“What on earth was that? This can’t be true. I must have imagined it. Let’s just move on. What’s next?” These were the words of one of my clients, after he had just tuned in with himself and asked for his very first step to a mission-driven life. The guidance he had just received was spot-on: 3 Minute Meditation. He understood what was meant by this, as it was the title of a book that had been sitting unread on his bookshelf for years.

Spot-on guidance

One would think that my client was ready to implement this first action step. However, it wasn’t that easy. In order to take the action, he first needed to believe and feel in his bones that the guidance he had received, was the very thing he was looking for. The problem was that he didn’t recognize it as such. So instead of picking up the unread book and starting with a first short meditation experiment, he dismissed the guidance and eventually forgot about it. No action taken.

New Territory

It is not the fault of this client. And it is not your fault if you don’t recognize the nuggets you receive on your path to a mission-driven life. This process that I teach on accessing the wisdom of the body, is new territory for most people. The brain considers this new territory way too risky.

Many years ago, your brain took on the job to keep you safe under all circumstances. Since then, it’s been scanning your environment, looking for potential danger. Chances are high that your brain has also been in the driver’s seat for most of your life. No wonder that it sees it as a threat when you start to check in with your body for guidance and direction. In response, it puts its entire defense arsenal into place, attempting to get you back on the rational track. Self-doubt, overanalyzing the information you receive and dismissing guidance as not important or unreal are its best weapons.

At first, my client bought into this protective system of his mind, just like most people would do without the right support. Later, the penny dropped and he understood the difference between a nugget and the immediate protective response this triggers in the brain.

Resonance

Truth must be said: it does take some training and discipline to go beyond the chatter of your mind and to start trusting the language of your body. Anyone can learn it, though. The good thing is that you can always check in with yourself whether you have understood the received guidance correctly: ‘I think I just heard that I need to pick up that book again, is that right?’ You then feel into your body to check for resonance. Resonance is a bodily sensation that can be best described as a feeling of openness, some sort of excitement, sometimes in combination with a slight feeling of relief: ‘Oh, that’s it. Of course.’ Resonance gives you the confirmation you are looking for.

What to do when your mind keeps protesting? You just give yourself a pat on the head: ‘Sweet brain. I know you only try to protect me. Thank you, but I decide differently. You may go to sleep now.’

Of course, I would love to hear from you. Have you ever tried to check in with your body for next steps? Is it easy for you to respond to your nuggets and take a first action step, or do you tend to get distracted? Leave your answer in the comments. You’ll always get a reply.

On Thursday evening March 19th, I will give the Masterclass Decision Making Made Easy in collaboration with Venture Cafe Rotterdam. This will be an online event, as the Venture Cafe has decided to bring its Thursday Gatherings to an online platform for the foreseeable future because of the Coronavirus. The good thing, of course, is that the Masterclass will be available to everyone. I will start at 6.00 PM Amsterdam time. Login details will be shared shortly on my website. This Masterclass is free of charge. Make sure to bring pen and paper to take notes, as I will be sharing tons of information and practical tools. Would love to see you there!