A complimentary journal journey on Existential Thinking for Coaches and Therapists as we pause to close the year.

Most of what brings people to coaching or therapy seems ordinary enough: a promotion that brings no satisfaction, a marriage that has lost its warmth, guilt over poor choices made in the past, a decision postponed for years, or nights spent worrying about the future. We have useful ways of understanding and working with these difficulties.

Existential philosophy offers us an alternate deeper and meaningful lens.

In Existential Psychotherapy, Irvin Yalom describes four fundamental concerns that are part of being human: death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness. These concerns often lie beneath the problems people bring to us. A client struggling to choose between two jobs may also be confronting the responsibility of deciding what to do with their life. An executive who works every weekend may be avoiding the uncomfortable knowledge that time is limited.

Existential thinking gives coaches and therapists an ear for what lies beneath a client’s difficulties: questions of freedom, responsibility, meaning and mortality.

We cannot undo a client’s loss, guarantee that therapy will help, or protect anyone, including ourselves, from suffering and death. Sometimes our eagerness to reassure clients, find meaning in their experiences, or help them move forward may come from our own discomfort with uncertainty and helplessness.

Existential philosophy asks us to examine our own relationship with these experiences. The more willing we are to face difficult questions in our own lives, the better able we may be to stay with our clients as they face theirs.

Ten Philosophical Encounters is an invitation to explore ten ideas from philosophers who thought deeply about what it means to be human.

Over ten journal days, we will explore

• Søren Kierkegaard — The Dizziness of Freedom: Why does having choices make us anxious?
• Friedrich Nietzsche — Amor Fati: Could you learn to love your fate?
• Jean-Paul Sartre — Bad Faith: What stories do we hide behind?
• Simone de Beauvoir — Situated Freedom: How free are we, really?
• Albert Camus — The Absurd: What if life doesn’t make sense?
• Martin Buber — I–Thou: When do we really meet another person?
• Ludwig Feuerbach — God as Human Projection: Who creates our ideals?
• Hannah Arendt — Loneliness and Solitude: Can you keep yourself company?
• Keiji Nishitani — Emptiness: Who are you without your identity?
• Martin Heidegger — Being-towards-Death: What are you waiting for?

How will this journal journey work?

We will create a WhatsApp group for everyone who registers. Once you register and 2 weeks before the journey begins you will receive an email with a link to join the group.

Every morning, from 14–23 December, we will post a short introduction to one philosophical idea, followed by three journal prompts: one to explore your own life, one to reflect on your work with clients, and one to examine your assumptions as a practitioner. We will end with a closing reflection on 24 December.

You can be as involved as you wish.

You can journal in your own time, write as much or as little as you like, and share your reflections with the group if you want to. You are equally welcome to keep your writing private, read what others share, or simply follow the philosophical ideas without journalling at all.

There is no pressure to write every day or complete every prompt. You can miss a few days and return whenever you feel like it.

As the year draws to a close, we thought this might be an interesting way to spend some time reflecting on our lives, the choices we have made, the people we have become, and the work we do with others.