Listen and Lean

I called my sweet friend for support on a particularly difficult day last week (which prompted me to take a hiatus) and she gave me the most beautiful advice, "Listen and Lean".

She encouraged me to cancel anything I didn't absolutely have to do, and just listen to what my body was telling me I needed and then lean into it. It was the medicine I didn't know I needed.

So I canceled non-essentials, went to my room and turned off all the lights and lit some candles. I just laid there for over an hour - no input, no noise, no trending audio, no data of any kind except what was in my heart. And I had a good cry.

Not the kind of cry where you're processing but the kind that just sweeps over you like a cleansing wave.

The medicine I needed was just the space to be.

It wasn't to do breath work, somatic techniques, mindset reprogramming, or redirection. There is a time and a place for all of that but most often step #1 is to just trust in the intuitive capabilities of your body to heal on its own. The other stuff is really sexy and feels more safe because there is structure.

I think deep down I feared if I let my body just have its way I would be swept out to sea on my own emotional tide.

This fear comes up regularly when I work with the feminine. The feminine is like a forest fire who can seem turbulent and unpredictable. The masculine energy of forward motion, structure, and predictability feels safer.

But the feminine holds the medicine. She is also the cleansing fire burning down all that no longer serves you to make way for new life.

It was in that moment when I heard my body whisper, "trust me". And I did.

You were crafted with innate intelligence that will only reveal what you have capacity to address. This is why dissociation happens with trauma and is something I'm intimately familiar with. Part of the work I've done for myself is to simply take everything as it comes and build that trust muscle with my body every day.

To "Listen and Lean" is a brilliantly concise explanation to building that trust.

What's coming up?

Lean in.

What's the medicine there?

Lean in.

What do you need to secure the insecurity?

Lean in.

You don't have to know it all right now, you don't have to deal with every demon this week. Let your body lead you to healing and reach for the tools supplementarily and for restoration - not as a first step. Listen and lean in.