When you think about it, if you think about it, our physical beings are one big feedback mechanism. It will give you the information you require to live a life that most resonates with you. The tricky part can be listening to the body. First one has to make the connection that the body is able to communicate what is going on and then be willing to hear the message.

Have a headache? It could be because you haven't had enough water or you have tension and are wearing your shoulders like earrings. It could also mean that your skeleton needs some attention and an adjustment. There is also the possibility that you are avoiding thinking about an area of your life and your head is saying "umm, hello?  Hi!  If you use me to address that issue, I will ease up and not have to cramp you like a vise grip squeezing your head. Just a thought. It's what I am here for."

Have heart palpitations? Yes, it could be your addiction to caffeine but it could also be that you are hurting and not allowing yourself to feel all of the emotions because they seem too great. I have personal experience with this one lately. My body was trying to tell me that while I thought I was relaxing and allowing the emotions to flow, I wasn't at the level I was now capable of. Of course, we have to follow due diligence and go to the doctor to have the physical vessel checked, but being aware it is giving you feedback can help to alleviate the issue before it becomes a true medical problem. I am very fortunate, because I won't settle for less, to have a medical practitioner who will hear me when I say that I believe it is emotional and a deficiency of minerals, but we have to check out the ole pumper as well. I am so excited to do the stress test! Talk about tangible feedback!

What this recent visit to communication with my body reminded me is that we have pathways that have been created from previous experiences and if we listen to them, we can shift and really be in alignment with self. The feedback loop that is created is like a great conversation. One being talking.  The other listening.  Then taking turns. What you give in a conversation comes back if you are willing to listen. Truly listen. In a session with someone this is what I do the best, I believe.  I listen to their words, their body, their soul and their energy field. One may not know what is being said by their body, mind or soul and it's my job to help figure that out and then change the pathway that will change the perception that then changes the habit... Exciting, isn't it?

For the sake of practice today, let's stay with the body. What is it trying to tell you?  Do a body scan and see what organs, muscles, bones or systems are talking to you. Yes it will feel weird at first, we have been taught to think of our body as a secondary consideration. A vehicle that gets us to from point A to point B but it is so much more than that. If your car made a clunking sound, you would try to figure that out wouldn't you?

We are quick to jump to a prescription and a diagnosis in this society. What if you listened to the messages and then created a working plan from there? For my seemingly broken heart I could stress out more, demand a prescription and a diagnosis, or I could listen, take steps to change how I was responding to life and accept that this process is not an overnight one and that I can learn sooooooo much by opening my inner ears to hear what my heart needs. It works people, and if you can't hear yourself, that is fine. Locate a practitioner that can help you hear what your body, mind and soul are telling you. Then take it from there. Drive your own feedback vehicle.

Feedback. I love feedback. It is the data that makes my brain so happy, the action my body likes and the acceptance my soul is here to learn.  It is also the knowing that I have the tools to have them all work so well together. So can you.

Grab your toolkit, we are going in!

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

The next journey in the book is where you will start to use the information learned previously. This chapter on not naming, blaming or claiming is a bit like a walk through a Dr. Seuss book in that it rhymes but stick with me and see how that can help you be aware of where you are in your process.

When I find myself doing any of the aforementioned, I apply my awareness brakes and take a look at what is going on inside. Sometimes it takes a bit to get moving again but being willing to stop mid process means I don't have to slam it in reverse and re walk road already traveled. I hope you enjoy it.

Don't name it, blame it or claim it. This is one of my favorite sayings as it puts it so clearly what not to do and sometimes we have to know what not to do in order to figure out what to do. One of my favorite quotes from Esther Hicks and Abraham is “often we know what we don’t want to help us figure out what we do want.” It is simply brilliant in its simplicity and its message that if you can’t figure out what you want, you most always know what you don’t want. How do you know? Well, humans complain. It is an innate talent that is one of our least great achievements as beings on this planet. We would be hard pressed to find another creature that will complain when something happens to their habitat. One that wants to blame everyone for their misfortune or wants to talk about it endlessly in an effort to name whatever the inconvenience was. We are special aren’t we? No, really, we are but we could use that specialness to enhance our life rather than take away from it I believe. Humans are always saying how we are the more evolved species, isn’t it time we show that by paying attention to those lesser species and learning how to be with whatever is happening? (Yes, I am being facetious here, we can learn A LOT from other species when we pay attention.)

The clearest indication to me when someone is caught in the name, blame, claim game is the excuses that come out of a conversation. It seems to be a group effort, no blaming without the excuse cousin.  It is nice that the excuses and nbc (name, blame, claim) get along, but not very serving of our individual selves. Excuses are the brake pedal in life. If inspiration and growth are the gas than why would you want to drive with the gas and the brake on? It would create a great circular pattern no doubt and perhaps you are familiar with this pattern but is it serving you?

So can you ask yourself, where are you  living with  excuses? This isn’t to point out where you may be procrastinating, this is to help you understand where you aren’t being honest with yourself, which is equivalent to the jake brake in trucks, you know that rattling sound when they have to slow down fast? Yeah, that is your excuseometer. Is it rattling, squeaking, grinding in any way? If it is, this is where you see the mechanic to fix it.

