What is life coaching?
Simply put, life coaching helps people increase satisfaction in life. Here’s a great analogy to explain life coaching: if you are physically unhealthy, you will go to a doctor. If you are physically healthy and want to get stronger, you may seek the assistance of a personal trainer. Similarly, if you have recently been through a traumatic experience or are struggling with depression, you might seek a therapist. If you are otherwise well, you would seek the assistance of a life coach to improve areas of low satisfaction.
Does a life coach tell me what to do?
Absolutely not. The only person who has the answer is you. You, like most people, have probably been socialized to be a certain way or do certain things that don’t feel authentically you. What we do together is peel back the layers of socialization and tap into who you are. Best of all, I’ll teach you how to do it on your own.
So, what is the way to happy?
The most succinct way for me to explain it is to say this – it’s analyzing our thoughts to make sure they are working for us. Our thoughts are like the sunglasses we wear. They are the lens through which we see life. If there are smudges on them, we can be fooled into thinking that it’s a little foggy and hazy out instead of realizing that it’s simply the glasses that need cleaning. It may seem scary to think we have that much power over our own lives, but we really do – and when we come to terms with it, it’s quite empowering.
Here’s a personal example from my own life. For over 20 years, I struggled with my body image and weight. While there were many times during those years that I felt overweight and unattractive, it isn’t always the case. Why is that? Because there were moments of respite from the thought, “You are unattractive, Nisha.” When that thought was not in my head, the feeling of unattractiveness was not there either. I could not have felt more beautiful than the night I got engaged, and that was because I was so filled with joy that there was no room for any critical, disparaging self-talk. However, I was exactly the same weight that I had been the day before (when I was not engaged), and that day I wasn’t feeling too pretty. The difference wasn’t really in how I looked – it was all in my thoughts.
The Way to Happy 