Finding My True North

This year, Judy klipin realised a dream she has held for six years – she qualified as a life coach under the guidance of Martha Beck. Her story is proof that if you can dream it, you can do it.

I am a Martha Beck trained and certified life coach. I had dreamt of being able to say those words since November 2001 when I first read Finding Your Own North Star (Piatkus). I knew then that one day I wanted to do the work that she does, guiding people to “claim the life they were meant to live.” It was a dream I revisited every so often, playing around with it and then reluctantly putting it away because it was just not possible for me to journey from Johannesburg to America to study. But, at the beginning of this year, I felt as though I had hit an emotional, physical and spiritual wall and I decided to give myself a much-needed personal sabbatical. I had to recharge my batteries and give myself the space I needed to decide what I wanted from my life.

Three or four weeks later, I woke up and started scribbling in my morning journal. Without consciously thinking, I wrote, “I would love to run Martha Beck programmes for groups… I will go to America and do her programme… I have thought about it for years and maybe now is the time to do something about it.”

I was filled with excitement and started dreaming about how to make it happen. I visited her website for the umpteenth time and stumbled across an e-mail address I’d never seen before. I also saw that Martha had scheduled a Life Coach Training seminar in Phoenix, Arizona. I e-mailed Martha’s administrative assistant that night to ask what I needed to do to get onto the course.

The next morning I was up bright and early to check my e-mail. There was a message that read, “You sound like a great candidate, let’s do what we can to get you on the course!” I was overwhelmed, but at the same time not even remotely surprised – somehow I knew that I’d be going; when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears. The course fees for the Life Coach Training programme are high by anyone’s standards and with the randto-dollar exchange rate they seemed even steeper. Under normal circumstances, I would not have been able to afford it. However, a confluence of surprising events made it possible and, at the same time, convinced me that the seminar would lead me to my own north star, and, ultimately, my destiny.

Not long ago, my mother died, leaving me a small amount of money. It was this legacy that allowed me to book for the course without a second thought. Then I realised that a friend I’d worked with 10 years previously now lives in Phoenix. She was delighted at the idea of my coming to visit and so put me up for the two weeks I was there. Lastly – and for the first time in many years – I didn’t have any major professional responsibilities and was able to take time off to make the journey.

A few weeks after my essential self decided that I had to do Martha Beck’s course, I found myself in a room with the woman I regarded as my guru even though I had never met her. It was 27 April – Freedom Day in South Africa – and it seemed such an appropriate day for me to be starting a new journey.

There were 14 participants – all of them women – Martha, who was so much more brilliant, insightful, intuitive and truly gifted than even I hadexpected, and her colleague, Kim. From the start, Martha began implementing the tools and methods that we would be using as a life coach to instruct us, both individually and collectively. Being the amazing and generous woman that she is, she threw herself into being coached by us, too. Generally calm and kind, but sometimes ruthless, Martha showed us how to identify our own, and our future clients’, limiting beliefs in order to move them (and ourselves) forward. It was an intense, powerful and life-changing time.

One of the central tenets that underpins Martha’s approach is that we all have an individual destiny, and a knowledge of the perfect life that we are meant to live somewhere deep inside us. When we get sidetracked from our perfect life path, it is because our “social self” (the part of us that has learnt to value the things that are valued by the people around us) has gotten in the way of that which our “essential self” (the part of us that knows what is good and right for us and which points us towards our north star) is asking us to do. During the seminar we learnt to use a number of techniques that will enable us to guide people as they search for their essential selves. Doing the course emphasised what my own essential self knew all along: My destiny is to be a life coach and pilot people as they claim the life they are meant to live.

Coaching is such a wonderful way to make a difference in the world. It’s a remarkable privilege to glimpse the inner world of others and to steer them towards improving themselves.

Many of us in our late twenties, thirties and forties revisit our original life ambitions and wonder how to get back on track. This is where coaching comes into its own. There are many different coaching styles but, having explored other techniques, I believe that the methods that have made Martha Beck so respected are the most effective.

It is a process that relies a lot on intuition and, at the same time, ensures that the coach is “transparent, authentic and open” to the client at all times. It combines a range of beliefs and skills, which make it a very individualistic, organic and responsive experience. This approach lets me combine my training, skills and experience in psychology, counselling and facilitation with my intuition. My practice now offers individual and group coaching sessions and I work primarily with people who are at a point of transition in their lives, whether it be professionally or personally. My vision is to enable people to resurrect the dreams they gave away.

I went to America to do this programme not only because I believe so strongly in Martha Beck’s approach to life design and life coaching, but also because I wanted to be able to say, “I have been trained and certified by Martha Beck to use the north star method,” and now I can. And I do.

Judy Klipin is a Master Coach, facilitator and trainer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tags: be happy | coach | coach training | coaching