I just finished a 2 ½ day Coaching Immersive with a client, my first hosted here in Portugal.
It’s the rainy season and we’ve been hit with one of the worst storms in decades, flooding and even in the north. Thankfully, it’s just been rainy and wet here in the Algarve.
Still, this weekend was glorious. Magical.
My client flew in from the UK and somehow, he brought the sun. Or at least he stopped the rain.
We walked the cobblestone streets of Faro and around the marina. We visited the Chapel of Bones, the orange grove courtyard, and took a Four Senses tour where we spent an hour in complete darkness to have an experience of what it’s like to be blind.
And through it all, I watched my client change.
He went from feeling an urgency about how to stop the spiral of overthinking to relaxing into the moment. By the end of our time together, he had settled into being himself, knowing that he would inevitably get caught up, and just as inevitably, find his way back again.
None of it happened through hard work or mental exertion. It happened because of the relaxed pace, the space to breathe, explore and enjoy our time together.
It wasn’t just my client who saw something new about not needing to “make” transformation happen. I saw it, too.
I didn’t need to plan the perfect, life-changing weekend. Being myself, listening, and doing what occurred to me was all that was required. Nothing taxing. Nothing strenuous.
On our final day, I recruited my client as the first person to take the DragonHeart Quest.
I spread out the materials: posterboard, scissors, colored pencils, paint, brushes, canvas. And invited him to create a micro-piece of art to later give to someone who wouldn’t be expecting it.
My client hadn’t made art since he was a kid, and had told me he “wasn’t creative.”
I watched his eyes light up as he positioned a canvas before him and began to paint.
He painted a memorial of our weekend together, a snowglobe with waves beneath it, the sun above, and the words, “Let it settle.”
His eyes shone. It was a fitting completion to our adventure.
And I created my own sketch in colored pencil on pink paper with words in Portuguese.
Life becomes more beautiful with you.
I may give it to the man who stands in the parking lot outside our apartment building each day, directing cars to open spaces in the hopes of earning a euro. Or maybe the barista at our favorite cafe. I’ll know when the moment strikes.
I this felt stronger than ever:
The perfection of every moment, and the beauty of everyone and everything in it.
Life is beautiful. And you, my friend, make it even more so.
Yours in love and play,
Steph 🐲❤️🔥
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