What is your hard thing right now?

One thing I love about coaching is that we get to dedicate time to exploring our hardest thing.

By hardest thing, I mean the area of your life that feels the most unsettled. You may recognize it as an intractable challenge of some kind, some place you feel lost, or you may see it as a terrifying (or even exhilarating) learning edge.

I sometimes even feel it as a kind of calling to do something that I can't quite figure out how to do.

Regardless of the packaging it comes in, without fail - in my own life and in my coaching sessions - our hardest thing is always full to bursting with deep wisdom.

Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know. - Pema Chodron

I used to hope that the difficulties in life would be worth it in the end.

("Hopefully I'll learn something from this...")

Nowadays I am bombarded by evidence that each of our lives is unfolding with absolute precision to teach us what we need to know.

After years of coaching I no longer rely on hope. I can say with absolute confidence that your hard thing is bursting with life-giving insight.

This is why my Weekly Reset activity includes these two key reflections for the week ahead:

• Insight. A challenge I’m currently facing.

• Curiosity. What am I supposed to learn about myself or life by working with this challenge?

If you haven't played with the Weekly Reset yet, give it a try. Over time you may find that it helps you start to mine your hard thing for some juicy wisdom.

I've been doing in near-weekly for over a year now. I love that it helps me to balance my craving for practical action alongside my longing for deeper insights.

I first introduced the Weekly Reset activity in this article.​

If you feel like getting right down to it, you can download the activity here.​

Much love to you my friend,

Marijke Ocean