We recently connected with CORINNA STOEFFL and have shared our conversation below.

CORINNA, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I want on my tombstone: Contemplating life deeply, she had unique perspectives.. At this point in my life, I consider myself an elder, visionary and mystic. Lately, as a result of writing a book, I have been really looking at what does it mean to be an elder. In our Western cultures, especially in the USA where I have been living for the bigger part of my life, we don’t have elders. We have old people. Yet the transition we are in requires elders to help us navigate. Only the world has changed so much that the usual notion of an elder may no longer apply. I still perceive the importance of personal development and it may not take as long as it was in the past. Within my life time, the vocabulary in psychology and what personal development includes has changed.

I am interested in inviting people to not just grow older, but to become elders. That gives a purpose that so many people tend to loose after retirement. And I desire to start a conversation about elderhood and what it means in the context of humanity needing to evolve. I talk about moving from Humanity 1.0 with competition, selfishness, gree, mono-culture and judgment to Humanity 2.0 with collaboration, love, generosity, appreciation of diversity and allowance..

A contribution to the evolution of humanity would be my legacy.

CORINNA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Working with people, I decided in the mid 90’s to get a Masters in Counseling and worked in agencies. After my move to New Mexico and working some years as a photographer, I started Being in Awareness as my coaching business. Initially, I made the mistake of wanting to work with everybody. Over the years, I focused on working with people in a transition and narrowed it down to the transition into elderhood.

My ability to be fully present and listen to the client allows me to ask questions that moves clients quickly to the underlying reasons for their struggles. Focusing on people over 50, I support them in finding a new purpose that is not tied to the work they do/did; to get a deeper sense of who they are beyond the usual data points. As a life coach, my goal is to provide clients with the tools to craft a life that is fulfilling for them without me having any preference in what it should be.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

For me, being willing to be really honest with myself contributes tremendously to resilience.

Earlier in my life telling me I am a victim would have been insulting. At one point, being sick, I suddenly became aware of how much I played the victim., manipulating people around me. I was surprised and wondered how I had become so “skillful” at being a victim since I did not see myself as such.

I learned how blind we are to what we do not want to see because it does not fit our self identity. Owning it, in the end gave me freeedom and made me compassionate towards others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When you have a business, you need to network. Right?! So I went to network meetings and, if you would have been there, you would have found me somewhere on the edge of the room, not in the middle. I would have a conversation if someone approached me, but not start one or approach another. I was shy and did not belief i knew enough to be a good coach.

At some point, I realized that I was the best kept secret. It took me a few years to turn this around, to become confident enough to not only step into the ‘middle’ of the room, but also approach others, talk about who I am and what I do. I joined Toastmasters to help with that and began to give workshops, going beyond the one on one session.

Contact Info:

• Website: https:beinginawareness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beinginawareness/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CStoeffl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinnastoeffl/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/beinginawareness
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/being-in-awareness

Image Credits

the images belong to me.