Last week, we explored coherence — the alignment of attention, emotion, body, and intention… returning us to the wholeness that is always there, underneath the fragmentation.
You’re coherent when you feel centered and present — when your mind, heart, and gut feel in sync, and you’re attuned to a wider field of perception.
And this state of alignment amplifies our capacity to receive and transmit a deeper intelligence.
It also does something remarkable to the problems in our lives.
When we begin to prioritize coherence — to focus on shifting consciousness, rather than shifting external circumstances or even behaviours…
We can see how some of the things in our lives that felt very problematic — situations that felt fixed, stuck, or knotty — start to have less power.
The things that felt like they were determining our well-being, start to lose their grip on us.
Now this doesn’t mean that the world changes. It doesn’t mean that there is less uncertainty. Or more justice.
But it does mean that we have more possibilities available to us. We see new pathways. Have new ideas. And feel less constrained.
And that makes all the difference.
Because when you look at the same problem from within a different state of consciousness, it becomes an entirely different problem. Sometimes it even becomes an opportunity. Or a gift.
The most meaningful shift
I want to pause here and be clear that I’m not advocating we ignore or bypass the intensity of our times. We are truly in a moment of great upheaval. Troubling things are happening. Injustice is real.
What I am saying is that different states of consciousness allow for different degrees of agency within the great upheaval.
And while we can’t always change what’s happening out there, we can always change what’s happening in here.
This is one of the most meaningful shifts I support clients to make.
The first step is a movement out of what Jim Dethmer calls To Me consciousness — where life is happening to us, and we experience ourselves as trapped inside circumstances we cannot influence.
From here, we shift into what Jim calls By Me consciousness. Here, we feel less at the effect of external circumstances, because our lens of perception has broadened. We’re no longer fixated on outside forces, because we can see where we have choice.
This allows us to reclaim agency and sovereignty while creating new possibilities that simply don’t exist in To Me consciousness.
It’s a true game changer.
The future of coaching
And yet, I feel very strongly that there’s an even deeper invitation available to us in these times.
One that takes us beyond the empowered but individualistic sense of self of By Me consciousness and into what Jim calls Through Me consciousness.
The Through Me state is one of deep participation with life. It asks us to take the agency we regained in By Me and offer it to the greater field.
So the question shifts from:
What do I want?
To
What does life (and love) want to do through me?
When I make this shift in a coaching session, I become more deeply present and aware. I’m tuned into a wider field of perception. I ask different questions. I allow for silence. And, inevitably, my client connects with a deeper level of awareness too.
Because our state of consciousness creates a transmission. Our clients can feel it — even if they don’t have words for it — and it changes what’s possible.
I believe this is the direction coaching is going.
And truly, where our future as humans coexisting on this planet lies.
Working together, enacting more creative, generative, and sustainable ways of living in the world.
And all of us asking What does life (and love) want to create through me?
With care,
Joel
