Going forward, one step backward, pushed and pulled at the same time. Life can feel like a dizzying experience. Where is the flow, I keep hearing about? Sometimes I feel compelled to push against the wind and end up exhausted from the struggle. Other times I feel pulled forward as if some unknown force of nature is assisting me towards something of which I am not totally aware. How can I find a way to manage between too much and not enough? Who is in control?
Opposing energies or complimentary energies? Towards what I want in my life, or moving away from what I don’t want? Confusing to say the least. Here’s the thing. I want a lot of different things! Is it possible to focus on all my wants at the same time?
Here’s what I’ve learned in the third trimester of my life. Yep, like birthing a baby, I see life in trimesters. First, the seed is planted and sprouts and is shaped by its environment. Next comes the experimenting of what it is to be human. And in the third trimester around the age of 50+, the maturing adult considers the responsibility to own up to life. Of course, every person is unique. There is no one way or right way to live life. I have accepted that every path is equally valid, whether I judge it to be so or not.
Whichever trimester you imagine for yourself, one strategy to manage the tipsy-turvy times in which we live is to imagine your body as a tuning fork!
Step 1: Tune-in physically
We live in a material world that we recognize as a physical body. Tall, short, round or skinny, we have this shared reality. We each have our preferences of where we hang out. Some of us live mainly in the head disregarding our physical structure.
After a ruptured appendix, a hysterectomy and 3 babies, I discovered I was ignoring the signals in my gut! Literally, my body was giving me clues to pay attention to the intuition of my gut, also known as the second brain.
That was the starting place for me to realize my body was a useful tuning device. It takes practice to discern feelings that have a wide range of nuances. And to notice the difference between a bodily function like digestion! It is possible to discern where in the body is giving you signals and clues.
I can tune in to discern the difference. Does it feel like an ebb and flow, or lopsided? Do I feel a resonance or dissonance The body is like an antennae tower where the energies increase, decrease or subside. A language of its own.
Step 2: Notice what you notice
Where is there a sense of movement, heaviness or lightness in your body? Light-headed, heavy-hearted, weighed down? Understand that a message is coming in for your well-being. Information is just that. In-forming!
Step 3: Be the translator and editor
Describe what you notice. Make it fun. Put your hand wherever you want to discern an incoming message. Maybe on your heart? Ask for the message to come through. Maybe a sound, an image or a feeling? Be open to receiving.