Navigating change is an invitation to know who you are — body, mind and heart; it requires compassion and support.
Are you in the right state of being to navigate through life’s challenges?
I have learned that successfully navigating change requires your whole being.
As I sit here and really pull the threads to write this article, I’m gripped by fear. My gremlins are screaming in my head. What am I doing? Who do I think I am thinking I can write? SHIT! People are going to see me.
During these times of emotional stress, I remind myself of how I help my clients navigate challenges in their lives through their body. So, I do the same as I write this article. Here is what this feels like…
I take a moment to feel the knots in my stomach, and in that moment I remember to take a breath. I take notice of my heart, bring my thoughts into my heart, and allow the tears to flow. I’m making it so much harder to allow my words to flow. I realized I had left my heart and gut, and I was sitting in my head with my body all tight. Maybe I start here and sense what’s happening.
I realize deciding to step into this process of writing as an Ambassador for the BodyMind Living Magazine is navigating change.
It’s the unseen. I think What the hell does that mean? Who am I as I write? Who do I become as I purposefully embrace this part of me? I just discovered this creative piece of me and want to know more. I must be crazy.
Then, I drop back in my body. As I become mindful of my breath and my body, it all comes to me: Writing my thoughts, feelings, and expressions really reveals the parts of me that I have conveniently tucked away and only share with those close to me.
Navigating change is like a dance between all the parts of you — body, mind and heart. We struggle with change when we forget that we are a whole being and only make decisions from one dimension of ourselves.
Change is an invitation to know who you are.
In pondering this invitation, I’m reminded of my process of learning to dance the hula. It is a dance between mind, body and heart.
It starts with the reason for the dance. Your heart beckens to be heard in this creative form. Then, your mind steps in and finds strategies or opportunities to learn.
When you learn you start with the mind and observe. Then you become present with the body and mirror the moves the best you can. The mind observes and sees the mistakes you are making. You move back into the body and try again. At first it feels mechanical, trying to mirror and be fluid. Once you start to entrain and groove the movements in muscle memory, you start to feel the movement with your heart. It takes more effort at the beginning — presence and patience — but soon you master the alignment of body, mind and heart dancing together.
Navigating change is also living your values. That is listening to your heart and being supported by those you trust. Why values? What I learned is that knowing my values provides me with the internal feelings where I can touch base, ground back to my body and, most importantly, connect to my heart. When I forget to touch base with that part of me, then my body will remind me gently; and, if I continue to ignore it, the signs get louder.
I value and constantly dance with connection, courage, integrity, curiosity, playfulness and gratitude.
In addition to living my values I’ve also learned that I need support to offer a different perspective. The last five years have been a journey of navigating change as I purposefully decided to invest in seven different coaching programs (sequentially) to take a deeper dive into who I was. I wanted to know how I was limiting myself; I wanted to move through the limits and really make the changes to create a different life. LIttle did I realize it was going to break my heart wide open.
That opening took a year and a half to crack. It was in participating in the initial BodyMind Coaching and Mastery Programs that offered the tools and safe place to emerge. Before that, I wasn’t really feeling my feelings. I found out I’m really good at compartmentalizing feelings and directing myself with my mind to take action. My trusted inner circle provided the guidance I needed when I was stuck in the darkness of my overwhelm, my confusion, my doubts. I learned powerfully that change and growth can NOT be done alone. While navigating the changes, I needed my team to offer questions, hard loving truths to step out of the stuckness, out of my head and back into my body and heart. They provided another perspective so that I was more aware of old pattern(s) and truly choosing a different course with my whole being, not just from my head.
By being vulnerable and receiving support, my healing could take place. These programs and people gave me tools to lovingly reflect (feel my feelings, not think), reclaim or redefine myself, make a decision from my whole being (all parts of me), and then move forward.
Navigating change is a dance. Our body is a beautiful compass when we are aligned with our heart and mind. I love the grace and fluidity of the hula and the story the body tells, aligned with the heart and mind. Like any story, the dance and our lives do shift and change as we move. Nothing stays the same. Even with practice, dancing can be messy, clumsy, and when you get into your head, nothing flows. I learned the more attuned I have become with my own body, mind, heart, the more navigating change is about embracing the imperfection, the messy start up, the misstep. It’s about surrendering the outside influences and allowing my inner wisdom to guide each choice, each movement. It takes courage and vulnerability to allow things to flow, and it is more painful to hold everything in the mind.
Navigating change is about being in the NOW moment and choosing with body, mind, and heart as our whole being, not just one part of us.
When we stand in the muck of the what ifs, doubt, worry, etc. we are stuck in our mind and no longer accessing the body, soul, heart. We create suffering in the body as a consequence. Instead of shying away from the pain our body presents us with, step into it and feel it to its depths. There, you’ll find a deeper wisdom of what you truly desire, deserve, and feel worthy of allowing yourself to receive. By allowing myself to be compassionate and connected to my whole being, I allow my truth to flow.
Are you connected to body, mind, and heart as you navigate your own changes?
What is your dance to navigate change?
Remember music, painting, sailing, walking, hiking….
I constantly dance with connection, curiosity and gratitude.
