Day 212: Is It My Mind or My Soul?
What is it that creates a situation where everything is humming along just fine and then all of a sudden you get this weird feeling, that it's not ok anymore.
Something is off.
You're not sure exactly what is off or how far off it is, you can just feel that something isn't right.
Maybe it's that you've been moving in a direction you thought was where you were supposed to go and now you're no longer sure.
The clarity isn't there.
People around you are all saying one thing, but deep down you're not feeling it.
Maybe people are saying how lucky you are to be in the relationship you're in, or have the job you have, or how amazing you're getting this promotion where you'll get a big raise, and you'll be the big boss now.
Everybody seems to be in agreement with what you should want, but you.
You're starting to feel some kind of resistance, some rumbling of something that wants to be heard.
There's a difference between the thoughts in your mind and the feelings or knowing of your soul.
It's the difference between thinking and knowing.
Your mind goes all over the place, untethered, flitting from one thing to the next.
Or it could put on blinders and refuse to see anything outside its original plan.
Your soul is quiet and grounded because it sits in a place of knowing.
When that rumbling starts, it's a good idea to stop and listen.
Again, ask yourself some deeper questions to see what it's really about.
I know I talk about asking yourself questions a lot, but questions are truly the answer to almost everything you deal with.
The deeper your questions, the more you learn about what you really want and what is making you feel unsettled.
Thoughts need to be connected to something that feels real to you.
Thoughts can inspire and spark action that leads you to your next step.
Thoughts build one on another and they can take you closer to what your soul's desire is or further away.
How do you know the difference?
You feel it.
That's why we've been focused on cultivating your ability to recognize and shift where you are on the emotional scale at any given time.
If something starts to feel odd in my body, the first thing I check for is, did I get enough sleep?
I don't want to mistake exhaustion for intuition or turn a tired nervous system into a deeper message.
Because most of the time, the off feeling will show up first thing.
And if I didn't sleep well, I will keep it in my awareness but not give it too much importance.
Another thing I look at is if there have been anxiety producing things that are piling up.
Like a feeling of too much to do and not enough time to do them.
Or overcommitting to things.
Or like yesterday, workers not showing up and my dog finding a hole in the fence and going off on an adventure that took him all the way to the highway, ending up at an ATV rental place.
So I woke up with a little residual anxiety this morning.
Does it mean my soul is telling me something is wrong, probably not.
Just that I need to give myself more down time. I need to relax a little, so I don't let these setbacks stress me out.
In the moment it can feel like life sucks and nothing is working out the way it should be.
That is a pretty big generalized statement.
And it can take us down a very negative path if it goes beyond the time it takes to have that thought and then dismiss it.
Thinking can be logical or emotional. It can flip-flop all over the place, or become frozen in one position, immovable and unwilling to be changed.
Your soul just is.
It doesn't shift around to please other people. It doesn't need to defend itself. It doesn't get louder just because your mind is arguing.
It just knows.
That's why it matters to slow down enough to tell the difference.
Is this a tired mind?
A stressed nervous system?
Is this an old fear trying to protect me?
Or is this my soul quietly telling me the truth?
Body, mind, and soul are all intertwined, necessary parts of this human experience.
The practice is learning how to listen to each one without letting any one part pretend to be the whole truth.
Today's Gentle Practice
Think about one place where something has felt a little off.
Ask yourself:
Is this my mind reacting, my body asking for rest, or my soul trying to get my attention?
You don't have to know the answer immediately.
Just slow down enough to listen without turning the feeling into a problem.
Sometimes the first step is simply learning which part of you is speaking.
With you,
Lynn
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