Will you pause with me for a moment for a few deep breaths and a whole-hearted check-in?
A Whole-Hearted Check-in
Place one or both hands on your heart, close your eyes (if you are in a place where it is safe to do so) and tune in to the slow, steady rhythm of your breath. When you feel yourself start to settle a bit (you get to define this for yourself – settled is different for each of us and can change moment by moment) – take about 10 more slow, deep breaths allowing your attention to rest on the space beneath your hands. As you breathe, notice the sensations that are present, maybe connecting with them in layers – start with what is most immediately observable and then allow what is beneath/around/behind that sensation to come forward and so on. Allow this to be a gentle observation of what lies at your heart center in this moment – nothing to change and no need for judgement or meaning-making; a simple act of noticing what is present with a relaxed gaze and loving curiosity. After the 10 or so breaths and when this practice feels complete to you, take a moment to express gratitude to yourself for yourself in the way that feels most genuine to you and then bring your focus back to the outer world – opening your eyes if they were closed. Take moment to reorient to the space you’re in, slowly looking around in all directions and maybe allowing your gaze to rest on something that feels pleasant or soothing or joyful or brings a smile to your face for a few moments.
A Little Self-Inquiry
Welcome back. I have a couple of questions for you now that you’re back (as usual 🙂 ) –
Were you able to rest your attention at your heart space with ease or did you find it challenging? (or a bit of both)
What did you notice when you tuned in more intentionally to the sensations in and around your heart space?
If you were to list three things from this experience of checking-in with your heart, what would they be?
Connecting to Inner Wisdom
Flashes of our inner wisdom are not that unusual – like the voice of body and spirit suddenly breaks through the noise of our minds for a few short moments and we glimpse the true capacity of our fully integrated selves. Sometimes its a whisper that says “turn that way”; sometimes its the impulse to smile at that stranger, strike up that conversation, or cut that interaction off short; sometimes its a lightening bolt of clarity that shakes us awake from our distracted slumber and says “it’s time” (whether we like it or not).
We’ve been led to believe that these glimpses are an anomaly – the result of excess stress, an overly sensitive nervous system, or some form of break with reality- or are talents or skills available only to a select or special few – the psychics and mediums and channelers; the healers, light-workers and wielders of clair-something gifts.
I no longer believe that to be true – at least not the whole truth.
A Deep Well of Wisdom Within
I believe that there is a deep well of wisdom that resides within each of us – it is the wisdom that comes forward with that bone-deep sense of knowing that defies all logic and reasonable explanations.
I also believe that a deep connection to that inner wisdom is an important part of living a more fully nourished life, of healing our individual and collective woundings and being in more loving and honest relationship with ourselves (and everyone and everything else by extension).
This does not mean that I believe that everyone needs to stop what they’re doing and lead a monastic existence (unless that’s the inner calling, of course) or that everyone is destined to become the star of the next Netflix mediumship special (again – unless that’s the inner calling).
The Gift of Your Inner Wisdom
What it does mean is that all the sensitive souls of the world who have resigned themselves to just dealing with the ups and downs of moving through a chaotic world and having to retreat when it all becomes too much can learn what energetic sovereignty means to their system so they don’t have to sacrifice themselves to be in the world.
It means that everyone who feels unsafe, on high alert, or exhausted by the outer world can learn what types of daily nourishment their system needs to feel well-resourced, well-supported and safe enough to live a life they love.
It means that when we are having a decidedly human experience – whether its incredible joy or deep sorrow; creative flow or the fog of confusion; loneliness or connectedness – we can learn to allow ourselves the moment to be present to the fullness of it knowing that “this, too, shall pass”.
Developing a close connection to your inner wisdom – the wisdom of the body, the heart, the spirit, etc – requires only that you pause and practice connecting to what is already there. It’s like tuning the dial on your inner radio to a finer frequency – imagine that you normally set the dial to 99.5; the practice is tuning into 99.56 which eventually leads you to 99.564 and then 99.5649 and so on until you are aware of all of these frequencies simultaneously (this is where the radio analogy falls apart on me but I hope you get the picture 😉).
Simple practices like the one above allow us to consciously cultivate a greater sense of connection to our inner wisdom.
Let’s Practice Together: a daily whole-hearted check-in
So let’s try this together – for the next 30-ish days, let’s pause to connect with our hands on our hearts, our breath slow and deep, and our attention turned inward for 5 minutes each day.
I’ll keep you updated here at least once-a-week and I’d love to hear about your experiences as well so feel free to send me a note and let me know what’s alive for you when you tune in more deeply to your inner wisdom.
Sending you Love,
Tawnia