When You Don't Know What To Do, Do This.

Aren't our lives so full of unsettling events these days? We are collectively overwhelmed and wondering what lies ahead. I'm referring to our global well-being, of course, but perhaps to your personal life as well.

If you're like most of us, when you feel unsettled, your mind scrolls through an anxious loop of distressing thoughts. Over and over you review the same worrisome details, hoping to spot a solution you didn't find the last 100 times you did the same thing.  

Rather than falling into that useless loop again, try this instead. 

Say to yourself, 'Body, Not Mind'.

'Body, Not Mind' is your cue to turn from the activity in your mind to the richer, newer information your body has on your topic of concern.

'Body, Not Mind' reminds you that your body is communicating a wise perspective on the subject uppermost in your mind right now. To receive its immediately-relevant information, you just have to listen. The trick is that your body speaks in sensations not words, so to listen means to feel.

Listening to what your body is saying might go something like this,

"AsI turn my attention from my mind to my body, I notice a  _______________ sensation in my ___________________.  

It is uncomfortable and I don't actually like listening to/feeling this.

I find it difficult to just sit here and feel my body like this.

My mind is telling me this its a waste of time, but I am going to continue feeling what I'm noticing in my body right now anyway.

I'm interested in the idea that my body communicates its wise awareness of the topic on my mind right now through sensations rather than words. I am willing to listen to/feel what my body is saying about this, perhaps for the first time.

My body is speaking in these very sensations right now and I am listening.

Body, thank you for sharing this with me. I am listening. I will continue to listen. Please help me learn to communicate with you better." 

As you learn to speak the language of your body (feel its sensations), what it will have to tell you will change.  What this means is that the sensations expressed by your body will change in ways you can notice in real time.

Fascinatingly, as the sensations change, you will start to enjoy the experience and become curious about what you might feel next.  

As you listen, you'll also start having new thoughts about the situation at hand. You may spontaneously view it from a higher, broader, wiser perspective. New possibilities of what to do might appear. You'll likely feel calmer, more stable and capable in the situation even if nothing about it has changed. 

The sensory language your body speaks is natural and innate for you to understand. With practice, you can enjoy immersing yourself in it for longer and longer periods, soaking up it nuances.

So the next time you feel overwhelmed or uncertain and don't know what to do, say' Body, Not Mind'.

And see what your body is saying about whatever is important to you right now.