A Coaching Power Tool Created by Maria Paredes
(Coaching for Coaches, UNITED KINGDOM)
When was the last time you acknowledged yourself?
How did it feel?
Self-acknowledgement can have the power of making us feel good, strong, at peace, independent, self-confident, empowered and more.
Acknowledgement is a very powerful tool that can be used in a coaching conversation and once out of this context, who can acknowledge us best than ourselves?
Who can acknowledge us for what really matters to us but ourselves?
We are the experts on our own lives. We know every detail and have all the information that nobody else in the world has, it is our own life and we are the ones who know better about our own matters. We all have our own opinions, values, priorities, our own views of the world, our own experiences, culture and what we find relevant or not.
Our story, what it means to us and what we want to do with it support us creating our own solutions.
It is such a powerful tool to be able to clearly see that we did well. To enjoy an outcome that worked for us. To recognize what is it that make us feel good. What we value, what is important to us. What we acknowledge ourselves for.
Our achievements are for us to enjoy, the only persons who can really enjoy our achievements are ourselves.
Self-acknowledgement comes from our own definitions of success and from what really makes us happy. It comes from that place inside us, that internal voice, that tell us “I did well”.
Our achievement can pass unnoticed to others but ourselves. Once we are truly and fully satisfied with our outcome regardless of what other people think, then other people’s acknowledgement stop being relevant to validate what is right for us, our purpose, the meaning we see on things
Considering our capacity of contrasting our perception with reality, our capacity to interact with people, the fact that we live in societies, our need to listen to other people, our own vulnerabilities and our need for feedback, our achievements are achievements if they are relevant to us and we can acknowledge ourselves for them, we do it for ourselves, for our own pride, joy and celebration.
It is like having you favourite song or film shared with somebody else and expect for them to feel the same as we do.
Only we can feel what we feel when listening to our favourite song, watching our favourite film, looking at our favourite piece of art, reading our favourite poem, eating our favourite food, dancing our favorite song, making your favourite move, smell our favourite scent, wear our favourite pajamas’.
It might mean nothing to the world and it could mean the world to us.
We can choose to experience it for comfort, joy, inspiration, same as with self-acknowledgements.
It is such a powerful tool to be able to clearly see that we did well. To sit and enjoy an outcome that worked for us. To recognize what is it that make us feel good, what we value, what is important to us. That is what we acknowledge ourselves for.
