On the first day of my life coach training and certification in North Carolina, the students were asked by the instructors to introduce ourselves; we were asked our names, where we traveled from, and how we arrived at the idea to become a life coach.

I was seated in the back, so mostly everyone got to talk about themselves first. As I listened to the responses, I knew mine would be unique.

“Hi, I’m James. I’ve traveled from South Carolina to be here. I’m becoming a life coach due to a dream I had. And when I say ‘dream,’ I mean a sleep dream. Every major turning point in my life has been preceded by a dream, so I take their guidance very seriously. So you can say that I’m chasing a dream.”

When I was finished, I could see that everyone was looking directly at me. I knew my answer was unique.

The dream I had was a year prior to going to the class. At the time, I was working on my Reiki Level 2 training and certification. Reiki, for those not familiar, is a Japanese energy healing modality that was founded by the late Dr. Mikao Usui. It is applied hands-on, and the benefits are increased relaxation, stress reduction, and possible pain relief. I had my first class the day prior to the dream.

In the dream, I am walking on the first floor of a hotel. I go up to the second floor, and happen upon a bookstore. I go in and look around, coming to some mechanical pencils. There is a man I see through a passway in a wall. He is about to eat some food, when I take the plate from him and draw a Reiki  symbol above the food in the air, and tap the symbol into the food. When the man asks me what I am doing, I tell him I am blessing the food.

I was excited by the dream because it referenced Reiki, after only having attended the Level 2 class one day; my initial impression was that I was on the right track with the Reiki training.

I also knew that the dream was referencing my spiritual gift of counseling, which has repeatedly shown up in dreams in the past. I had written about this on my other blog “life of HIMM,” so most people know this about me already. Little did I know what else, regarding this counseling ability, would come from the dream

I am very adept at interpreting my own dreams, but I felt inclined to send this to my mentor, Michael Sheridan, of Aisling, for his input. Michael is a very knowledgeable man when it comes to dream interpretation, and I always learn a great deal from our interactions. When he sent me an mp3 in an e-mail, I listened to it immediately. I was pleased with the analysis he provided, burned it to a disc, and filed it away.

Fast forward to a year later. I was folding laundry (of all things) and thinking about making some serious career changes. I was working at a corporate job, while doing intuitive consulting work on the side, with the incorporation of Reiki into my practice. While doing the chore of folding clothes, I received the intuitive prompt to find the CD with the dream on it and listen to it again.

Now, mind you, I hadn’t really listened to it since that initial time when I first got it. There’s a saying that when you re-read a book or listen to a recording, you catch things you didn’t read or hear the first time.

I listen to the CD again, and I get to the final moments of Michael’s interpretation. He talks about the counseling ability, and makes the distinction between counseling in the spiritual sense and counseling in the professional sense. And, it so happens that I am in graduate school for my Master of Arts in Psychology, the end goal to become a licensed professional counselor (LPC).

“In the meantime,” Michael says, “you could become a life coach, while you seek traditional certification and licensure in counseling.”

It was this statement that I don’t recall hearing the first time. I immediately felt a rush. I had to know more about life coaching. I began doing research about it, and discovered something else I had set an intention around.

I wanted to be able to find a way to gain experience in the counseling field before I got my degree, so it would be easier to find work. Life coaching is a process in which a background in psychology is helpful, but a coach does not dispense advice or offer therapy; this is great, as I am not licensed to do so (yet).

And that was how I found myself in North Carolina, getting trained and certified to be a life coach. I also, a week later, received training in another form of coaching. I’ll talk more about that in a future post.

Until then, pay attention to your dreams, both the waking and the sleeping variety. If you think your dreams are directing you toward your life’s work, you can talk to me about it. I can be reached by e-mail or through my contact page.

Sweet dreams!

James

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