Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Life has its fair share of surprises. Some of them delight us, some of them terrify us, but all of them can reveal to us who we really are if we let them. I have experienced many surprises in my life. Each one had the opportunity to feel like a gift or a punishment.
I remember learning this when I was 19. I was just getting started creating my adult life, it was my sophomore year in college, and I found out I was pregnant. My life changed in an instant and I had to figure out how all the pieces were going to fit. How I had planed for things to go was no longer an option and I needed to figure out how I was going to adjust. I had to learn how to move with the flow and make sh*t up as I went!
How do you move through the events in your life that feel like they are throwing you off course? My first reaction was fear. What would my life look like now, what kind of a mother would I be, how would my then fiancé feel about the news? Everything was thrown up in the air and I was terrified. I couldn’t even begin to logically figure out what to do. I had to feel it out.
Everyone had their own take on what it was that I should do, what I was capable if and what this meant. Not all of it kind. I felt like the ground had been pulled out from under me. I had not idea where I was going, if what I chose to do would work out, I had to trust my instincts, my deep intuition and move. At that moment I felt like I had two choices, fall into the abyss, or fly. I chose fly, and since I didn’t know how to fly, I had to figure it out as I went.
Looking back, this moment of my life gave me my biggest blessing. Not just a beautiful boy who I am so proud of, but a deeper understanding of what I am capable of and seeing the power of my intuition. Most of us have been told to feel like we are at life’s mercy, being thrown around from uncontrollable circumstance to uncontrollable circumstance. That we have no control over them, and we are either rewarded or punished, living our life trying to figure out how to avoid punishment and receive reward.
Up to that point, that is how I tried to live my life. Get good grades, go to college, get a good job so I can make money, get married and have kids. Yes, this sounded amazing, but for me it was missing one thing, what I really wanted. What do grades really say about what I have learned, what did I want to study, what did I want to do that gave me purpose, what kind of relationship did I want? I was moving on auto pilot doing what I thought needed to be done, until the pause button was hit and I had to really figure it out.
The moments in your life that feel like everything is falling apart are really the moments where you get to discover something different about yourself, and yes they will be terrifying. But that is where you learn the truth about yourself. You just need to tune into the moment instead of resisting it and trying to control.
Here are three ways to move through any situation and discover the truth
- Acceptance: Allow everything that is happening to happen and accept it without guilting or shaming yourself. That is the biggest block to accepting the situation when we feel guilty for doing something wrong or that we are bad and should be punished. Honestly the situation couldn’t have happened any other way and it is happening for you. When you allow yourself to open to this possibility, you have opened your options.
- Trust Yourself: Once you clear away any guilt and shame with acceptance, it will be easier to hear your inner voice. You just need to trust it and understand that it may not make sense at first or maybe for a while. Take it one step at a time and allow the mystery to lead you. I’m not asking you to abandon logic, but to use your logic as a servant to your inner voice.
- Honor Your Feelings: ALL your feelings. When things get hard, it is easy to not want to feel all the feelings, but this is key for tapping into your inner wisdom. Notice how you are breathing, the sensations in your body and get curious about them. Where are they coming from, what do you need? Observing your experience without asking for it to change honors who you are and what you are truly experiencing so you can tap into that part of yourself to respond to your life’s events with authenticity and compassion
Using these three things along your journey will keep you tapped into your intuition and allow you to create exactly what you want from all of life’s events. You might even start to see all situations ultimately lead you to more joy in your life.
Do you need a yoga practice to help you tap into your intuition? Grab a copy of my Morning Jump Start Routine below so you can start your day lit up and taped into your intuition.
