Is there something going on in your life that is creating a mild feeling of unease?
A relationship?
A habit? (over-shopping, drinking, eating, working?)
A feeling? (boredom, anxiety, overwhelm?)
When you are asleep, do you know you’re asleep? No. You learn that you were asleep only after you wake up.
The same happens with our emotional intelligence and growth.
We begin life emotionally asleep. When we begin to wake up, we begin to question what we did when we were emotionally asleep:
-Why did I stay in that relationship?
-Why did I spend/eat/work so much?
-Why did I do that?
It doesn’t help us to criticize and judge ourselves for what we did when we were emotionally asleep no more than it does for us to criticize and judge ourselves for what we do when we’re physically asleep:
“Gosh, I tossed and turned last night. What an idiot I am. How could I do that?”
Uh no, that’s not helpful. What is helpful is to look at what we did when we were emotionally or physically asleep with kindness and the intent to learn.
“Hum, maybe watching that scary movie right before bed made me toss and turn.”
Waking our emotional self up requires us to do two things: (1) Be courageous enough to see what has become intolerable. (2) Stay and tolerate what you’re seeing long enough to make changes. Don’t put the blinders on (shopping, wine, eating, over-scheduling, overworking, etc). Be brave to see what your inner warrior is waking you up to see.
When clients come to me, they are already waking up. They might come to me because they want to lose weight. Or because they want to be more organized. Or because they are sick of feeling stressed.
But really, they come to me because their inner warriors are shaking them and they are waking up. It’s usually not a gentle classical music wake up call but more of a blaring buzzer alerting you that it is intolerable to live this way. It’s not necessary.
What is your inner warrior trying to tell you? Nothing you don’t already know. You just need to be brave to stop and to listen.
Wake up.
It is time.
You are ready.
Life loves you.
Wake up.
Your journey has begun.
