I presented a keynote address at the Sturgeon County Senior’s Conference last week and opened the session with a discussion about the single most-common question we ask children:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
To be clear, we are really challenging those children with a double-barrelled question:
- What do you want to DO when you are older?
- How do you want to BE, as a person?
As you might suspect, I dug into the role of life-coaching as a means of re-discovering these questions, regardless of age. I invited the 150+ guests to ponder some of their most memorable childhood play-times (both in and out of the sandbox) and then we contemplated some of the things we are grateful for in our lives today. In directed conversation we then linked the two in a meaningful way – intentionally moving the joy of play into our current lives.
It was a highly animated and enlightening program for many who had never been part of a group co-active coaching workshop before. Engaging in a playful, experiential, reflective activity moved many to share stories and realign values that had simply been dormant for a time.
What do you want to DO when you are older?
How do you want to BE, as a person?
Thank you to my gracious hosts and my welcoming audience for the invitation to be part of this event. I sincerely appreciated your willingness to embrace life, make new friends and play at something new!
To my faithful blog readers – I invite you, too, to step into the Sandbox and sift through these same questions. Given this opportunity, how will you define yourself and your future? What is it you want to DO and BE moving forward?