You are so much more powerful than you know. yes, you have probably heard that a million times from motivational speakers and/ or coaches AND it’s true. Listen as Karen Davis opens your eyes to the bigger life that you are really living once you solidify your ‘foundation and see the screen.’ What if you opened yourself to possibilities that are by allowing them to be?

It is very important to have a strong foundation otherwise you will deny yourself growth. It's time to create new possibilities, create new relationships, and create deep listening.

About the Guest:

Karen Davis, Executive Coach, Author & Speaker

After 25 years in leadership roles in the business-to-business technology and services space, Karen changed her life by serving and guiding the transformation of others. She became a Professionally Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation.

She’s been coaching, consulting and facilitating leadership workshops for organizations such as Pfizer, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Medtronic as well as many other small businesses since 2008. Today, her practice focuses on one-on-one deep coaching with high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, and executive coaches who are committed to their success, ready to uncover their hidden potential and make their own unique difference in the world.

Karen is the co-author of three books, How to Get the Most Out of Coaching, A Client’s Guide for Optimizing the Coaching Experience, When All Boat Rise: 12 Coaches on Service as the Heart of a Thriving Practice, and Unconventional Wisdom: Stories Beyond the Mind to Awaken the Heart.

Karen loves to travel, study people and learn about other cultures. You will often find her coaching with her clients at her studio near Boulder, CO or on a walk out in nature. Best of all, Karen has two fascinating adult children, Dustin and Alexa, a wonderful life partner, Alex Mill and an office dog, Jax—all of whom serve as her inspiration each and every day!

Direct/Cell: 303.588.8935

Email: Karen@KarenDavisCoaching.com

Website: www.KarenDavisCoaching.com

Social Media Links:

https://www.facebook.com/davis.karen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karendaviscoaching/

https://twitter.com/KarenDavisCoach

About the Host:

Cordelia Gaffar is the Ultimate Joy Monger. That means that she holds space for you to reveal your joy within. Joy Mongering is a word she created from several life experiences and based on her philosophy that self-nurturing is freedom. In fact she has created a process she calls Replenish Me ™ to help you transmute fear, rage and anger into Joy. In one of her eight books, Detached Love: Transforming Your Heart Do That You Transform Your Mind, she breaks down the Replenish Me ™ process through her research, client stories and her personal vulnerable shares.

She is also the host of three host podcasts. She won Best Podcast Host for her solo show called Free to Be Show and collaborates as a co-host on Unlearning Labels and the Ultimate Coach Podcast. The multidimensional genius she is, is further demonstrated as the mother of six children whom I homeschooled for 17 years. In summary, she has won multiple awards: Best Podcast Host of 2019, Top National Influencer, Sexy Brilliant Leader, and inducted into the Global Library of Female Authors in 2020; and in 2021 nominated for Author of the Year and Health and Wellness Coach of the Year and in 2022 Master Coach of the Year and Orator of the Year. She has also won the Brainz Global 500 Award of Influencers and Entrepreneurs for 2021 and won BOOKS for PEACE 2022 award, CREA Award.

She has been featured on America Meditating Radio, British Muslim TV, Spirituality Podcast, Ultimate Coach Podcast, also featured on South African radio 786, and Fox News.

hello@cordeliagaffar.com

https://linktr.ee/cordeliagaffar

https://www.cordeliagaffar.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cordelia-gaffar/

The Ultimate Coach Resources



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Welcome to The Ultimate Coach Podcast conversations from being inspired by the book, The Ultimate coach, written by Amy Hardison, and Alan Thompson. Join us each week with the intention of expanding your state of being. And your experience will be remarkable. Remember, this is a podcast about be. It is a podcast about you. To explore more deeply visit the ultimate Coach book.com. Now, enjoy today's conversation from being.

So, you know, Karen, I'm so happy that you agreed to be a guest on the ultimate coach podcast, because I have followed your work a little bit. And I think that you will add a new dimension to our understanding of being. So welcome to the show.

Yes, thank you. I'm honored to be here. Cadila. You know,

one thing that intrigued me most about your section of the ultimate coach book was when you shared that the screen popped up for you. When you were in a ACS training, and Hardison was there. Right? And so, tell me about the screen.

Yes, yes. So I had gone through nine classes with Steve, in his advanced class systems. And this was the the last one the ninth one. And Steve Hardison had come to speak at I would say, maybe about half of those nine. And so I'd had many opportunities to be in the presence with Steve and then also had another opportunity. But I was part of Steve Chandler's, his M six group where he worked with five coaches over a period of five years. And so, on one of those occasions, we went over to Steve's house and visited with both Steve and Amy, and saw the studio and everything was very excited about it. And I knew as far back as 2014, that that was the first time that I had met Steve at one of the ACS, that was a very first face. Yes, I knew that I would eventually work with him. And each time when he came back to speak, Steve Chandler would kind of nudge me and say, so are you working with them? Are you going to work with him? And I was like, Steve, you're my coach. I'll let you do. And so I was just waiting. I was waiting for that sign that okay, yeah, this is the perfect time to go work with Steve. So I'll never forget this. I was sitting in the second row right next to my partner, Alex. And Steve was having kind of a coaching conversation with Alicia Das, who was sitting directly in front of me. And Alicia was sharing that she wanted to write a book. And Steve was coaching with her around that. And as I was witnessing this, I was taken back to a near death experience that I had when I was 11 years old. And in I won't go into all the details of the near death experience, because that would take more time curricula than then I'm sure we have a lot of, but it was an amazing experience, one that I have never forgotten. And I feel really privileged and honored that I had that experience and was able to come back. And there was it was during a time in my life. I was 11. That was very difficult. My parents were going through a divorce. My mother had paranoid schizophrenia, and she was slipping more and more into the schizophrenia. And I was feeling very unsafe. I think it's the word unsafe and and probably angry and I'm not not exactly certain how to express myself over the emotions of what was transpiring inside of my home. And so I had this near death experience, and I had hit my head really hard after a fall from a tree swing. And so I had out of body experience, I saw the light, very much like you read about when you if you've ever studied and the ease, and I, at the end of it, I had a choice to come back or not come back. And my choice was to not come back. Because the feeling that I was feeling in that was far, far superior to what life was like on Earth for me at that time. And I was shown this screen of just like a big, big TV screen. Bigger than any movie theater did, huge, huge. And I was shown the story of my life going forward. But I don't I didn't have the details. When I came back. I just recall that it was so impactful. What was transpiring, that it was very important for me to come back. And at that point, in time, after I'd seen that, I decided to come back. That was it. And so as I was sitting next to Alex, I saw that screen in my mind's eye. And Steve was talking with Alicia. And I just immediately knew that I was meant to work with Steve, that now was the time. And so I didn't say anything to Alex. I didn't say anything to anyone else. And that evening, I went out with friends to dinner that were part of the ACS group. And Alex had gone back to the room because he wanted to get up early and go to the gym. And so when I went back up to the room, it was probably 10 or 11. And I just quietly crawled into bed, didn't say anything, he was already asleep. And then the next morning, I woke up straight up in bed. And Alex had already gone off to the gym. And I grabbed my laptop, jumped up and grabbed my laptop. And I wrote to Steve and I wrote to Steve and told them I knew I could do that I knew I could share with Steve, this is exactly what occurred yesterday. This is where this is where it comes from. And, and Steve was just on it. And I had a phone call that evening when I was on the airplane coming back when we landed. And he was just amazing. It was like I had placed a 911 call and had jumped on it. And the other really fascinating part of that was Alex came back from the gym that morning. And I said, I emailed Steve. And he said, Oh, great. Are you going to work with him? And I said, Yes. Yes. And and, and I said How to snow. And he goes, when we're sitting next to each other yesterday, in you know, as we're sitting and when he was talking to Alicia, he just dropped in that you were going to work with him. I was like, That's it. You got it. That's exactly when it happens. And so and that doesn't surprise me, Alex and I are very energetically connected. And so it was just this absolute, knowing that I was going to be doing this work with with Steve. And a really fascinating thing happened for Gilead. Shortly after I started doing the work with Steve. Amy had come to the studio at the end of our session. And she wanted to interview me get more details for the book. And so we had this just amazing conversation. She's studied near death experiences far more than I had. And she sent me this book on near death experiences. And I so now fast forward a couple of weeks later, I'm reading this book, and never my life had I ever seen this before but story in the book, where this woman describes her near death experience. And she describes this big, like, massive TV screen that was like, oh my god, I had no idea. You experienced what I had experienced. And so yeah, it was just, it's, it's just, there's so much more to this life, then we, we know, and we're so much more powerful than we give ourselves credit for in terms of tapping into intuition. Understanding energetically, you know, I work with my clients on energy, I show them how they can move dowsing rods, I work with them with horses and show them how the horses how attuned they are to energy, and how they can teach them all around energy.

Thank you for sharing with with us about your near death experiences, and how that the the energy and the wisdom of that moment has carried you through into your presence. I find it so striking that you know, even your partner, it's almost like he lives in that other round with you.

Yeah, yeah, he spent 13 and a half years in a Zen Buddhist monastery. And so, you know, more than 10,000 hours, way more of meditation, while sitting meditation, walking meditation, working meditation. And so he's he's like, the perfect partner for me in terms of how how we energetically connect. And here's the other great thing. I met him in the ACS. Of course you did?

Of course you did. That's perfect. You know. I love I love everything about that story. I do want to come back to the screen not right now. I want to move

into

you and Alex being together, because I think that that's really I think that's the gym out of the story that you just shared, interestingly enough. So you met Alex through ACLs. And for those who are listening and don't know what that is that Steve Chandler's advanced client systems have advanced clients school, right.

Yeah. Advanced client system. So it is. Yes, yes. And he had it from January of 2014, all the way up through February of 2020, just before COVID. And then what he did is he moved it into his masterclass. So now he has the Kochi prosperity school masterclass. And many, many of us that were in the ACS for a long time, our teachers in his master class

with an online program now. Yeah. So I'm so curious. How did you and and Alex know that you are aligned to be partners?

Not not at the beginning. So in the second ACS, I walked into the room, I sat down next to Jason Goldberg, who's one of my dear, dear friends, and I was chatting with him. He was sitting on my right. And then shortly before the program began, for the very first time, there was a gentleman sitting to my left, and he had on a ball cap, and I thought he was like this young kid. And because he looks very young, and I think that's all the meditation. And so I turned to introduce myself to him. And, and instantly, I knew that this was someone very different. They're different energy, and just this beautiful presence and softness to him. And he was hilarious because he was hanging on all the everything Steve was saying. And now this is my second one. So I'm starting to guess what Steve's going to say next, right. There was Alex and he's just nodding his head. Yeah. That was so infectious. Just absolute infectious. And so I didn't think much about it and went out with some friends that I knew from the first one, the first ACS and went to lunch. And I happen to see him as we were leaving to go to lunch. And he was sitting on a bench outside. And I invited him along. And he said he couldn't come. And again, didn't think much of it. The next day, I like to sit in the front of the room so that, you know, I'm very engaged and paying attention. And as opposed to the back of the room. And so I was sitting over on the other side in the front of the room, and Alex was already seated, and he was sitting back about four rows. And he calls up and he says, Karen, is that seat next year? Is that empty? And normal ever said, yeah. You know, and instead, it was like, Yeah, you know, come on, since I want more of that energy come to me. And it was really cute. And so then the next thing was, he had said, we were talking about meditation and guided meditations, because I'm very curious. I was asking him all kinds of questions. He said, hey, the next week, I'll do a guided meditation for you. And he said, oh, so next break came. And he just like, he's out of there. He splits. And I'm like, where's my guided meditation? And what it what? What happened here. And so I didn't say anything. And then at the end, he said, Hey, Karen, you know, sorry, I missed you at the break. But if you'd like to do that guided meditation, let's do that now. And so I was like, great, you know, I'm staying here at the hotel. And I had this great little patio. Let's go there. So we did the guided meditation. And I was like, let's see, what would you like to know about my entire life was happening. Joining me here, my whole life story was happening. And we were there for about 90 minutes. And we were supposed to meet some friends for dinner. And we were late, they had already had dinner by the time we showed up. And, but he became a very, very good friend. And we were, you know, texting, and again, I was just, I wasn't looking for a relationship. I had a series of really bad dates. And I was just like, I'm kind of over that part of my life. And, and he was great to have as a friend. I really, really enjoyed that. And there was just this innocence about him. That was whole layer. Yes. And the day, the last day of the ACS, I was getting ready to leave the hotel. He was at the front desk, and Alex shows up. And he's like, hey, the dream about you last night? And I was like, Oh, well, that's a good Come on. Oh, innocent. He's like, Okay, well, I'm trying to catch my plane. So why don't we catch up on that dream later?

You're like, Whatever, man, okay?

Like Mork and Mindy. I was like, wow, okay. And so then, fast forward. So that was September, October of 2014. And yes, yes, in September, October 2014. And I had an operation in December of 2014. And I was supposed to just be overnight in the hospital back home. It was right before the holidays, the Christmas holidays. And the procedure I ended didn't go well. And I had all kinds of complications after that I should have never had and ended up in the cardiac ward over the Christmas holidays. For for the five, seven days, maybe somewhere between five and seven days. And I didn't tell very many friends of my best friend back home new and Alex new. And Alex only knew because he was texting me pretty regularly. And when he found out my situation, he was on it. And he was just, you know, texting me and sending me music. And at one point, he said, you know, am I bothering you? And I'm like, No, I am like a human pin Goshen here, they give me up every morning take X rays at four in the morning. This is fantastic is the best thing happening for me right now. And, and he was just so supportive, and my girlfriend back home was so supportive. And it was, it was it was a horrible and amazing experience all at the same time. And finally I was able to get out and it really was like that. Like, please, please let me sounds like they release you from prison. Yeah, yeah. And, and so as I walked out, I, they have these doors, that slide open automatically. And as I walked out, and I stepped, it was like as if I was stepping across the threshold. And I had this thought, again, just like the screen with Steve just drop in. Oh, oh my goodness, what would it be like to be with a man like that? And then that was it. I opened my heart. And he knew, and he and that it was just like the moment I opened my heart toward him beyond friendship. He just knew. And by February of 2015, we were, we were an item. And it was it was really amazing, amazing experience. And if you ask him the story Cordilla he'd say, I was just, I was just contacting her. I was just staying in touch.

Maybe I need to have him on the podcast and get the other side of the story.

Yeah, that would be interesting.

That would be fun. Yeah. You know, I what I love about your your story is two things. You know, number one, with every theming hardship, there's also ease in it. Yeah. And the second thing is this reoccurring theme of thresholds and screens.

Yes. Yeah. Listening, right, and listening, having this ability to be able to listen, as those messages are coming. And I, everyone has this ability, and it's a matter of slowing down, getting presents, and listening. And that's what we do as coaches. That's what I do as a coach, right? My document is and listen as the presence of Love in every conversation. And that what I mean by that is, not only am I listening to my client, but I'm listening to my intuition. I'm listening for what direction shall I take this person? In? What question, shall I ask next, that will lead in that direction. And so just by deeply listening, and being very present, always, and always practicing? That's one of the biggest things that I learned from Steve Hardison, in this past year is always practicing being in practice, no matter what your situation, no matter who you're with. And, you know, that led to some very interesting experiences in our coaching together. So I hear that as hard listening. Yes, heartless name. You could say, yeah, as opposed to a go up listening.

Every time I'm with you, I feel that we're really together like the back of our hearts. They're, like, touching, you know, so see if like really touches me. So that's, that's what it feels like. Would you expound a little bit more on how your presence has deepened in the year and a half that you work with Steve Hardison.

Ah, gosh. Let me see if I can sum it up.

That's another one of those big questions.

Do we have two hours? You right at least? Yeah, I mean, from the first my very very first session with him I skip the beware because I just knew and you know, went for the Uh, the whole the whole tamale, right, I guess, they say,

I guess that's what we're gonna say.

Steve, you know, he said, he sat me down in his office versus, you know, you go to his home and, and, and he greets you and would you like some water? What would you commit? What can I get you and he talks to you about his his studio. And and then he takes you there. And we went on a little field trip, my first my first session. And Steve said that he had had a dream the night before he woke up, and he called his next door neighbor, and asked if he could have permission to bring me over to her house. And so we went on a little excursion over there. And I remember it was a really hot day, maybe 100 It was April, that must have been 100. And something. And we went over and her unfortunately, her foundation at her house is falling apart. And, and you can see it from the back of the house that the structure of the house is beginning to collapse. And, and she's in her 80s. And it's just, you know, my heart really went out tore. And so the whole time, Steve is using that as an analogy for how important our foundation is. And that without a really solid foundation. It's nearly impossible for us to grow at this accelerated rate. Because what happens is our crumbling base, or you might say our judgments get in between us and our growth and the work that I was doing with Steve. And fascinating enough Cordelia I had the entire foundation of my own home, redone, and about a year and a half prior. And I was in denial about my foundation. And it wasn't until I decided to have bulldoze my entire backyard. Because I was putting in my new sanctuary for my coaching studio. And my guy who was doing the excavation. Paul calls me over on day one and says, Karen, have you noticed the cracks in your foundation? And like, yeah, do some about that. Okay, Paul, I've been in denial happened just

like a year and a half. Now,

okay, universe speaking to me. And then that's where Steve starts. And, and of course, I had the foundation had 26 piers put in 2626 feet down. Wow. And yeah, so completely redid my structure of my home and backyard and such. So it was just, I mean, that's where it started. Cordelia and like you said, we could spend, you know, hours going through all of you know, the the creation of the document the distinctions that I learned when I was with him. It just, it was incredible. And I'll share one story that will bring this home, and that is that December 30. of last year of 2021. We had a massive wildfire. I live in the suburbs. The last thing you would ever expect is a wildfire in December, but we had these chinook winds that came in that were 115 miles an hour. And so from six miles away a uncontrolled little fire became a massive wildfire wiped out more than 1000 houses. So this wildfire was headed our way and again you know I'm too out on the deck taking video. Davidson me sending you know to my next door neighbor who's out of town I'm and, and pretty soon, my client from Germany is calling me and saying, Karen, I'm on the ski slopes with my daughter, but my wife just called me in your neighborhood is evacuating. I'm like, Whoa,

Wow, how did he know? That's crazy?

His wife was talking to her friends who live in our neighborhood. And apparently, that there was no nobody. That was an issue. No one got a call or reverse 911 or alarms or anything? Nothing. But yeah, people people got the word. And then we started evacuating. And even as we're evacuating, I'm looking at all of my photo albums and thinking, Should I take him shutter guide and, and my kids were visiting for the holidays. And they're like, Mom, you gotta get out. I'm like, Okay. Turn on the sprinklers in the back. And, you know, and Alex is like, Are you sure you don't want to get to China. And so we're evacuating. And it was just, it was surreal. And I thought a couple hours went by, and we're all on our phones. And we had just gone to like a coffee shop and South Boulder. That was about six miles away. And but as we were driving there, I could see the flame, see the fire see these neighborhoods burning. And that's when it really set in that Oh, my goodness, this is really happening. And but still thinking I'm going back to my house tonight, right? No, you're not. And so friends are all reaching out offering spaces, we finally get to one of my friend's house. And we had five adults, one with COVID Two dogs. So yeah, make special arrangement arrangements. And it was just surreal. And I immediately went to my document. And there was a line from a document and filled with a pure sense of inner peace. And I just kept repeating that to myself, I get chills. Now as I share that. And as we were watching on the news, and there was my neighbor towards two houses down his his yard was burning fence trees. house behind us two houses burned, flat 27 houses burned on my street. I just kept repeating and filled with a pure sense of inner peace. And I remember kids were like, We're so sorry. My daughter was like, I'm so sorry, Mom, I was rushing you. And we didn't get anything because it really looked like our house was gone. And I just looked at all of them. I said, You know what? I am filled with a pure sense of inner peace. Most important thing to me, in all the world is right here in this room, and I am fine. And I was I slept I slept beautifully. It was it was amazing. Because normally I would have been drawn into the drama of it. And it wasn't at all. Not even I was thinking, oh, you know, I miss those Christmas ornaments or you know, I know I have some pictures, but I'll miss those baby pictures and things. Other than Sia, it's all fine. It's all good. I'm good. And, and, and I just real I've never felt so clear that it didn't I was unattached to whether my house made it through the fire or didn't make it to the fire. What was most important was who I was being my way be in that in that moment.

As a beautiful, like, example of true presence, you know, yeah, and what it what it really is to its speaks to the volume of work that you've had been doing because we're where you had previously been in denial even that day. And you had the crumbling foundation. Finally, you know, you were a pillar of your own life, even as it was all disappearing and burning away. Yeah.

Yeah, that here I am, and we're back in our home. We had smoke damage, but it was all all cleared up. I had the most amazing experience with my insurance, which I can tell you 90% of the people have not it but it was created through me with all my adjusters, every one of them It was all created here. And all created in my work with Steve. Yeah.

Wow. So that's a testament also of, you know how you, you can create your life through how you're being?

Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you for sharing that. That does. It's such a beautiful story. And like, as you were telling it, I could feel even the shift in your energy when you chose to focus on that line in your document. Yeah. And you got really grounded and present. With that. And you you created being that. And the ripple effect of that is I think that could have you even protected your home. It does protect your home, except for the smoke damage, right?

Yeah, yeah, we had a part of our fence that burned. And it came within a foot of my next door neighbor's house burned, you know, the whole side yard and mailbox is part of the roof. And so it was it, it. I don't know if it protected our house or not. But I really felt at peace with whatever was meant to be and what was to come. I was unattached to the outcome. I just knew that it was either way it was all going to work out. And it was all going to be fine. And that it was perfect to me. Perfect timing, perfect wake up call for the world. You know, that? That never before? Has this community to cities ever experienced a wildfire? And so it's we're getting Wake Up Calls for the planet, and how we live our lives. And that there's, it's time to really become part of a change in the world. Yeah.

So where else? Have you seen this? The rush thresholds of being the change in the world happening in your work in my work?

Every day? Yeah, yeah. Every day, you know, I started this work back in 2007. I, I left corporate in 2006. And my my mother passed in 2005. And as I stood graveside, at her funeral, I could hear her again, this is one of those moments again, where when you're deeply listening, you can hear and my mother said to me, when are you going to do something about this. And I knew exactly what she meant. And what she was talking about was my life. Because I was living a life then, that many of my clients live now. And it was a life of, you know, Superwoman 6070 hours a week with, you know, the commute into the office, back home, and then two young kids husband, and trying to do it all. Not in none of it all that successfully with a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress. And so I knew, I thought, okay, she's right, that I need to do something about this. And so 2006 Our, my, the company I was with was being acquired. It was perfect timing for me to leave. And now we see this repeated pattern of denial. I am planning to leave. And I also wasn't planning to sign a seven year non compete. And so that came down to the last day. And I was a shareholder. Everyone had signed a contract, except for me, and my CEO, I love her. She's amazing. But that day, she gave me an ultimatum. And that day, again, little voice was like, take it take deal. You're crazy and I did it I took the ultimatum was like, oh, okay, yeah. Because I could just hear my mother, when are you gonna do something about this? And a seven year non compete with tie me in and I was like can't do that. And so that was the day I packed up unexpectedly, completely unexpectedly, came home and sat at my desk in my office upstairs for a week and did nothing. Oh, what did I just do? To do nothing. That's not an exaggeration. Like, I just sat there like, what is going on? I have never been an entrepreneur. I don't know.

We could say that was your jumpstart into meditation.

Right? Exactly. Yes, I did. I had already started meditating back in in March of 2006. And that really supported me through a lot of this. So March 2006, July 2006. So I had been meditating for about three months. And yeah, I thought, well, the phone rang like that, you know, my phone's ringing. It was a consultant who we had worked with back in 2004. And she said, Karen, you know, here, you're no longer at the company, would you like to come and do some work with with me? And like, Absolutely. I'm just sitting here. That then started the journey of consulting. And then from there, I'd done some volunteer work. And one of the board members said, Hey, have you ever done coaching? And I said, what I said, when they did consulting, no, but absolutely, I can do that. And then I've managed 27 people I love people love to do that. And so she introduced me to the CEO of a company where she sat on another board, and I started my coaching career and got every book I could possibly get my hands on around coaching, and then finally went to coach training school, and, and then in 2012, that's when I discovered Steven rich, and the prosperous coach is all history. And so you know, it my, my whole, my whole purpose is really to bring more love care, kindness and humanity into the world through my service in coaching. And I'm very clear about that. And I deeply serve my clients that I work with. I love my clients dearly, all of them, all of them that I've worked with over the years. They're amazing. And so this is it. Cordelia, this is my home stretch. This is what we'll be doing for the remainder of my life here on Earth.

