‘Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara!’ This in Sanskrit speaks in praise of teacher. Other things lie in natures which are equally effective as teacher. Fire is one such teacher, besides disease, aging, hurricanes, cyclones, et al. Even gadgets like computer, cell phone, TV are the tool/media that teach us something instructional. In the list we can also include failed love, business loss, loss of loved ones, a clash with law, etc. This is in the sense that ‘Once bitten, twice shy’. How right is this expression; after eating a humble pie anyone in his or her right mind does not attempt the past misadventure once more and even does so he or she will be careful enough?

Apart from the negative benefits from inanimate teachers apart, mother is the epitome of teaching in one’s life. She is the prime motivator right from our birth, constantly guiding us toward our success, without taking a vacation even. Nearer home, father influences our lives profoundly as far as the cultivation of mind is concerned, duly molding our character. Sibling and friends play a large part as the role models.

Coming to next teacher, the first person who is a acknowledged as a giant in knowledge is always one’s first teacher in school. We learn some basic techniques of learning only from them. The later gurus are just case study developers in every walk of life be it in engineering medicine, business schools. There are other gurus in life such as mentors who are like foremen in the factories teaching their apprentices. We can call them also team leaders in the software, consulting, marketing analogy... Tutors, councilors, Caste elders, religious preachers, psychologists, guides fall in other categories of teachers not discussed here.
 
I came across a real Guru in Bengaluru sometime ago. She is an American by name Maria Nemeth, a Master Life Coach. She taught me such things like no one told before. Or might be I was not that much well focused to pick them early on in my humble life. The lady gracefully admitted to the fact that her teachings have the origins only in the East.

She happened to be one of the modern day qualified Master coaches, officially recognized as such world over. This profession caught up very fast in the US. Though it has not so much appeal in India, it does a world of good to us only if one is aware of what exactly it is.

As my coach she stirred in me the need to try and excel in certain qualities of life (she calls them ‘attributes’).These attributes cannot be quantified as such it is difficult to be compared in relative terms against other people tangibly. Some of them are: appreciation, attentiveness, authenticity, awareness, compassion, courage, creativity, equanimity, friendliness, generosity, humbleness, integrity, intelligence, joy, loyalty, magnanimity, piety, righteousness, supportiveness, trust, truthfulness, warmth, and the like.

The above are not taught in any school as such. One can add to the list of standards of integrity (what she calls), straight from one’s own heart. Once can recognize these attributes in the others around us and acknowledge to them they have them right, right to their face. By acknowledging the fact to the possessor of such qualities, these qualities will be increased in us and simultaneously we too will imbibe them in our own self in considerable proportions. After sometime people tell us we have them truthfully.

When you are a hero (woman included) having such traits and/or when you are able to recognize them in the others, such persons are really coachable by the others.

Ironically, the only tangible gains (Income) we take out of our lives are the above attributes. In the society people are compared against one another. We say ‘so and so’ is a billionaire. Some other person we call ‘a multibillionaire’. But we cannot say some one is half courageous and the other one full courageous. Courage is courage. It cannot be less or more. So is honesty. One is honest or not honest at all. It is because courage, honesty are attributes of humans, or standard of integrity. It cannot be compared in relative terms. Either you have them or we don’t have them. Only thing is our effort will always be toward improving ourselves in such attributes in our daily interactions with the others. (This too in an acknowledgeable way -at least to ourselves first).

To accentuate our own integrity we have to openly acknowledge to ‘someone’ truthfully at every available opportunity that he or she is having such quality or qualities. It requires lot of courage to speak the truth right in the face of the possessor of a attribute/trait. Many of us feel shy to say that in person. They prefer to write that to the person or indirectly communicate to them. Here I take the example of mother. She is the first coach in life. She says to her son or daughter right in the face praising truthfully the attributes that I mentioned above.

If we set our goals to achieve these qualities to such an extent for others to acknowledge we have them both in word and deed we are a step ahead in our education. If five such qualities or attributes are achieved in a year then one will be a billionaire without a second thought. It is because money chases qualities/attributes/integrity standards automatically.

Modern coaching has a lot to offer on these lines and the above is just an introduction for someone to search the net and other resources and get the benefits of this coaching. It should be understood coaching as a profession is a serious vocation. The coach swears confidentiality of the client’s information. The coach listens to the client more than the client listens to the coach.

Coach is not a teacher in the strict sense. It is more than that. It is strictly a professional relation for a specific need. After the job is done and the goal attained by the client, the coach remains a stranger or at best a good friend.

In the films Sharouk khan plays as such professional coach in a Hindi film, Chak de India. Besides there are life coaches like the one from the US I have met in Bangalore. There are health coaches too in the line. Wishing good luck to those who are interested to grow in this coaching field.