Radical Honesty; Radical Self-Compassion

I was recently on a site for life coaches in training, and one coach posted this question: 

"Three words came to me as I was coaching an individual yesterday to overcome their fear and calm their anxiety. The three words that I shared with the client were:

1. Confident ! , 2. Joyful ! , 3. Powerful !

I would like to hear from you what Three Words you have found  as a coach that inspire others?"

My response comes straight from my heart, and current personal experience.... As someone who periodically visits discouragement, apathy, and hopelessness, (aka right now.  Let's hear it for radical honesty!) I have been reflecting on what it might be that will sustain me when I'm face-down in the mud with a boot in my back. 

What sustains me most at such times are messages from my coach that say: 

1) they've been here too, and 

2) know how hard it is, and 

3) to hold on, keep breathing, and remember that I'm not alone. That this will, indeed, pass.

Then I go to tapping: "Even though I feel hopeless, apathetic, and discouraged, I deeply love and approve of myself anyway...."

Let's be fair: sometimes focusing on positive qualities to which I aspire is just what I need.  (I picture that YouTube video of the tiny girl on the bathroom sink punching the air and saying, "I love my WHOLE HOUSE! I can do ANYTHING....!") 

But sometimes chanting positive qualities just sinks me deeper into the mud, because of the gap between where I wish I was and where I am.

Sorry to be a devil's advocate. 

Confident! Joyful! and Powerful! are amazing words, and could work wonders, if I had any part of my psyche that could grab and hold on to them. Sometimes I don't even have that. (Hmmm. Perhaps my market niche will be coaching the really hard cases?)

Dark humour sometimes is far more powerful than "thinking positively," in my case.

So, for those like me, here are some wonderful bits of dark humour that have gotten me through the blacker times:

Things are darkest, just before ... they go completely black.

What doesn't kill you, just makes you ... wish you were dead.

When God closes a door, he opens a window ... to give you something to jump out of.

The light at the end of the tunnel ... is just a train coming.

We are born naked, wet, and hungry; then things get worse.

So when the platitudes and aphorisms are setting your teeth grinding, have a couple of these in your pocket.  They can brighten the day tremendously.  Anybody have others to share?

Ya gotta love humour.  

The God I believe in has a brilliant sense of humour and approves of this message.

Hang in there!

Alison