The Biggest Mindset Shift

Over the past year, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling for work. I’m a corporate trainer and also a lead trainer for IPEC coaching. In my travels, I have met some truly incredible people from an opera singing Uber driver to a severely disabled future coach. Each had a beautiful story to tell and lessons to impart. Although frequently exhausted, I’ve tried to open my mind to these types of meetings and their lessons in the belief that even short meetings can make huge changes in people’s lives.

I noticed a powerful theme in the stories of so many of these inspirational people. They all had a mindset shift that changed their lives and subsequently mine in the listening of their stories. One woman with a profound disability said, “I spent years thinking about what I couldn’t do until one day I woke up and asked, ‘Okay, what CAN I do?’ and everything changed from that moment on.” An Uber driver who aspired to be an opera singer said, “I wasn’t getting a record contract, so I decided to sing at Karaoke bars so as to still have the pleasure of singing in front of an audience.”

A yoga instructor, who called herself “not your typical looking yoga instructor”, told me how she overcame her insecurities around her life long struggle with weight gain in order to become “a badass, hot yoga teacher”.  She proceeded to prove her prowess as she led one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. Another young woman wept during a powerful coaching exercise and said, “My heart burst wide open when I saw the possibilities ahead of me.”

The Power of Another’s Story

Oh, the joy of meeting these people and hearing their stories of hope and strength. So often during this year of homesickness and hard work, they showed up just when I needed them most. I often wondered if they were sent to me or me to them. They didn’t feel like random meetings, but rather destined occurrences meant to teach me some important lessons on strength and perseverance.

These meetings make me wonder how many I may have missed in the past when I was too tired or too cranky to chat. It also makes me profoundly hopeful for all of us when I meet so many wonderful and tireless travelers on my life’s journey. Clearly, they all carried messages that I wanted and needed to hear. My mindset shifted with each conversation. It shifted from can’t to can and from hopeless to unlimited hope.

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC