EP134 Making it Real: Showing Up Authentically For Your Clients (& Yourself)

When you tune in to Making it Real, it usually comes with a lot of advice on growing your business, client success, and health coach/ practitioner-related strategies.

This week, we’re switching it up.

Because we truly believe that in order to connect with your clients, your growth, and your business development, you need to connect deeper with yourself!

Who better to guide us through that process than Joyce van der Lely?

Joyce’s whole mission is to help her clients become unapologetically themselves and this week on Making it Real she is teaching us how to connect with our deeper selves and listen, understand and tap into the mysteries of everyday life so that we can show up authentically for both ourselves AND our clients.

If you are feeling like your life is a bit of a mystery right now, that you succumb to fear or are just looking for a completely refreshing POV, this is a must-listen!

Why Do You Think it’s so hard to be 100% Ourselves?

Joyce says that “most people that are here and listening have been brought up in a similar way,  being a good person & pleasing others!”

And because we spend so much of our lives thinking about how we are pleasing those around us, it oftentimes translates to a loss of connection to ourselves, our needs, and our innate desires.

As we mature, the feelings of disconnection can come on stronger and many of our struggles start to surface, such as guilt or shame when you please yourself, or a loss of recognition of your needs because you’ve been so disconnected from them.

So as we start to show up for ourselves more and tune in, it becomes easier to recognize what we need as individuals in order to feel whole.

However, there are a few levels of showing up authentically for yourself that Joyce acknowledges can be difficult:

1. Knowing what you want or need but being ashamed to start - here you have been able to conceptualize what it is that will make you feel happy, but you feel guilty or ashamed asking for it.
2. Not knowing what you want or understand what you need to be happy - and here it can be a bit muddy as there is a complete disconnect or unrest for your innate desires. This kind of authenticity is hard to crack!

Joyce also reminds us that we need to understand that it takes time to find those layers in order to peel them back. She recommends that no matter where you are in your self-love journey, always start at the surface so you can uncover what it is you need.

Be a child, like a kid who often asks questions so you can begin to learn about yourself and your thoughts and emotions.

— Joyce

Peeling the Layers Back From Your Self-Awareness as Well as Your Client’s Self-Awareness

Many of us put up a boundary around self-awareness and self-healing because it can get messy and that can be scary for when we are showing up for our own clients.

But is it necessary to be 100% for your clients?

While you do need to be a leader for your clients, self-healing is a journey for all of us! You can be the strong one and present yourself as a leader while going through your own healing processes at the same time. The biggest thing to remember is that distancing yourself so much that you are untouchable and unreachable for your clients is when they feel like they cannot trust you.

It’s really important for your clients to see that you are also human so that you can deepen your connection with them and they can see how your own personal path led you to them! Show them that you have taken the steps, climbed the stairs, and broke through the barriers to building your own strength so they can follow in your footsteps!

(Inviting your feedback: What value did you get out of this podcast episode? What could we have done differently to make it a more successful listening experience for you? What questions do you wish were asked or elaborated on further? Let us know! Email the host directly: kiki.athanas@mealgarden.com)

What Does a Deeper Connection to Self Mean and How do We Do It?

One of the biggest tips that Joyce has for connecting with the true experience of our senses is to allow yourself the time, patience and practice and then you can start to grow from within.

Like a flower opening up its petals. You get a deeper connection with the energies around you, it feels like it’s a start because when you keep practicing it grows and it’s infinite.

— Joyce

Connect with the more primal part of yourself so that you can open the door to your true self!

What’s your favorite way to recharge?

Joyce mentions that her favorite way to recharge is to make or create something artistic, whether it’s painting, journaling, sculpting, carving, even as simple as making a sandcastle on a beach.

She says that creative expression helps her calm down and then spirit takes over into a meditative space and she feels her guides and guardians come to her in the process. When the ritual is complete, she then receives an anchor or keepsake that can hold her story and be a vessel.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

We learn that it can be really difficult to be 100% ourselves but if we ask the right questions and start at the top layer, we can unfold what it is that truly makes us whole or will truly complete us.

You, as a coach, can do the work in order to guide your clients through their healing processes, and the more authentic you are, the more approachable you will be.

Curious how you can connect with Joyce?

Joyce’s websites - www.theartemist.com and https://joycevanderlely.com/

*This podcast is sponsored by Meal Garden ~> Click here to sign up today for a 3-month special offer, only for our podcast listeners :)

‍