And it suits you so perfectly. Karen, I have to say, I Yeah, truly, I mean, just being with you today, and in previous conversations. And in reading your new book with Alex, on how to get the most out of coaching. It speaks volumes to how much you truly do love your clients. And you want all coaches to love their clients, too. I love reading that book, because it helps me see who I'm being as a client. Yes. Which reflects directly on who I'm being a coach, you know, because if you're not a good client, how could you be a good coach? Right? That's what I think. What prompted writing that book. Is it is it this love you have for coaching or tell me more about that?

Well, the origin of the book was Alex and I, we take these morning walks with our dog jacks, on the weekends, and we get up early, typically around five, six in the morning, and we go out for a beautiful walk. And one day we're walking. And Alex says to me, I really want to create something for my clients, so they can understand how to get the most out of working with me. And I just I stopped in my tracks and I was like, Alex, that's brilliant.

It's like you never thought of that. Right?

Like, and guess what else? There's no book out there like it because I've looked for it. And, and he was like, really? And I'm like, yeah, he goes, I was just kind of thinking like a little ebook. I'm like, no, no, no, no, this is big. This is huge. And so both of us had written books, right. I had co authored a couple of books to up to that point. He'd written four or five books up to that point. And so For, I would say, a good year or so we were both kind of pointed, okay, you write that book, okay? No, you write that book. It's a book because a lot of heavy lifting, so a lot of where I've written like one or two. It was like, Okay, we're gonna write this book. And so we started going to the coffee shop. And we started outlining the book. And then in February of 2020, just before COVID, I had said to Alex, I said, you know, we really should put a stake in the ground on the book and announce it to the ACS don't think he's like, that's brilliant. And so I asked Steve, I said, Steve can tell the room about our book, I want to get the reaction. And so we did. We had Steve gave us like, 30 minutes to talk about our book with our coaches, and they were over the moon. They were just like, how I was when Alex and I were talking like, Oh, my God, there's no book out there. Like that is brilliant. And so we knew we had to do it. COVID hit literally, like that couple weeks later. And we looked at each other was like, hey, there's that perfect time. Perfect timing. Let's do it. Let's do it. And so it, it took a while. But we launched the book, last September of 2021. So what was that like a year and a half? At the point where we really got serious about the book, and very, very proud. Both of us are very proud of this book. It's our best ever.

Is it amazing. It is like the ultimate book about how to be how to get the most out of coaching. It's so I mean, it talks about stuff that I didn't even think about, it's kind of like the unconscious stuff underneath the layers of being a client, you know? Yeah,

yeah. It's, it is the thing that was missing, where there's so much ambiguity around it, that, you know, you start with a new coaching client, they've never been coached before. They don't know how to even meet you halfway yet. We want them to meet us halfway, so that we can, you know, help them but they don't know how, and and nor have they ever known how. And so that's what this book does is it really helps them get clear about how they can show up to the coaching, and get the most out of their experience. And we've made it really nice to short 146 pages, so they don't even have to read a lot. It's just punchy, has lots of good ideas, tips, exercises, and, and there's even more to come. Which I can't announce yet. More coming.

