In today’s guest post spiritual formation coach Toni Knights shares a little about Hope coaching from the perspective of a Christian coach.

Hope is for Everyone

By Toni Knights

There are various coaching niches and one niche gaining popularity is Hope Coaching.  The principles utilised in this niche were previously mainly associated with Christian coaches.  However, most clients today are going through difficult times and with the prevailing sense of hopelessness in current world affairs, it appears that we all need hope.  A look at any newspapers today reveals the wave of hopelessness spreading through society.

So, what is hope coaching?  It is not overly-optimistic pep-talk, but an honest empathetic provision of Biblical hope for others facing crises of belief.  First, we need to understand there is a difference between false hope and Biblical hope.  The former hopes in money, prestige and power etc.; while the latter hopes in God (for Christians) or the Universe (as per Spiritual seekers).  As in all coaching scenarios, the coach listens to the story and looks at the client’s current situation; in addition to this, the Hope coach helps clients to move forward with a sense of expectancy.

What can hope do for us? Hope:

• Motivates us to look beyond what is to something better.
• Adds a zest to ordinary living.
• Helps us to cope with the inevitable unfortunate circumstances of life.

The five key principles of hope coaching which can be used across the niches are:

• Learning to hope – helping the client to observe what caused the unfortunate circumstance with an eye for improvement (not just positive mantras but recognition and hard work).
• Identifying sources of hope – God (or whatever your belief), forming healthy relationships, giving back to society through organisations (or privately) or encouraging others etc.
• Cultivating patterns of hope – seeing good in every situation of life not only the glamorous.
• Developing activities of hope – journaling, listening music, playing an instrument, dancing etc., and most importantly finding someone who defied the odds and observing them.
• Creating places or reminders of hope – look for places that remind you of life like gardens, ponds etc., [seeing beauty in nature (God’s creation)].   One client took some pictures of his backyard during winter and again during spring and we were able to acknowledge that life went on despite how bare the trees looked (analogy of the bare seasons of our lives when it appears that nothing is happening).

Whether you coach business clients or abused women, we could all benefit from hope.  Hope coaching is for everyone.

About Toni Knights

Toni Knights is a Christian Life Coach who runs the coaching practice “Life In Process.” She also facilitates workshops that focus upon self improvement.

You can read her weekly blog at http://justthinking-knightstoni.blogspot.com.

You can also find Toni on Facebook at www.facebook.com/knightstoni