Like clockwork, the start of a new year is filled with resolutions, many of which are completely abandoned before the calendar enters the month of February. Without an internal assessment, a clear plan, and the necessary support to bring those plans to fruition, even the most hopeful among us often fail to meet personal goals set at the beginning of the year. But what if all you needed to thrive in 2022 was inside of you waiting to be unlocked? It’s not unimaginable that the keys might be hidden underneath two years of devastating loss, deteriorating mental health, and socio-economic challenges driven by the global pandemic. For many, January 1 marks the beginning of a clean slate—a do-over—another chance to get it right. But according to Atlanta-based holistic life coach Fonda Clayton, a clean slate is available for us to choose from every day.
“You can start a clean slate every day at every moment. Every moment that we get to live, every word that I say is a new moment,” Clayton says.
A New York City native, and a married straight LGBTQ+ ally, Clayton tells The Reckoning that there is power in manifestation and intentionality.
“I want people to feel hope that they can do it, that they have everything they need, everything that they want is inside of them. It's just about finding where the keys are and where the locks are. And that's what manifestation truly is at the core. Because if you believe it, it's true. And nothing that anyone can say will change it unless you change your mind,” she says.
A former massage therapist, Clayton credits her past clients for putting her on the path towards becoming a life coach after a year-long training intensive at LifeWorks School of Coaching.
“People would be on the massage table and they would have these releases,” Clayton says. “They'd be crying. They'd be in some past moment or they'd be devastated. They'd be wiped out because you're in someone's auric field and you're unlocking their chakras,” she says, referring to the channels in the body that if blocked can cause stress and other conditions. “I wanted a way to support them so they didn't have to go back out into the world and put those things away as if they didn't just experience the moment they experienced.”
For Clayton, who jokingly equates her coaching style to shoe shopping: “You ain't gotta make no commitments. But if there's something you love, find a way to take them out of the store with you without having to go to jail,” she says. But as easily as Clayton infuses humor into her coaching, she’s equally serious about clients being in tune with their body as much as their mind to create the life they desire.
“We've come from source. We've come from God; infinite intelligence that knows all into this body. But then we get spiritual, and we try to bypass it,” she says. "‘Oh, the body's not important.’ What? This [childbirth] was a hard job. Our mamas almost died to get us here. So let's honor the body. The body has wisdom. We’re always trying to bypass it and get to the brain. And my job is to get people to take the elevator down. Your heart aches when you have a breakup. It literally aches. Can we pay attention to that? Can we honor that? Let's not bypass it.”
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