How to trust yourself

Something happened in my business that really shook me: a social media group – seemingly out of the blue – cancelled my account. they cited non-compliance, but I had no way of discovering what they meant by that. I had always been careful about ensuring I said or did nothing that might be misconstrued, and was really puzzled by this. Then I discovered this had happened to many others, and realized it was a problem on their end.

When I first found out, I felt panicked – fast heart rate, shallow breathing, thinking at 100 miles an hour. I didn’t like feeling powerless over someone else’s decisions. I don’t rely on social media for my business, and felt really sad for those who do. But even so, my body was really shaken.

I’ve come to appreciate and rely on the messages from my body. I’ve learned that I can trust them completely. I can trust them because they represent my values: if something is valuable to me, I feel it, often as a light-heartedness; if something has a negative value, I feel that as well – sometimes as a tightness in my chest, sometimes as a kind of nausea, and sometimes, when someone or something I value is threatened, as a racing heart.

That night, I dreamt of a way forward that felt right to my body. Next morning, I contacted my business associates, and we began to plan for the change. My body felt a big sense of relief, and that panic was replaced with an excitement.

That felt sense told me, better than anything else, that I was doing something that was aligned with my values. It felt right.

In my practice, I work a lot with what feels right and what feels wrong. In our society, we aren’t taught to pay a lot of attention to what our body is telling us, so it usually takes a while before people begin to feel their body’s messages. At first, they often feel frustrated. Then one day they feel it, and that frustration is replaced with hope at first, then with confidence.

They begin to feel confident because they discovered the only way they can really trust themselves. Our body never lies to us – it is our best ally and support.

 

Quote of the Week

“In order to trust your body as a guide, the first step is to begin to understand it.”
―

 

The courage to trust yourself … listen to the nudges