. Sometimes following your truth is gonna hurt -- yourself and maybe others -- but avoiding the clean white pain of following your truth and remaining in the stuck morass of what you should do or to take care of others hurts much worse. For both you and them.

3. Being "happy" is not about feeling happy all the time - happiness is a transient emotion. It's about living life full-on, which is sometimes frustrating, scary and even sad. But you're living -- deeply, passionately, loudly. I contend that's what we're really after.

4. Say yes if your heart calls you to. Even if you're scared shitless.

5. Have friends who can remind you who you really are when your foundation feels a little shaky. If your friends don't do this for you, find new ones.

6. Laugh until no sound comes out. Regularly.

7. Get outside. Nature heals.

8. The shades of gray between the black and white -- that's the sweet spot of life.

9. Allow yourself to say your truth. Even if you're the only one who will ever hear it and you never do anything about it. Tell yourself.

And here's my biggest personal truth:

10. There is nothing wrong with you. You are not a problem to be solved. You do not need to acquire something outside you to be whole. We feel screwed up because we believe we're deficient, bad, somehow fundamentally flawed. The process of becoming whole is not additive; it's subtractive. It is undertaken by ending the war with ourselves, creating a deep relationship with ourselves based on love and acceptance, and from that place, recognizing that we were always whole.

          

I'm a personal coach that helps people end the war with themselves so they can live life full on. Some people have described my coaching style as tough and tender. I don't know about the tough part, but I do believe that helping you uncover your Truth without sugar-coating it is the best possible thing I can do as your coach. It's a tender thing--this uncovering of the Truth--and so I believe that compassion, humor and respect are integral to that process. I also believe that there's nothing wrong with you, so the work I do with clients is about finding their deep rightness, not battling with their wrongness. I've been a Martha Beck Life Coach Training instructor for three years, served as Training Coordinator, and currently run the Master Coach Training program. I'm also CEO of Martha Beck Inc.

In my spare time, I get outside whenever I can, spend time laughing with friends and family and am trying to life-coach my dog Scruffy into barking less. The problem is, she doesn't think there's anything wrong with her. Damn, she's right again.