The Question That Changed a King
The question that challenged a king, shifted my mindset, and could change how you live - if you’re willing to hear it.
Have you ever watched the film 300?
There's a moment in the film where King Leonidas faces the vast army of the Persian Empire as it approaches.
Before he takes the army to war, he is asked to consult the council of Sparta and also climb up a mountain to consult the Oracle.
Once the council and the Oracle have given their blessings, Sparta can go to war to defend itself.
When Leonidas consulted the council and the Oracle, the message was clear: Sparta will not go to war.
That evening, Leonidas woke up in the middle of the night, and his wife Queen Gorgo gave him a message….
…He was conflicted between his warrior and kingly duty to his people and what the council and the Oracle had said, not to go to war.
A Quote That Shifted Something in Me
The reason I’m telling this story is because what Queen Gorgo said to King Leonidas has been a very powerful shift for me this week, after time with my coach and working with one of my coaching clients.
If you let this quote in, it can be a powerful, life-changing shift.
It's a message, and a question. My invitation to you is to contemplate it, and allow any new insights to come up for you. I’ll let you know the question shortly.
A Coaching Conversation on Money and Freedom
I was working with an actor from Canada. He has transitioned to becoming a coach. He is deeply connected to himself, spiritually aligned, and a wonderful professional coach.
In our last session, he was challenged around his story about money and was having disempowering thoughts about it.
I asked,
“What do you want instead?”
He then went back into his disempowering thoughts and stories about money.
I said,
“Money is just money. Often what we do is project our desires and fears onto money, and at the same time, they're just projections.”
I asked,
“Are they true?”
“May I bring something into the conversation that I just noticed?”
In relation to how he relates to money, I said,
“When I asked you what you want instead, were you about to say love?”
He said,
“No, I wasn’t about to say love, I was about to say freedom.”
Then he thought,
“Wow, that's a load of nonsense,”
and started to disempower himself even more around money.
Questions for you to reflect upon…
What do you project upon money that isn't true?
Where are you not free around money?
What would happen if you were?
Redefining Financial Freedom
I said to him,
“If money means freedom to you, then whenever you're not earning money, you're not free?”
When I’ve been bold and direct with a client and something shifts within them, especially when you ask the right question at the right time, something opens.
In the coaching world, they talk about "powerful questions." But a question isn’t powerful in itself. It’s only powerful when asked at the right moment.
After I asked that question, he smiled and said,
“Fuck you, Adrian.”
Which, in our work, means we’ve hit the core of what's really going on, and what’s in their best interest.
I said,
“Financial freedom isn't necessarily about being a billionaire. It's about being free around money.”
Are you free around money?
That was a profound insight for him in that moment. It shifted how he relates to money.
A Session with My Own Coach
Another conversation I had this week was with my coach.
Whenever I want to shift things or change things up, I start obsessing about direction:
“Is this the right direction?”
“Should I be going in this direction?”
“Is it time to change direction?”
This places all my attention on the outside world, subtle, but it consumes my energy.
Setting direction requires a point in time, and it pulls me out of the inside-out way of living, which is courage, love, peace, engagement, inspiration, happiness, as a place to come from, not a place to get to.
As I was speaking to my coach, he noticed I was obsessing over finding the right direction.
He asked,
“Why do you need a direction?”
And as I reflected on that, I realized I’ve spent so much of my life living from the outside in…
…I thought I needed a direction, something to strive towards, but that need itself had become a source of stress.
I got present to the truth that,
I don’t need a direction.
Instead, tuning into the present moment is the most powerful thing I, and you, can do.
Tuning into the present moment, to what my intuition, my inner knowing, my wisdom is guiding me to do.
And once we are paying attention, and still enough, what makes sense to do, to create, to accomplish will naturally flow through.
Let me leave you with some questions:
What wants to happen through you?
What would happen if you let go of obsessing about direction?
And instead, what wants to be created through you?
Back to the conversation with my coach, near the end of our session, similar to my conversation with my client, he looked at me and said:
“You’re free.”
The Real Question
That has been a theme this week: freedom.
In the film 300, Queen Gorgo says to King Leonidas when he’s conflicted about whether he should go to war:
“It is not a question of what a Spartan citizen should do, nor a husband, nor a king. Instead, ask yourself, my dearest love, what should a free man do?”
This isn’t about external freedom. It’s about inner freedom - freedom from fear, from stories, from needing direction, and from everything that tells you you're not already free.
Like the ancient warriors who carried the Gorgon shield to face fear head-on, this is about the kind of freedom that arises when you stop running - from fear, from doubt, from the need for certainty - and choose instead to act from your inner truth.
Thank you for being with me today.
Adrian
What am I up to? I sit with people and their lives transform. Want to change your life? Get in touch and lets have a conversation.
This is what people say about working with me:
“Adrian’s instant impact on my life from just a short time working together has been significant. Throughout our sessions, I felt deeply and witnessed an incredibly powerful coach who inspired me, challenged me, triggered me, guided me, and committed himself to my success. The passion he showed was powerful. It was a unique experience, and one I am grateful for. Adrian’s valuable ability to get to the center of your fears very quickly, while showing enormous warmth, empathy, and love, is something I want YOU to experience. It was the safe space Adrian held that unlocked me from the jail I thought I was in, and his skill in taking me to my most important and profound breakthrough was very special. It is a pleasure and honor to recommend Adrian Hales.” - Simon, Coach, Executive