Playing with the waves

Sitting by the shores of a beautiful beach, sipping a soothing drink, feeling the warmth of the sun, enjoying every gush of wind that hits my body and watching people unwind, relax and enjoy themselves is an experience I love the most and will never get bored of. During one such relaxing time in 2016, I happened to notice something which unlocked a beautiful realization in me.

My eyes fell on a man surfing on the sea and seamlessly balancing himself despite the rough waves. I started watching the person keenly, noticing what he was doing in order to stay afloat, I was fascinated by his ability to maneuver the waves, his ability to stay undeterred by the rising waves and very importantly his calm body language despite the rapid currents beneath his feat. I was curious to understand what the magic of surfing was and how we was pulling off this seemingly impossible feat. A few minutes later he approached the shores and was walking back to his shack looking chirpy, excited and energetic. I approached him and asked politely if I could have a word with him. His name was Nash, he obliged to my request, I asked him "How do you manage to surf when the tides are going high-low so quickly, what technique do you deploy to balance yourself, are you not scared?" He laughed out loud, I was embarrassed for a moment. He said, "Sir, I listen to the Waves". I asked, "What? Listen to waves?". He said "Yes, every time the waves rise, I bend my knees, and when the waves recede, I straighten them, I have to be conscious of the waves and adapt to its rise and fall, and once I am able to blend in to that rise and fall, I surf happily"

That night I dint sleep, but spent the whole night rejoicing with a wonderful message this man gave me! He told me something which transformed my Coaching paradigm. He taught me a great lesson on Coaching, "Coaching is NOT about YOU, its about the PERSON whom you are Coaching, its about your ability to set aside your biases, beliefs and perceptions and completely surrender yourself and "be there" with the person, listening intently to what she is saying. Like the surfer who adjusts himself according to the waves and does not try to defeat or counter the waves, in the process staying afloat, coaching is not about prescribing solutions or methods, its about engaging with the person at her level and enabling her find her own answers, its about resonating with the person without judging her and eventually leading her to point where she has a plethora of options to choose from!

This reminded me of one thing, nature teaches us some power life lessons, what did nature teach you?