The chambered nautilus has captured the attention of poets and painters, scientists and mathematicians, sailors and sea lovers for centuries. Its history is compelling; its story inspiring and its lessons enlightening.

Consider, for example, its steadfastness. The chambered nautilus has been an object of fascination for centuries. Over the course of history, profound changes have occurred in its environment which led to major adaptation or even extinction of other species. The chambered nautilus, however, has shown so little change that it is commonly referred to as “a living fossil.”

Then, there is the matter of its growth. While other species accommodate growth by leaving their shells and taking up residence in shells others have vacated, the chambered nautilus spends its entire life in the same shell, enlarging it regularly to accommodate growth.

In fact, its growth is expected and predictable. The immature nautilus has an average of 4 chambers, whereas an adult nautilus has approximately 30 chambers. Each chamber is secreted to accommodate new growth and follows a logarithmic ratio which is replicated throughout nature. Each chamber is 6.3 percent larger than the chamber just vacated and every chamber is an equiangular triangle creating spirals which wrap around one another.

And finally, there is the matter of its adaptability. The interior of the shell is mother of pearl, providing a comfortable lining. The exterior of the shell is cream colored with reddish-brown stripes which camouflage it against the ocean floor from above and the light penetrating the ocean’s surface from below.

The nautilus lives in the outer chamber, but the vacated chambers serve their own purpose in maintaining buoyancy and allowing the nautilus to plunge to great depths for protection or rise to shallow waters for feeding. By mixing the ratio of water and secreted gases within the chambers, the nautilus is able to accomplish both with very little expenditure of energy. It is indeed well-suited to its environment.

What does this have to do with coaching?

• Like the nautilus, ours is a changing environment. Maintaining our form and our function, and thus our identity, requires effort on our part; effort well spent in coaching. Through coaching, we gain clarity regarding the lives we were created to enjoy and set about making dreams reality.
• All too often, we attempt to create lives of happiness or success by abandoning the person we were created to be in order to recreate ourselves in the fashion of someone we believe has more of what we desire. Coaching helps us discover God’s perfect design for our lives and find joy and fulfillment in becoming the people He created us to be.
• Just as the nautilus uses everything about itself to survive and prosper, so it is with coaching. By assessing who we are and who were created to be, we use our past experiences in helping us fashion ourselves for the future we were created to enjoy. Everything is about moving forward, solidly wrapping the future around the past for our ultimate growth and protection.

In creating these kinds of lives, we become a source of admiration for others. Not only do we grow and prosper, we cause others to examine our lives for the wonder of celebrating life as we were created to enjoy it. We flourish and we inspire; that is abundant living!