Galvanizing Greatness Together
Experienced. Certified. Supportive.
I’ve helped my clients break through the obstacles that seem to be holding them back in life. Life's too short to be unhappy, unsure, or unfulfilled. I am here to help you achieve a more positive outlook on life, and provide you with all the tools necessary to get you there. Let me help you learn and develop better ways to handle the issues that are standing in the way of your greatness.
I am a certified coach, a trained HR professional, an entrepreneur, a writer, a speaker, a trainer, a social activist, a family man, and above all, striving to be a better human being.
I believe in the infinite human potential and desire to take people further and faster with my various people development skills.
I am very intentional about personal growth and constantly challenge myself to be better than yesterday. I love to help people in their transition.
Your Transition Coach
Sony Thomas
Sony Oommen Thomas
Transition Coach | Keynote Speaker | Celebrating Life Podcast
Founder of CelebratingLife.in | Leadership Trainer | HR Strategist | HR Faculty | Entrepreneur | Author | Social Activist
| John Maxwell Certified Coach | Life Coaching Certified | Post Graduate in Human Resources Management
My Kryptonite
When I analyse the many hours I spend on self reflection, researching and note taking, it hit me, more than the Who Am I question, it was the How Am I gonna do it? question that excited me.
Interestingly, the realization of my faulty understanding of the old saying "jack of all, master of none" had kept me in the box. It was a constant struggle for me, as I displayed different capability and capacity in the various people, organization and social development interventions. Instead of embracing it, I would self doubt and continue the search for the perfect fit.
Breaking out of this irrational belief system, empowered me to embrace the ultimate truth of infinite human potential, and recognized the importance of intentional personal growth. I realized my greatest motivation is to 'shape the world'. And to do this, I have to constantly strive to be the best version of myself.
This clarity shaped the celebrating life philosophy, the celebrating life coaching system and the celebrating life research institute, each have a role to play in my mission of Developing Leaders, Strengthening Organisation & Empowering Societies. And my vision is helping people celebrate life!
My Experiments With Different Seasons Of Life
Like all of you, I have had various seasons in life, and each season of my life, I have seen it as an experiment to further my ultimate vision and mission in life. Some seasons have been more fruitful than other, but every season has its place in my journey of life.
Celebrating Life is not just a philosophy that I say, but its a way of life for me, since my childhood I have lived by it. I confess I wouldn't have been able to explain the celebrating life philosophy or celebrating life coaching system back then the way I can do now. But it is the experimenting with my life that gave me courage, clarity and conviction to boldly state my vision of celebrating life to the world.
I am a work in progress, and I believe I will be till the day I died! I am sharing MY JOURNEY with you, not to impress you with my success & failure, but to impress upon you the importance of the journey and to warn you against the 'Destination Delusion' that has plagued our life. Celebrating Life does not happen in the future or the past, it is happens NOW! "Its' About The Journey"
Advising to Coaching
Of my many experiments and experience with my life, the International John Maxwell certification was the tipping force that got me to take action on my dream of being a professional coach. I have been an advisor, confidant, counselor and mentor in various personal, professional and social situations, but it was my mentoring with John Maxwell that sowed the seed and gave me the courage to share with the world that I am a Celebrating Life Coach.
THE JOURNEY: I started very young with helping people find clarity in the struggles of life, emotional situations and general fears. I was one of those go - to kids for personal problem solving. However, in hind sight, I could have done a better job, had I learned about professional coaching and had better listening skills, better probing skills, better cognitive techniques, better non-judgmental attitude, and better non-directed interactions.
Looking back, because I was a problem solver, I have helped other manage their, temper tantrums, heartbreaks, addiction, and suicide situation in my teenage. Because all these experience, I always felt my purpose to help people, however then I did not understand the full bandwidth of a coaching relationship, it took my many years and many round of personal growth to arrive where I am today, I still have miles to go, but I going in the right direction.
One of my greatest area of work on the road to becoming a coach, was unlearning my understanding and belief about helping others. I come from a community and family situation, where I have seen, advice giving as the go to solution to helping people. Long lectures on what is morally right and acceptable, what is expected, etc. you know what I mean. And worst was, trying to align others to my moral high ground and impose my worldview on them. This was the first thing I had to unlearn about me.
As a by product of learning the art of listening, probing and unconditional acceptance, not only did I drastically improve my position as a coaching, it also improved my communication style and quality of relationship with other, especially the significant people in my life. Instead of me being busy trying to prove my point or shed my insight, I listened, and the more I listened, the more I learned, the more I learned, the more I was helping others.
And that is when I realized the power of Non-judgment listening, meaningful exploration, and probing questions, and that is when I shifted from an advice giver to a coach. And ever since I have been an absolute believer in the power of coaching and the benefits of having a coach.
Influence Trumps Vision
The irony here is priceless, my desertion for my masters in human resources was on leadership. I grew up seeing leaders fall, fail and loss sight. I have seen organisation and communities sink because of poor leadership. These realities drew my attention to leadership and mistakes made by leaders. Hence I wanted my Thesis to be titled " Leadership Mistakes", but my guide refused stating, tile cannot be negative. So I had no choice but to change it into "Learning Opportunities in Leadership". Sadly, one key mistake I made in my leadership journey was that I ignored the importance of one word, 'Learning'
I come from a family with very strong leadership presence. I was once asked who were your leadership role model, and I could only think of my parents, that is the lasting impression they had on my leadership worldview. The kind of leadership that was high on purpose & passion, taking daring stands, bull dozing opponents, self denial, courage, valor, morals and honor. This style of leadership had very little room for learning, because of the core belief that I am a 'natural (born)' leader and that 'the cause is always bigger than the person' ( now I believe, the inner person is equally big as the cause)
In my various leadership roles, especially as a HR consultant/ strategist, I have observed that I had brilliant plans for change and the selfless conviction to my strategies. I have always put my desire for better HR plans before my own job security. I would go toe to toe with the big shots and naysayers in the organisation with vigor and passion. I never back down from pushing forward my HR vision. But my results were average at best, because most my energy and time went into fighting for a cause and not creating influence.
The fact of leadership that "people buy into the person first before they buy into the vision" took me a few years to internalize but once I did, it was like a bolt of lighting, I replayed all my past leadership experience, and I realized, every time I had achieved great results, be it professionally, personally or socially, I had great influence with the people because of my good relationship with them, hence they journeyed with me to my vision. Thus began my journey as a 'student of leadership for life'
and more...
There is more I want to share about my journey, and I will in time, but for now I will just mention few of my life journeys that has shaped and is shaping me to be the best version of myself, so I can bring value to your journey of life.
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trainer to TRAINER!
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Fatherhood Chaos
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Marriage Blunders
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Money is Evil
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Frog In A Well
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Disaster Response
My Uniqueness
I am able to synthesis and synergize my vast experience in the various people development to produce world class professional coaching, that will shape your world-view into a healthy and productive one. Whether it’s your career, your relationships, or anything else that’s important to you, I’ll help you develop the attitude, habits and skills to effectively deal with the challenges and emotional moments you may encounter in life. I will help you celebrate life!
I say it with great love and respect, I am 'a work in progress'. and I am inclined to help anyone who believes they too are a work in progress. And together we will create extraordinary versions of ourselves and make the world a better place.
BREAK THROUGH SESSION
45 Minutes | FREE
This NO OBLIGATION session will give you the opportunity to directly speak to your coach where you can clarify your doubts and explore about yourself in a non-judgmental, confidential and safe zone. I invite you to take this opportunity!
