IAC VOICE, Volume 4, Issue 4, July 2006



Barbra

From the Editor

With summer
upon us are you able to take some extra time to pause and
reflect? I’ve been spending quite a few warm afternoons
lounging on my front porch, watching the arbutus leaves
flutter to the ground (they shed year-round), listening to
the birds and sipping lemonade.

Although it may look as though I’m doing nothing, in fact
I’m thinking, reflecting and planning. One of the things
that I’ve been thinking about is how to take my coaching
work beyond the standard for-profit model. I’ve long
wondered about this, and have recently been investigating
some online resources that provide inspiring models. I’ll
be telling you more about what I’m learning in future
issues of the VOICE.


While on the topic of reflection, in our new book review
column, IAC member Julia Menard recommends the book
Music
of Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the Day

This book, by Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast,
suggests that each day have “eight seasons” ranging from
“prime” (working time) to “laud” (“applaud” – the time for
expressing gratefulness) to vespers and completion. I
think you’ll enjoy Julia’s summary of the eight seasons of
the day.


In Answers from the President I ask Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC to tell us more about all the volunteers who
support the IAC’s vision. I was particularly interested to
hear about the incredible response that the IAC has had
from members who want to volunteer their time and talents.
That’s so exciting!


Coaching Moments columnist Janice Hunter is taking this
month off for a family holiday to Greece, but rest assured
her popular column will be back next month.

Warmly,

Barbra Sundquist, IAC-CC
Editor, IAC Voice
Email: 

voice@certifiedcoach.org

Web:   www.becomeacertifiedcoach.com


 




Natalie

Answers
from the President

Natalie Tucker Miller, IAC-CC

Last month you talked about
the people who support the IAC’s vision. Will we get to meet
those people?

Yes! Over the next several issues of the VOICE I’ll be
introducing our Board of Governors and other committee
members who work diligently behind the scenes. The IAC owes
its existence to the several people who, over the years,
serve, or have served, as our ambassadors.


The IAC has a dedicated and visionary team. You’ll gain
insight into the Strategic Planning Committee, which helps
determines the IAC’s long term direction. The focus of our
strategic plan is on the entire organization, how all the
components work together in order to support the overall
operations.


Our Communications Team is responsible for aligning our
communication with our mission, taking care to keep our
message cohesive and concise.


Membership representatives work to keep abreast of what is
important for our members. The Volunteer Committee is part
of the membership team, which supports the goal of serving
members by our members.


Since the launch of our new site last month, we have
received a phenomenal number of volunteer interest forms.
This is exciting for the organization, as it allows us to
expand our reach and stay on the leading edge of what will
best serve coaching. And because of the abundance of request
forms, we have temporarily disabled our “get involved” page
in order to focus our attention on assigning those who’ve
responded so far! In a future issue of the VOICE we will
announce its return.


Our organization’s strength comes from its contributing
members. Thanks to all who have reached out by sending a
note of encouragement, or have taken an interest in getting
involved on a deeper level, or have spread the word of the IAC to others.


And as always, don’t hesitate to
contact us and
initiate a conversation.




Buy Now


Book Review

Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the
Day
Written by
David Steindl-Rast
Reviewed by Julia Menard

In Music of
Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the Day
,
Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast provides a thoughtful
guide to the value of taking reflective pauses during our
daily lives. He describes the eight components of a
Benedictine monk's day. Here they are:


1) Vigils
Vigil means to keep awake – to watch. This is the time of
the "night watch." Most monks are up in the dark before dawn
to go to oratory. Symbolically, the darkness is "an
invitation to trust in night," to trust the mystery present
in darkness. It is a time for spiritual pursuit, meditation,
prayer, silence, listening to music, lectio divina.


2) Lauds
Laud means to praise (applaud!). Lauds is the attitude of
gratefulness – symbolized by the breaking of the dawn and
our gratefulness for the coming of the light bringing us out
of darkness. Lauds can act as a daily reminder to see
sunrise as a gift come unbidden – and can help us see
everything as a gift.


