Or perhaps you did not…
Words have an incredible power over the utter and ultimate creative course of our life.
We create our experience, meaning and story through word.
Lately, I have liberally been saying the word no to the things that don’t feel right for my life and for my business.
In the moment, the no feels so very right.
Over time, though…especially after the thing I said no to passes, I start to regret. I start to spiral a bit out of control and think:
Am I missing the opportunity of a lifetime?
Am I sabotaging myself by saying no?
Am I going to disappear from everyones radar as a coach/artist/friend if I say no?
Hmmm. When I dwell in these questions, I downright feel bad.
Why do I feel bad?
Simply put, I feel bad because those above questions are against my true instinct, my truth, my gut.
Your truth is like a muscle that, at times atrophies if you don’t use it. Or it can be a strained muscle from not quite using it correctly.
Over time, listening to your truth gets easier and easier.
For me, in this example I’m writing about, listening to my truth is coming in the form of filtering what I want and don’t want in my life.
Listening to my gut is finding the words to say no with reverence and respect.
A truth seeking practice helps you to get back into the swing of using your inner truth muscle.
I have adapted these easy to remember steps to get me back to my inner truth (adapted from Un-train your Parrot by Elizabeth Hamilton):
Now: Access where you are RIGHT NOW and what you are seeking right at this moment. What are those repeative words and thought truly trying to tell you? Ask yourself: what can I give to you to set you free? Often times it’s self care, or an acknowledgement of how far you have come.
Vow: Commit to yourself to always listen to your truest deepest needs. Write out a vow in this vain, like this: I vow to always listen to my truth, and know that I am following the path for me in doing so.
Bow: Honor yourself and radically love yourself for taking a pause, which in turn does stop the cycle of regretful thought (or whatever unhealthy pattern of thinking you have going on).
How: Ask yourself, how can I learn from this? How can I truly move forward from what I am experiencing right now? What is this internal conversation really trying to get me to feel?
In the end, when you feel that you have missed the opportunity of a lifetime, please remember that you did not. Or, maybe you actually did miss an opportunity of a lifetime. You will never know, really. What do you do know is this: you trusted your gut instinct to not engage, or to step away, or to move forward to the next thing.
Listening to your gut instinct, dear one, is the fuel that ignites all the opportunities of a lifetime.
Love yourself. Deeply, truly, always love yourself in your process.
I now bow to you,