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DAVID BENTLEY'S WEEKLY COLUMN

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Making A Difference

One of the best parts of coaching people on relationship skills and life transitions is that they teach me so much. That was the case recently, when a client and I were discussing coming to the end of life without regrets. I suggested that many people fear dying without having made the world a different place.

Suddenly, my client informed me that this was about the dumbest idea I'd ever mentioned. When I asked why, the reply was immediate and profound. I was told that we are not here to make the world a different place. We are here for the world to make us different.

Fortunately, pregnant pauses are a good thing in coaching technique, because I was speechless. My ego didn't like what it had just heard, but my heart knew that there was truth in it.

There are many ways to make the world different, and they often involve dissimilar motivations. A person may want to instigate changes in order to correct a perceived injustice. Someone else may want to make the same changes because they stand to gain financially or politically from doing so. Still others may want the very same changes because they feel superior to another group involved in the situation.

Similarly, there is much for us to learn from the world if we pay attention. Unfortunately we don't always master the lesson, and history has to repeat itself -- often in our own lifetime. It's like those math drills that we had to take over and over until we learned our multiplication facts. We'd all like to think that we know the answers before test day, but we often find out that there is still more for us to learn.

Perhaps it is by letting the world make us different and sharing these lessons with others that we will ultimately make the world different.

  • Do you want to make the world a different place?

  • If so, what is your motivation?

  • What are some of the lessons that the world has taught you?

  • How will you share these with others?

© 2003 David Bentley

David Bentley, M.Ed. & Personal Coach, coaches clients through the game of life, helping them find balance, clarity of direction, and purpose in an ever-changing world.

You may contact him at 360.378.8436

by e-mail at david@coachbentley.com

or visit his Web site: www.coachbentley.com

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