Noble, Awesome, Shiny: Cultivating Presence that Fosters Change

What do these three simple words — Noble, Shiny, Awesome — inspire in you? Before reading on, take a moment and jot down a thought or two.

I love to learn and am constantly looking to widen and stretch my perspectives. I believe that to live is to grow. A few days ago a fellow student in a course called The Neuroscience of Change (Coaches Rising) suggested I take a look at a short video called Noble, Awesome, Shiny. We had been discussing ways of exploring more deeply the concept of presence. According to Amanda Blake, one of the course leaders, there is substantive research in both treatment and coaching bodies of literature that supports the idea that the quality of a healer’s or coach’s presence is one of the most important contributors to better outcomes. In medicine, it is widely accepted that a beneficial doctor-patient relationship fosters healthier patients. Most doctors that I know don’t think about “managing” their own presence. But what if we did? What would be different if we spent 30 seconds tuning into our desired presence, a kind that helps us and those around us?

In the short video Wendy Palmer leads her audience through a somatic centering practice called Noble, Awesome, Shiny. After doing it, I experienced a sense of lightness when lengthening my spine by stretching upward toward the sky from a grounded position. I felt a little bit of noble too. When exploring her concept of Awesome I felt spaciousness in a bubble around me that I could fill with joy. And Shiny caused me to smile.

How do you think that affected the rest of my day and the people I met? If you practiced this simple exercise, what would shift in you? In your relationships? And in your life?