I’m so happy to finally be able to announce one of the projects I’ve been working on…it’s a book for National Geographic Books called A Year of Daily Calm. It will be out at the end of 2015, and it’s a day-by-day guide to creating more peace in your life. I’m beyond thrilled about it!
I’m also excited that I can announce it because while working on it, something happened that led to an insight, and wow do I love to share me some insights. =)
I was writing about the benefits of heart-opening yoga poses, and went to go do a Google search to confirm what I was writing. And wouldn’t you know, I did three separate searches using slightly different keywords, and each time, an article that I wrote came up toward the top of the list. For a minute I was frustrated – I really wanted to find something from an “expert”!
Ha. Well played, universe, well played.
Message received: I don’t need to look to someone else to tell me what I already know to be true.
And neither do you.
And yet it’s what we do: look outside ourselves for confirmation. For someone to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong.
We learned that that’s what we needed to do to survive when we were kids, but we’re not kids anymore. So why do we still doubt our own authority? Because the ego can’t handle the fact that we are now fully capable of steering our own ship. The ego is like the cranky employee who’s been working at the company for 25 years and can’t stop talking about how things used to be.
I’m not the only one getting the reminder to trust myself. Time and time again these last couple of weeks, I’ve listened to clients explain their conflict so eloquently and describe what they’ve been doing to move forward, and they are so on the money. I’ve said, “Your instincts are right on, you can totally trust them,” more times than I can count on client calls these last two weeks.
Here’s the truth: You know so much more than you allow yourself to perceive. Or, if you catch glimpses of it, your ego is working overtime trying to get you to doubt it, by making you feel confused, or overwhelmed, or doubting.
That darned ego is cranking out urgent memos about all the things that could possibly go wrong, but here’s the thing: you don’t have to read them. You can thank your ego for its passion and then continue on about your business. And just act on what you know to be true.
So now my question to you is, assuming you know everything you need to know about a certain thing or situation, what’s your next right step?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Here’s to accepting and honoring your own wisdom.
Hi Kate,
Once again perfect timing on this article! I know this but see I needed you to tell me so I could believe. 🙂
Take care,
Love, Brenda C
Ventura, CA
Brenda, we all need reminders from time to time! Love hearing that this hit you at just the right time. xoxoxo, Kate
Beautiful, Kate! Why do we so often doubt our own authority? Why do we look to a so-called “expert” to tell us why we feel a certain way, or what we should do next? Listening to ourselves and trusting the voice we hear… simple but powerful stuff. Thank-you!
It really served us at one time, Karen (like, when we were completely unable to fend for ourselves). So it’s part of how we’re wired, in a way. We just have to see how it still comes in to play and choose to ‘let in’ the deeper wisdom what’s already there and never, ever leaves us. Thanks for reading and contributing! xo
I was just talking about this with Sharice. On Tuesday, she presented a webinar on 6 Secrets to Attracting Clients and pointed out that recognizing that I am an expert and stepping into the role of expert publicly is a key and fundamental step. I’d been feeling a little weak kneed at the idea but when I saw the slide and heard the words “expert” and “experience” together, something clicked.
A week earlier, Sharice and I had a marketing brainstorm session and I shared my life story with her. Since that discussion, so many things are clicking that my experience makes me an expert. (It’s in the word, after all.) My life story is what makes me uniquely qualified to coach people on emotional eating.
Understanding this and recognizing the value of my experience to others has made me feel so much lighter over the last two days. I seriously *do not* enjoy nerding out on vitamins and micro-nutrients and *feared* working with clients who would ask me about that or just wanted me to tell them what to eat. But I felt like I had to because I’m a health coach and that’s what we’re expected to do.
Through embracing my expertise gained through experience, I feel like I am enough. And I’m able to help so many people who are still suffering with what I went through.
Best part is, this weekend I reconnected with a good friend who just completed training as a nutritionist and she LOVES nerding out on nutrition. (Already she’s helped me quite a bit personally.) We’re thinking about ways we can compliment each other. It’s all so good!!!!!
Olivia!! I love hearing everything in this update!!! YESSSS I am high fiving you, big time. Your experience counts for SO MUCH. Yes, we need to be lifelong learners to continually increase the value we provide, but nobody needs a piece of paper to start doing what they were born to do. 🙂 And having a great referral partner who complements what you don’t do is the best! xoxox Kate
Hi Kate…I swear it’s like you are reading my mind sometimes and say just the right thing when I need to hear it. So my answer is, “I know the goal I want for myself and I know what I need to do to get there. It is something that impacts me on almost every aspect of my life. My health, my fitness, my peace, my ability as a mother/daughter/wife/friend/self. I have held off making changes because I doubted that I had what it took to do it on my own and that maybe I would need a doctor’s intervention or medication, etc, and I didn’t want to deal with that. I think fear has us doubting ourselves and abilities as well as ego and I am pretty sure mine was fear of changing my entire way of life. Well, I am happy to say I was wrong. I knew what I had to do and I did it. Total transformation may not happen over night, but I already see significant health improvements and big changes in my own peace of mind- i can sleep the night through now!.”
Thanks!! <3
P.S. I so wish I could come spend the week with you and Ellen next month!
Melissa! I love hearing this! Sleeping through the night and big changes in peace of mind is huge. Huge! You’ve got to love the process. And I love that you gave yourself the chance to see what making changes was actually like, and didn’t stop at just imagining how you thought it would go. Keep going. 🙂 xo, Kate