Follow Yourself

Here is the good news: stuck, scattered or buried, trapped, adrift or knocked off your feet, you have everything you need.  It’s inside you.  Feel your way in, and you find your way out.  

Try this: start where you are.  Notice what is already there, the ways you are already beginning to find your way.  There are stirrings inside.  Energies, frustrations.  There is something in you that is not stuck.  Something in you is already moving.  Follow that.  Follow the feeling inside that knows what to do.  Pick up the mess.  Listen to music.  Reach out.  Growl.  These impulses toward comfort and pleasure? These are your messengers.  Listen to them.

At times, and especially at first, it may not feel like enough.  The challenges are overwhelming, the logistics seem impossible.  How can it be enough to feel my way through?  How can it be enough to just follow? Rest for a moment in the assumption that there are trustworthy parts inside that know what to do.  We are each born with these parts, and with the capacity to move and grow.  

Chances are, you have done this before, this finding your way.  Remember, if just for a moment, if just in your bones.  There have been times when you have known exactly what to do.  You move toward the light or you reach with your hands.  You will your way through, or dream. 

Pay attention to what you are already doing, and follow yourself as you do.  Write it down, from time to time, or tell somebody about it.  Today it felt good to wash all the dishes; today it felt good to walk around the block twice.  Notice how you do these little things more now.  Notice how these little things begin to break down the feelings of being frozen or lost.  Notice how you gently listen in, and follow, and trust.   

You can trust the part inside that knows how to take care of yourself.  It is wise.  It has your best intentions at heart.  You have the potential to be living in a rhythm that suits you, at a speed and a brightness and noise level that is aligned with your inner way of being.  You know how to do it. Listening to yourself to find out what you need will not make you lazy or self-centered.  It will make you strong. When you are strong, you can be with the discomfort.  When you are strong, you can tolerate uncertainty.  

And you will find your way through.  Again.  

Need help following?  Therapy can help.  A therapist can help you tune your attention inside and help you reflect on what’s working and what’s not.  Working with a therapist can also help alleviate the anxiety, discomfort and depression that gets in the way.  As a therapist, I trust that you have intelligent inner resources, and I see my role as helping you find and grow them.