Since most of us are not up before dawn, it might make sense
to wake up and praise (lauds), then carve out even 15
minutes for one's "vigil" devotional time.


3) Prime
Prime means first – or beginning time. This is the time when
work begins. We pause before we start the work day with
"planning" – taking time at the beginning of our work day to
"think ahead, to get priorities clear, to give some thought
on what matters most." To set our priorities according to
our "heart-felt intentions." We can also remind ourselves of
how our work contributes to "the whole human enterprise…We
are all working together with others whom we will never
see."


4) Terce
Terce (or tierce) means "third." It is the third hour of the
day – a "monastic coffee break."
How many of us take a mid-morning break and use it as a time
to reflect? Steindel-Rast suggests we make it a "prayer
break." He offers one way to pray: by paying attention to
our breathe. "Each breathe flows in as a blessing…Blessing
is well-wishing… Each breathe out flows out as a sharing
of that blessing." There is an art in learning to recognize
a blessing
when we see one!


5) Sext
Sext means six – and this time is reserved for the sixth
hour of the day: noon. Steindel-Rast describes this time of
the day as a "time of transition, rousing us to stay the
course, not be lured by the devil of depression – slipping
resolve." Sext is also associated with crisis – where we
face a barrier or challenge and need guidance to know what
to let go of to be able to make it to the other side. At
this lunch-hour time of day, perhaps just before we eat, we
can ask: "What can guide me now?"


6) None
None is nine: the ninth hour of the day – mid to late
afternoon. It is the fading part of the day, the time of
decline, when shadows begin to lengthen. The fading of time
brings home death and impermanence and the need to connect
with something transcendent (beyond time). This perspective
helps us connect with is most important. It is an
opportunity to acknowledge the limits of our lives (families, jobs) as having meaningful things that happen
there. We can use this time to let go of unmet expectations,
reminding ourselves to live fully within our lives as they are, as
captured by the injunction: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with thy might" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). It is also a time to decide the
next steps needed to deal with the essentials. A time to find the end, to bring things to a
point where we can leave them as they are and where we need
not take them home with us.


7) Vespers
Vespers mean evening and this time of the day celebrates the
coming of the night. It is a healing time – in the sense
that "healing involves knitting together of what is apart
or broken."
Early evening is also a luxury time, a time for
culture in the sense of evening meditation, music or good
food. When evening arrives, people have a "universal desire
to find a serene place where they can put all the parts of
the day together – to let go of the day and luxuriate in the
quiet beauty of the evening
."


8) Compline
Compline means complete. It is the conclusion of the
monastic day. Late evening is devoted to preparations for
sleep and for reviewing the day that is about to end. It is
time to take stock, perhaps by writing a few lines in one's
diary about what the day taught us or about what we might
still need to consciously let go of from our day (that still
binds us to the day). "We confront our inner darkness at Compline by
examining our conscience, by asking: "What went
wrong today? Where did I fail to meet the challenge? Ask for
forgiveness and resolve to do better tomorrow."


As we turn to sleep, Steindl-Rast offers that we can see
"God as a mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wings.
Infinite darkness is maternal – returning to our
spiritual womb
to be reborn again the next morning."


 
Julia Menard, B.A., C.C.R. (Certificate in Conflict
Resolution) is a coach based in Victoria, BC.  This
article is excerpted from HEN, which appears each full
moon – because we can see more possibilities in a lunar
light. You can subscribe by e-mailing

julia@makeandbelieve.com
.

 

 



IAC Certified Coaches


We would like to congratulate the following coaches who have
recently passed the IAC certification exam and achieved
their IAC-CC designation!

Kathy Gulrich, IAC-CC (United States)
Connie Frey, IAC-CC (Canada)


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rights reserved. International Association of Coaching

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