Hey there incredible human! Welcome to One Infinite Life.
My name is Chloe and I'm an award-winning Certified Life Coach and writer with a background in psychology.
My mission (the quick version) to to help you get the most out of your one infinite life.
I hope you find something here that makes your day (or life) better than it was before!
I acknowledge the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nations where One Infinite Life is operated from. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and also to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in my community and wider network.
Last Friday I went along to the Beautiful You Inspiration Day in Melbourne — and what an inspiring day it was! It was an honour to attend the day as a Certified Coach of the academy with my fellow coach buddies and to meet so many new coaches and coaches-to-be.
There’s something special about being in a room with the like-minded humans, and there’s something even more special when it’s for the Beautiful You Coaching Academy — the people that are drawn to this course (and the people behind it) are truly incredible.
Being a coach — and getting to this work — is amazing and so fulfilling, however, it can be lonely and disconnecting sitting behind a computer screen all the time. Which is why I’m so grateful for opportunities like this day and being able to connect in-person with so many amazing people who are travelling on the same path.
I know for myself, I left the day feeling even more excited, inspired and empowered about coaching and getting to do this work. And because of that, in this post I’m sharing my reflections and takeaways on this mega inspiring day.
And before we dive in, a huge thank you Fi Mims Photography for the most of the photos that are included in this post 🙂
BEAUTIFUL YOU INSPIRATION DAY:
REFLECTIONS & TAKEAWAYS
Kate James on Mindful Coaching
The first speaker of the day was Kate (from Total Balance), who kicked off the day with a grounding mindfulness practice and spoke to us about how mindfulness can help us to be our best coach self. And I was really blown away by her calm and grounded presence.
Kate described mindfulness as the way we live in and engage in the world. It’s purposely paying attention in the present moment — without judgement. She also described it as being connected with your own experience, which I think is one of the most simple but best ways I’ve heard mindfulness described.
Kate believes that both meditation and mindfulness can be beneficial as a coach because it helps us be connected to our intuition and to be present and calm, which I think are two really important things to be during client sessions.
Kate talked about we can begin to be more mindful by starting to notice our thoughts and feelings more often in a non-judgemental way (in other words not labelling them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ — but just noticing them). She shared her 5 mindful coaching pillars which are going to be an incredible guide for being a mindful coach (and human!).
My biggest takeaways from Kate were:
∞ How to put mindfulness into action during a coaching session (especially when you don’t know what to say!) by grounding into your feet, pausing, taking a breath and noticing.
∞ That you don’t have to be perfect or living a perfect life to be a coach — that it’s okay to be messy and imperfect. This is something I wrote about here, but something I’m always grateful to be reminded of.
∞ To be your best coach (and self) create solid foundations for yourself, which is something I talk about more here. You can work out what foundations will serve you by asking yourself: what habits energise you and which habits drain you? I found these questions to be very illuminating .
∞ Do it your way! By being true to your own vision of what an amazing business is. And don’t be afraid to go against the advice of experts (or anyone else) and do what’s true and right for you.
∞ When it comes to meditation: Practice consistently, but be flexible 
Melissa Ambrosini on Mastering Your Mean Girl
Next up was Melissa, who spoke about how we can master our mean girl and also help our clients to do the same. She shared her story about what led her to doing the works she does now and the role her Mean Girl has played in her life.
Your Mean Girl is another term for your inner critic or ego, which everyone has. It’s the part of you that thinks your not good enough and tries to keep you playing small.
Melissa shared that when she started health coaching she discovered that didn’t matter how well someone was eating or exercising if their Mean Girl was holding them back. She believes that the key to helping your client’s with their struggles (whatever that may be) is to help them deal with their Mean Girl. How?
Melissa shared with us her 3 step process for mastering your Mean Girl which includes:
1. Practicing awareness: This means noticing and becoming aware of the internal dialogue that your Mean Girl is telling you.
2. Gently closing the door on her: Once you’re aware you don’t need to fight or battle your Mean Girl, but instead choose to not to engage with her by ‘closing the door’.
3. Choosing love instead: The final step involves choosing love over fear and changing that inner dialogue you have with your Mean Girl.
My biggest takeaways from Melissa:
∞ The ego/inner critic/mean girl is apart of us all. It isn’t “bad” it just wants to keep us safe by playing small and staying in our comfort zones.
∞ We reprogram our Mean Girl’s thoughts by doing something different, as Melissa says: Nothing changes if nothing changes
∞ The more you practice this process the easier it gets — it’s a daily commitment.
∞ We can help our clients to master their Mean Girl by asking powerful questions and by really listening.
∞ Being the example is the most power way to inspire positive change for other people.
∞ Working on mastering your Mean Girl doesn’t been to be a drag, you can choose to have fun with it!
