'There is another world. . .'

Joseph Chaikin, far right, in Megan Terry's "Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place" with the Open Theatre. He sure knew another world.

I first encountered this Paul Éluard quote — "There is another world, and it is in this one" —while studying the acting theories of Joseph Chaikin, who founded the Open Theatre and was a frequent collaborator with Sam Shepard. I couldn't imagine many quotations more exciting and hopeful. In the years since, I've found it useful when describing the practice of meditation (where most of us definitely sense another world, between or sometimes within our constant stream of thought). But now, I find the quote goes well with the world of coaching, too.

I know that in my life, I've had periods of feeling stuck, trapped, and defeated, times when I would've gladly discarded my world for any other. But at any time, I can be subject to the grace of an epiphany, a paradigm shift, a new direction that hadn't occurred to me before. These are akin to another world, right here in this one.

Coaching can help with that. We can start with a goal or dream and do some co-creative thinking about just what that dream involves, and how we can take action to achieve it. The trick is to start with authenticity: Is this a dream you truly want? Coaching can help you discover that and follow through with it. You might accomplish a straightforward goal — or you just may consider a new way of being in the world.

Go your own way and find a world or dream that's right to YOU.

From left, David DeWitt, Chris Brown, and Bernard K. Addison in a later production of Megan Terry's "Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place" -- not my only Chaikin connection, but that's another post.