The Power of the Rant

A blog about ranting…like…what?

Yes, I’m going to rant today about ranting, because unlike many people out there, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with a ‘good-heartfelt-put–it-all-out there’ rant.

This rant is inspired by a few fellow coaches, who are not only colleagues, but also friends. One is a health coach, and she was ranting to me about ‘her ideal client’, which is just a term for ‘who do I want to work with and why’. And she said she felt shame because she was ranting, like she wasn’t supposed to feel so strongly about this subject. I was so suprised by this because, throughout her rant, I had gotten a clear picture of who she wanted to work with. Today, during a mastermind call, this came up again. Same subject. The ideal client and the rant. When I suggested to them to write a rant about that subject they were feeling so strongly about, they were like: wait…can I do that?

And I’m here to tell you that, yes, you can! Why in the world are we feeling shame about our raw truth? Why is it ‘bad’ to feel strong emotions, like anger and rage? Why do we have to filter out all those emotions and make it all politically correct, before putting it out into the world?

I don’t get it.

People, there is power in rawness. There is power in anger and rage. It means something is asking you to see it. Something inside of you is pissed off and feels that now is the time to do something about it. Something inside of you is aching to get out and feel worthy. Something has to be made right. By you.

I love the rant. Everytime I feel strongly about something, I rant. And right away, I think…I have to write a blog about this! Or get on Facebook Live quickly and talk to my peeps…

A rant is not only useful for us coaches or entrepreneurs. Just think of the healing power of the rant for your relationship. Getting it all out there instead of keeping it bottled up (usually over a glass of wine with a good friend). Or venting all your frustrations about that job you hate. Gives you a hell of a lot of clarity about the type of job you actually WANT.

There IS power in the rant. You know when a rant is coming, when you are feeling conflicting emotions like anger about a subject or something happening in your life, and when you think about it, you feel passion coming up . Your energy starts flowing and you feel like getting into action.

I let my clients rant as much as they want. Uncensored. Their raw truths. And while they are ranting, I’m taking notes. Aha…so here it is…here is ‘the thing’, here is what she/he really wants. And when they are done ranting, and they have created space in their system by putting it all out there, we reflect and take actions to create what they want.

But a rant is just a rant if you are not being very conscious about how it can serve you. So, here are a few steps to making your rants more productive.

1)      Tune into a subject/theme in your life/ theme in society you feel very passionate about. How do you know if you are passionate about it? When you see others going about it in a way that pisses you off: The “WHAT are they doing?”, The “What was she thinking?”, The “Who the hell does he thinks he is to…?”…Just think about it…you will know what I mean when your blood starts pumping and your mind gets into a rambling mess of opinions and feelings about it.

2)      Take out pen and paper.

3)      Start writing. Get it out of your system. In a non-judgmental way . Just kidding. It’s your rant…judge and rage as much as you need.

 4)      Feel into it. Tap into every emotion and thought that comes up. Write.

 5)      Trust the process and know that you are feeling all these emotions, so you can clarify what is important to you.

 6)      When you feel you have said/written everything you needed to (and you will know when you’re done because you WILL feel lighter and more free), take a few deep breaths and get centered on this feeling of lightness.

 7)      Now look at what you have written. Is there a common thread? Are there words you  use more often than others?

 8)      Can you now see what you want? What you need? What you value?

Usually, you can. And if you don’t, then you didn’t go deep enough into your rant. Maybe fear came up about those bottled up feelings now being freed. Or maybe, you can conclude that you were getting yourself riled up about nothing. Also a very valuable conclusion to make by the way.

But if you created clarity, take action in doing something about it. If it was something that got you feeling so intensely, then it must be important to you. Don’t let this gorgeous rant be for nothing. Own its power and transform it into something that serves you and the world.

Rant on…

With love,

Karin