Ha, got your attention with that title didn’t I? Ok, I’m not really telling you to throw somebody, man or woman, over a cliff it’s a metaphor. Here’s a little coaching lesson for you. When I work with people who are choosing to notice where they’re stuck in their lives and to transition out of that place one of the things we talk about is the gremlin, saboteur, voices in their heads, (call it what you want) that stop them in their tracks. You know the ones: “oh you shouldn’t be doing that” or “what makes you think you can do that?” or “why are you trying to do this you’re only going to fail: again”….the list is endless but the point is that these voices are not very helpful if you’re trying to move on with your life.
One of the exercises we work on together is to notice the saboteur, name it, draw it out, get really personal with him/her, after all it’s been your friend for a very very long time probably. Then, when it’s time to set it free, do so…When I had my final revelation that my gremlin, green and gooey and a pain in the ass, had to go I packed him in a suitcase, put the suitcase in a bag and put the bag in a musty old basement corner that I knew I’d never go to. I coudn’t hear him, I couldn’t listen to him and I couldn’t see him so, for all intents and purposes, he was gone. It’s a really powerful tool and it works every time to create a shift into becoming empowered.
I have permission to share this story from a current coaching client. We worked on her gremlin, he’s pretty powerful, but eventually she was able to acknowledge that it was time to let him go. He was causing her too much trouble, too much friction and too much fear. I never tell people how to get rid of their gremlins but sometimes they share the “how” with me and this fearless woman did. She wrapped him up in plastic so he’d suffocate, wrapped him in more plastic and tape, went to the ledge of a very high cliff and threw him off, no life preserver, no life jacket: nothing. She made sure her gremlin was gone before she made her way back home. This truly is a powerful moment and I can guarantee you the shift for her is going to be extraordinary…I’m so excited for her because she’s facing her fears and moving forward anyway.
She has allowed me to post these pictures of the demise of her gremlin. Yikes that’s a long way down!
