Realign

This time last year I was preparing to reduce my hours at work and set up my own business. One year on feels like a good time to reflect a little. There has been a lot of learning, not to mention the small matter of a global pandemic. Whatever line of work you are in the impact of COVID-19 on how we live and work has been significant. I’ve chosen five words to prompt my reflections and I invite you to consider these also. So far I have talked about revise and relearn and today I am exploring realign.

Revise

Relearn

Realign

Reinvent

Relearn

Realign ~ restore to a different or former position or state

Today I received an email from a member of my group coaching programme, she included something I said during one of our sessions together.

Alignment brings ease.

When we live and work in a way that is aligned to our values, our skills, qualities and passions then we live and work with ease. Don’t confuse this with a lack of effort or meaning that things are always rosey. The ease comes from clarity and acts as a guide or a North Star. We make choices and when aligned, those choices and actions will move us closer to where we want to be.

I have always been values led but in recent times there was tension between my own values and those of the organisation I worked in. In setting up Sarah Philp Coaching it was refreshing to come back to my own values and to really allow these to drive what I do and how I do it. My core values of integrity, growth and service underpin how I approach all aspects of my life and business. The last year has been a process of realigning with my values, more than that it has been about embracing them. With a new sense of freedom I can embrace who I am and not be afraid to share that.

I started using the tagline ‘the quiet coach, who is gently bold’. I am quiet and despite knowing this was a strength in what I do, I often felt it was a negative and something I should change. Now I am fully living it and being it and so many people get in touch to tell me that what I say and what I share on social media resonates. They tend not to comment publicly and that’s OK because I guess the people who are my people prefer to have a different kind of conversation and a different kind of connection with me. This feels right and this feels good.

One of the things I am really proud of is my group coaching programme - We:Align. We:Align is for women who want to live and work in a different way, different might mean gentler, bigger, more balanced or maybe that’s still to be worked out but either way it’s better. We:Align supports women to have a stronger sense of identity, clarity on core values and the contribution she makes within her family, community and workplace. We:Align nurtures the confidence to listen to and act on inner wisdom, communicate with strength and embrace action.

I am proud of this programme because I have crafted a programme that has integrity, a sound evidence base and yet is very personal and action oriented. I have created a programme that is everything I am, one that shares what I know and understand. Most of all, I am proud of the impact it has and the growth that it leads do.

How aligned is your life and work? Are you clear on your core values and your purpose? Is how you live and work aligned to that?