ERICA NARDELLA — Special to Southern News
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines confidence as the quality or state of being certain.
This past Tuesday the Counseling Services held a program called Quarter Life Coaching & Leadership: Answers for Success with guest speaker, Coby Kozlowski.
“We can’t change our background story or where we came from, but we are responsible for changing our lives as they grow,” said Kozlowski.
Counseling Services describes this program as a workshop designed for young adults interested in cultivating an authentic life of meaning and purpose. They will be surrounded by a community of like-minded peers who share the same quest for meaning and guided by an expert facilitator, they will embark on a journey to the heart of spiritual quest.
Kozlowski, 35, is a life coach and a yoga instructor at Kripalu in Stockbridge, Mass. She said yoga comes from the language Sanskrit meaning yoke—to join together. She said she mainly speaks to young adults from ages 19-29, but her teachings are helpful for anyone older as well.
“I feel like adults are seeking support outside the classroom,” she said. “They are growing up in a different time from when our parents did and people are questioning which way their lives are going.”
Director of Counseling Services, Julie Liefeld, registered nurse and PhD, was in charge of getting in touch with Kozlowski.
“I found out about Coby K. via my research into how to integrate life coaching into college communities,” Liefeld said. “I was researching this model and then my catalogue for workshops at Kripaulu came, and there was her intensive student development course called quarter life coaching.”
Kozlowski began leading these talks in 2007. She began creating her model from a course she took in graduate school at Lesley University where she studied Transformative Leadership.
Her focus for these talks is for adults in their early 20s to understand how to live their lives in a way that they can be happy, confident and successful.
“Getting comfortable in the not knowing is the magic pill to life,” said Kozlowski.
Even though there were only women at this particular event, Kozlowski life-coaches for both men and women.
Alicia Vicino, a freshman education major who attended the event. said, “I feel like a brand new person; Coby’s a life changer.”
According to Kozlowski’s website they describe her life-coaching as a journey into the depths of what it means to be a human; through her life-affirming philosophy and well-crafted programs, one will learn how to create an intentional and meaningful life of purpose, passion and possibility.
Carly Wieland, 28-year-old Graduate Intern at Student Affairs, said Kozlowski’s teaching reflects that of the services that are provided to students at the Counseling Services at Southern.
“Kozlowski’s work as a quarter life coach compliments our mission very well.” Wieland said. “It is in line with what we hope the students and community of SCSU will walk away with when they complete their time here with us; a sense of purpose, a clearer perspective of who they are and reassurance that yes, they don’t always know the next step, but that they do know the resources and the support that is here for them.”
Mohandas Gandhi once said “happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Kozlowski said to live by this quote and also to see life without fear, fantasy or distortion.
During her talk Kozlowski explains how people all have callings—big callings and little callings. The big callings are what we are mean to do in life, and the little callings are signs that the world shows us daily.
“My favorite part of the presentations was when Coby explained the calling cycle and how each part has a purpose and a meaning,” said Wieland.
Kozlowski said so many of us go through this life lying, no one is truly 100 percent authentic.
“If we all were 100 percent ourselves this world would be a total different place,” Kozlowski said.
“It is important to be authentic and I feel that at the college level this is the point where most students are trying to figure out,” said Wieland.
Kozlowski also has tips for adults being successful in their 20s. One is to not look at life as good or bad or right or wrong. Another tip is to be responsible and 100 percent accountable for any actions that happen in life.
“The decision aspect of that there was no good decision or bad decision also resonated with me. There is just a decision that takes you to the next decision and if it doesn’t feel right you make another one,” said Wieland.
One of the most important concepts Kozlowski said is to not live in the past.
“Be more committed with the universe than to the moment,” said Kozlowski.
Kozlowski will be back at Southern Nov. 8 to finish her full program and teachings at the Farnham Hall basement. Counseling Services encourages and welcomes everyone to come to this event.
“I think any student who shows up to an evening program wants to get something out of it and hopefully the attendees did,” said Wieland.
