Tidbits of Wisdom to inspire your unique life journey – Jeanne Loehnis, Songs For Your Spirit, LLC
Frequently in life we say: “I don’t know”. Sometimes we proceed to ask the next person, “What do you think?” and invite their opinion on our situation.
My thoughts for you today are:
Do you NOT know?
Or, do you NOT LIKE what you know?
What is YOUR truth now?
Today’s tidbit is short and sweet. Bring to mind some recent – or perhaps less recent but still relevant – commitments you’ve made to yourself. Maybe you’ve made them in the context of coaching, maybe not. For each one, consider:
What is its purpose?
What greater vision or goal does it serve?
What level of commitment is there now?
Where are you selling yourself short?
What part of you wants to quit?
What part of you wants more intensity?
Now what?
Life is a Full Body Sport. No, I didn’t say full contact sport! I DID say that to live fully is to invite the talking head to rest often and encourage the heart, gut, energy system and emotionally body into the game. The wisdom of the body, the awareness of our energy field, the knowing in our gut – each of these is a source of deep intuitive wisdom that we all too often ignore when we allow our intellect, our talking head, to run our lives.
This week, practice full body living. Pause often between tasks, before decisions, between thoughts to breathe deeply into the entire body and then listen for the wisdom:
What tension exists?
What is my gut instinct?
What do I really feel?
What is my energy level now?
What do I know?
One intention for each coaching session is to find a place of resonance within, touch a “chord” or deep truth, discover passion or a strong desire for shift. The action steps which emerge from this place will ground and deepen this awareness – and move you forward in life. Yet, despite your strong commitment in the moment to taking action, sometimes you don’t! The beauty is: there is tremendous learning from actions completed – and not! Take a moment. Call to mind a commitment you’ve recently made to yourself where you’ve dropped the ball or you are hanging out in avoidance.
What do you notice?
What self-judgment exists?
What part of the action scares you?
What was the action in service of?
What is the deeper truth?
From this place, soak in the learning and draw closure. Let it go or consider a rewrite.
What action is called for now?
Today I’d like to invite you into a different way of noticing and celebrating “success” or forward movement. Often we only talk about what “gets done”, the visible, tangible manifestation that we can measure or check off a list. Unfortunately, we may miss the growth that happens along the way. It is the growth, the learning through the process, that aids us “next time”. NOTE: There is learning and growth … even in failure.
Here is the “acknowledgment twist” I’d like you to experiment with. The next time you complete something or want to celebrate, try speaking to the qualities (courage, persistence, patience, compassion…) that are present and which allowed you to “do the work”. Notice this isn’t about what you did but who you had to be in order to do it! The beauty here is that who you had to be is who you are and is available to you for each next thing!
Take some time today to notice the qualities in you that are showing up in your life. Regardless of the outcome of any experience, ask yourself:
How did I show up?
Did I exercise patience, compassion, calm?
Did I bring courage, vision, inner strength?
What is the gift that I am?