∞ Also if you’d like to win a free signed copy of Melissa’s book Mastering Your Mean Girl, step right this way 🙂
Coaching & Counselling panel with Kerry Jeffery and Johanna Parker
Next up, it was time for the panel on coaching and counselling with Kerry and Jo. I think that this is a really important discussion to be having because there can often be confusion between what a coach and a counsellor is. I also found this part of the day particularly interesting (and relevant) because I’m interested in coaching as well was working in the mental health industry, so as you can probably imagine my pen and notebook got a workout during this part of the day 😉
Kerry and Jo shared that if a client is stuck or struggling with something to the point where they can’t be in action, then they would benefit more from counselling, rather than coaching. This is something I think is really important to keep in mind when working with clients.
Something I really enjoyed about this part of the day is that I was reminded of how powerful holding space for someone else is, especially when they are in an emotional or vulnerable state.
My biggest takeaways from the panel:
On referring clients for counselling:
∞ Know that as a coach at some point you will probably have a client at some point that will need extra support such as counselling. This may be evident in the pre-coaching stage (during the questionnaire or initial consult) or issues may come up during the coaching series.
∞ It’s important to be willing to have this conversation with your clients if you think they would benefit from counselling.
∞ Be supportive by giving the client an opportunity to explore this and be useful in helping them navigate how they can navigate getting counselling support.
∞ Allow the client to be the expert in their own life — because they are.
∞ Trust your own intuition and judgement when it comes to referring clients to counselling and know that it’s completely okay to refer clients for this (and many other) reasons.
∞ An important and useful question to ask yourself is: Are you the right person to provide support to this person?
On dealing with fear:
∞ Fear doesn’t need to be negative. It’s the stories we attach to fear that make it negative, and therefore it’s important to support your clients to realise and acknowledge that they are experiencing fear and that’s completely okay.
∞ Fear is a natural part of the coaching experience, especially when you care about what you’re working towards and are getting outside your comfort zone.
∞ The opposite of fear is love and action
∞ It’s important to support your clients to be in action (even if it’s just small steps) even though they are experiencing fear and celebrate those small steps!
On clients with a low sense of self:
∞ It can be powerful to remind and magnify for the client all the things they have done, the steps they’ve already taken and the success they’ve already had.
∞ See your clients in all their magnificence. See them as they are and shine a light on them.
∞ When you are complimented you are given a gift – you can either stomp on it or accept it graciously.
A few more takeaways from the panel:
∞ To build a list of professionals you can refer your clients to look at your existing networks and get out from behind the computer and meet people in-person.
∞ You need to look after yourself to be a coach and your own self-awareness is crucial.
∞ It’s important to be aware of the warning signs, to be honest with yourself about what you need and to be constantly tending to your own self-care.
Ending the day with Julie Parker
We ended the day with a love-soaked, electric pep talk from Julie Parker herself, where she talked about friends, fear and faith. And honestly, I didn’t take notes during Julie’s talk because I was captivated by her words, which if you’ve seen her speak before you’ll totally know what I mean. But here are the standout things I took away from this section of the day and that have been in my thoughts since then:
∞ You cannot and do not have to do this alone. It’s important to surround yourself with other people on the same path, so you can support each other.
∞ Our greatest fears can be our greatest teachers
∞ Believe in your own magnificence.
∞ You only have ONE life and this ONE opportunity — make it count.
As you can tell it was a super inspiring day with so many takeaways and learnings that I’m sure I’ll continue to explore. Huge gratitude to Julie and the Beautiful You Team (pictured on the right) for such an incredible day.
If you’re interested in training to become a coach yourself with this amazing academy I’ve written a huge 3000+ words on my experience, including why I chose this course what I got out of my training (including the stuff I wasn’t expecting), what I’ve done since graduating and more! Plus I’m also sharing a special offer for future life coach trainees who are wanting to team up for their coaching journey (at no extra cost!).
You can read about my experience training with Beautiful You here.
Love & Gratitude,
PS. If you’re wanting even more insights into my experience I’ve created a FREE mini 5 day email series especially for you, where I’ll be revealing even more insights about my journey in becoming a coach.
In this mini email series I share how I became a coach, what I wish I had known before doing my training, what I would do differently during my training if I had my time again, the honest truth about what I got out of the course, and answers to questions I’m frequently asked about the course and my experience.
Plus you also get support and guidance to help you work out if this is the right life coach course for you, to ask me any questions you have about the Beautiful You course and my experience, plus the opportunity to sit down with me for a FREE 30 minute chat and Q&A about my experience if you’d like to.
If you’re interested in becoming a Beautiful You coach, simply enter your details below to find out more about my experience 🙂