Empowered U Coaching seeks to help individuals reach goals

Nothing about Penny Moisson fits inside a box, so she’s not expecting her job to, either.

“I’ve been pursuing who I really am for 25 years,” Moisson said. “I need to be who I am and stop apologizing for it.”

With a secure relationship with God, Moisson decided to move forward in a direction which will allow her to thrive personally and professionally.

“That’s what God’s intention is for all of us, to live abundant lives,” she said. “It was a choice.  I had to make that choice.”

Within the process of personal life adjustments, a friend mentioned a career in life coaching to Moisson, who formerly taught middle school science and ministered to others in a church setting. Although there was risk involved in starting her own business, she was drawn to the idea of helping people become who they were meant to be.

“Ultimately I believe each person has a thumbprint of God on them, but I feel like we get caught up in what we have to do or have to be,” she said. “I think sometimes people get stuck, and they don’t know how to get out.”

Through training with Coach University, and International Coaching Federation certified organization, Moisson is working on becoming an accredited life coach, and now serves Central Illinois with Empowered U Life Coaching.

While life coaching services can reach a gamut of needs from weight loss to corporate dynamics, Moisson enjoys that each coaching opportunity offers a tailor-made way to walk alongside an individual as they embark on a path of personal or professional growth or development.

“At the core of coaching is the value of the individual, who you are and what values you have,” Moisson said.

With no agenda, Moisson wants to meet the client where he or she is at and give them a safe place to help them discover what they value, what makes them tick or what they are passionate about, helping them align how they were created with what they want to do.

Moission said in today’s society many people have ambitions, questions or traits that they don’t know what to do with, so they easily settle into a job or situation because they feel like that’s how life is supposed to be.

“I don’t believe it has to be that way,” she said. “But sometimes to get from point A to where you really want to be or where God’s intention is for you, there is risk involved. There’s choice of your own will, and considering things you’ve never done before. That’s where a life coach comes in to take you step by step towards a goal or desire that maybe you start off not knowing what it is.”

Although a client may come in wanting to start a business within a year, is struggling with weight loss or has questions about Christianity, Moisson spends one-on-one time digging through to the core of why someone wants to accomplish something, making sure their ambitions line up with who they are.

Clients may be able to articulate a felt need of losing weight, but often times the coaching process turns to a different aspect of that individual’s life because their need is secondary to something deeper.

“When you take time to work on those areas and realign things or get them in alignment for the first time ever, it’s like your engine just hums better,” she said. “You have joy and you have peace.”

Although life coaching can take on similarities to counseling services through holistic personal discovery, Moisson identified coaching as an inwardly forward process rather than the process of dealing with issues retrospectively through counseling.

When an individual is at the place where they are ready to fine tune, readjust or grow, Moisson feels her services can help them reach their goals.

As a Coach University student, Moisson was encouraged to find a coaching niche.  While Moisson feels she can reach a wide variety of clients, she has discovered one group of individuals she really loves working with is individuals who want to grow in their faith through exploring typically “taboo” questions or issues of their faith.

An avid church participant and former pastor, Moisson is open to discussion on spirituality which goes outside of church boundaries.  Moisson believes God is way bigger than the package we try to neatly pack Him into.

“You can ask your questions, and you can explore,” she said. “I feel like I can be a safe place so they can ask off the wall questions or be honest with where they really are with their challenges. I’m not going to judge you. True growth happens when you can be really honest about your doubt or fear.”

In 2011, Moisson began to understand she had a seed within her to conquer fear when she completed a marathon in memory of her father who passed away when she was a teenager.  While the 18 mile run scared her, she conquered it. With that momentum, she finished a 20 mile-practice run.  After finishing the marathon, Moisson saw potential in herself that she believes lies in all of us.

“People have dreams of changing the world, and they think they can’t do it because they don’t think they can even run a 5K, when really they can run a marathon,” she said. “Really, they can probably do 10 marathons. Our visions of ourselves are so small. It’s the cry of my heart to see people set free and do their marathons.”

Moisson recognizes she had support of friends during that time, though. Through support, accountability and strategy, Moisson continues to achieve her personal goals.  As a life coach, she hopes to use the same strategies to help other’s achieve their goals.

“I want to extend God’s love and touch people’s lives in a way that gets at the core truth that every person is incredibly valuable and has been created with incredible worth,” she said. “Whether they subscribe to the same God or have the same spiritual framework as I do, it doesn’t discount the fact that they are worthy of somebody personally coming alongside them and bringing out the best in them.  I believe that more than anything.”

To find out more about Empowered U Coaching visit empowereducoaching.com