What is existential coaching? When I tell someone I approach coaching from an existential frame, they usually have one of two responses: Cool! or What? Both responses are usually followed by ‘so what exactly is existential coaching?’ It’s not about walking around thinking or talking about death all the time (an over generalization about existentialists). You may, however, find me sitting in a coffee shop discussing the meaning of life and the struggles of this human existence! I do some of my most productive work in coffee shops (like writing this post). Existentialism is an often misunderstood philosophy, probably because there are as many versions of existentialism as there are existentialists. Here is yet another interpretation of existentialism used in my approach life and coaching.
There are several concepts from existentialism that influence my approach. To help explain these concepts, I created a character: existential Tim (eTim)©. I visualize eTim as this tall, dark, and handsome Frenchman sitting in the coffee shop across from me writing in a very worn moleskin and enjoying a simple cup of coffee (not a latte or cappuccino). Whenever I need to discuss existentialism, I see Tim [I.C. T.I.M.]
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