Of course there is there's always more. Yeah, that that's so beautiful. Thank you for putting that gift into the world. You can. Yeah. So coming back to the screen. Yeah, I feel like now that I know all the other things that I didn't know about you, and your work and how you got to be here. I'm I'm wondering how much of that that screen is like a filter when you're working with clients? Um, I guess my question here is about, do you have the capacity to also see into what's their life purpose? Not that you're a fortune teller, or clairvoyant or anything like that. But I, I'll give you a little background of where I'm coming with coming from with this. So it's my understanding that, indeed, our whole life does play before us when you know, it's the end of our life. And indeed, we actually have seen all of it before we even come into our human form. And the gift is in the forgetting, because that's actually the meaning of human being the one who forgets, right. So the fact that you began your life for getting what you knew was going to happen, and then you got a little glimpse of it again, and you came back because of that, oh, wait, I have a great purpose and great work to do here. Right. And then you forgot again. It's just in in the forgetting, how do you Who is is that the enlightenment that you share with your clients? Letting them know that the great part is all about the not knowing what you don't know? Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's for me, and I can only speak to my own personal experience is that I trust always that I'm guided, I trust always that I'm living on purpose. And that if something appears as a tragedy, or a negative event, I know that beyond it is a lesson. For me. I know that beyond it is something magical for me to learn, as I as I experience this life. And so I only speak from my own personal experience. And my as for my clients, they will all share with you then deeply into it. And if you read any testimonials, you know, they call me a divining rod. I'm, uh, you know, so those things. And so. And that's just from deeply listening. And in allowing that source to come through you, and speak through you. And if anyone's ever sat with Steve Hardison, you'll see that he has become a master at this practice. And so I don't go much into my near death experience or forgetting and the value of forgetting. But I do love to remember. Because bits and pieces come in, then you remember, very much like deja vu. Yeah.

I love God. So I know now that you are complete with Steve, and how does that feel?

Well, interestingly enough, one of my clients, he's a coach. I've worked with them for five years. And at the end of my session with him yesterday, he said, Jerry, can I share something with you? I said, Absolutely. He said, I think the seeds that were planted in your work with Steve Hardison have only just begun to germinate that I'm seeing those seeds sprout and grow. But I think they just began, that there's going to be best of growth, where you're going to be witness to. And that really resonate. For me, it was beautiful for him to mirror that back for me, because that's exactly what I was feeling. Inside. That there were there was so much that Steve and I did together. And so many new distinctions that I learned in return together, that it'll, it'll forever live inside of me. And one being in the, in the work that I

do. Now, see, like, when you told me that you were complete with Steve and I was like, maybe like, you're not going to drive, drive, fly to his house anymore. And, you know, there is no completion when it comes to working. Yeah,

yeah. No, there is no completion. Yeah, it just, it just continues to flourish and grow. And it stays with you, it becomes part of your DNA at a cellular level.

Truly, truly. Yeah. I can feel that I'm experiencing that. And I'm sure even people that, you know, we'll be listening or watching this conversation. They're going to feel

the ripple effects of that. Yeah, yes. And that's what we want. That's exactly what I want is for who I am being to have a ripple effect on every person that I encounter. And there was one session where Steve and I had mentioned a homeless small group of homeless people that lived under a viaduct near his home. And I said, Oh, would you like to go see them now? And he's like, Would you like to do that for your session? I said, Yeah, Let's do it. Again. It was a super hot day, because you want me to dry. We can walk there. So first thing he does is he goes through his entire pantry and pulls out all this food for them. And then we're walking and I said, oh my goodness, maybe we should get your book. And he's like, Ah, great idea your house gets his book. And, and so we went, and Alicia, who he had met before, who was living under the viaduct wasn't there, but her boyfriend was there. And so there we are crawling underneath, because it wasn't a very high ceiling. So we had to crawl underneath the viaduct to go sit with Brian her boyfriend. And and I was just witnessing, who Steve was being with Brian. And it. It was amazing to hear him ask Ryan all these questions and to watch Brian, open his heart and begin to share and tell the truth. You know, there's story in the ultimate coach book where Steve is having a conversation with someone who just so yeah, well, this was an very similar, he's having this conversation with Ryan. And it was a profound experience. And then, of course, we ran into Alicia. And Alicia loves to read. And so she's reading the ultimate coach. Oh, wow. I love it. You know, it was just such a beautiful experience, beautiful day. And such a wonderful example of who we can be every day, as we practice over being with whomever, whenever. And that it's always a practice and you're always in practice with everyone.

And you know, it's it's almost like my last question was going to be what else would you like to put in the space? And that that story about Alicia and Ryan is perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much, Karen, for being here today. And I love who you're being and how you're changing people's lives. And being a stand for heart opening experiences. Thank you.

Thank you and such a pleasure to be interviewed by you the ultimate joy monger. You are.

Thank you,

I love it. But thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to hear from me, to me to be able to share my life and my stories with the rest of the folks that are listening.

You're very welcome.