What excuse do you hear yourself use the most? Mine is not enough time. Now, I know that isn’t true as time is relative and while I am very busy, I always find the time and meet my goals so there is a big ole hole in my excuse than isn’t there? So, what is yours? I shared mine, go for it, name it. (Yes, there is a trick in this chapter as we shift from brake to gas but go with me here.)

Now that you have named it, breathe. Allow yourself to accept it so we can move forward.

Ok, ready? Good, now ask yourself,

• What am I receiving from this excuse?
• How is it benefiting me? Following my example, not enough time, or too busy, the benefit I can receive is a feeling of self pity, self promotion or even a reason to not do other things. Sometimes it’s not pretty to look at your own stuff, but it ALWAYS feels better afterwards.
• So, what are you receiving from the excuse? What is your pay off?
• Now, what is the action you can take to move past the excuse? Again using my excuse, because I believe a lot of people use this same excuse, I decided when I heard myself saying the excuse, or thinking it, I would do whatever it was I was avoiding because that was the real issue, avoidance.

So, if I had a class to write but felt I was so busy I couldn’t sit down and do it and the excuse popped up, I chose to sit, write something and move through the need to have my self pity fix met. Not pretty, I’ll grant you, but it works when you are honest with yourself and find a sense of humor about how creative we beings are.

This is the part where you do not blame it. It really doesn’t matter what the issue is or what the reason is it has been created. All that really matters is what you are willing to do to be in a better place in your life and most importantly, in your soul for the learning you do now will carry forward.

What can you do right now to move through that excuse you gave previously? Can you clean out one drawer if your excuse is you are not organized enough? Can you go for a walk for five minutes if your excuse was you are too tired to exercise? Can you sit down and write for fifteen minutes if you have a paper due and you just don’t have the inspiration to do it. Write spaghetti over and over again until you move through whatever it is you are avoiding. It doesn’t matter what you write as long as you are doing something to move forward. The same is true of the organization or the exercise. It is also true if your excuse is you just can’t afford to do anything, you can, you are just using an excuse to stay stuck. There are a lot of free activities as well as ways to increase income or decrease debt, some actually fun! Seems silly doesn’t it when we put it that way, doesn’t it? Remember that old standby, honesty is the best policy? This is especially true if we are talking about self.

So while you are being honest, give yourself the gift of no claiming. I don’t feel it is a coincidence that claiming and complaining rhyme so well. There is a distinct connection between the two. Once you start complaining you have already claimed whatever it is you are giving negative attention to. By virtue of giving your attention you have claimed it. Now, we can’t edit every thought that comes into our mind for that would make us nuts, but we can learn to focus on what fills us up rather than depletes us.

For just a moment, think of something  you  complain  about often. Got it? Good now really feel what it feels like in your body when you complain. What do you  feel? Do you  feel elated, pumped up,  ready to charge ahead? Do you feel crummy, depressed or lethargic?  What is your body telling you? Please listen because this is the first step in listening to yourself and rewiring the messages that have been playing for many years leading you in the direction of drama and negativity.

If you feel pumped up, there is a good chance you thrive on the drama of your excuses and the excitement you feel is being fed as a type of addiction that will never serve you well for like a lot of addictions, you will go back for more and more and more.

If you feel depressed or less than enthusiastic, it is depleting your system and each time you participate in complaining, you are decreasing your enjoyment of life over and over. If there were a magic pill for this, everyone would need a prescription but there isn’t. It is magic when you realize you have a say in how you feel and decide to make some changes to feel better and develop habits that support your greatness. I know you can do it.

When you feel you are sliding into naming, blaming or claiming, don’t judge yourself, but redirect, move just a bit off the habit toward action. We all know that actions come after our thoughts so if you can take the time initially to shift those thoughts and rewire the automatic response to one of positive action, your actions are going to flow nicely. In this place you would be focusing on what is now and right in front of you rather than what is not. So you would have shifted from the gas and brake driving to the gas and occasionally using the brake when you want to make a turn. Much like driving, the movements aren’t going to be fast and jerky, they will be small, slow and constantly adjusting, no jake brake needed.

Trucking on down my road. Hope to see you along the way!
Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

We all have a team on board. We have a committee that is here to help us be our best selves, whatever that may be for each of us. That committee is made up of our soul, our mind and our body. Each of us has this committee even if we aren't aware any longer or we plug our listening ears to it.

Our soul is like an individual GPS guiding us on a path that absolutely has a plan, a loose plan. A blue print, so to speak, that acts as an outline for our journey here. We get to fill in the rooms and the add ons but there is one, I promise. Within that blue print is a theme each of us is here to learn. Every soul sets an intention it believes the person can carry through and learn. Isn't it nice to know that your soul believes in you? It doesn't know everything as it is growing and expanding too, but it has vast knowledge to pull from and when we learn to include it, that information is available. Perhaps knowing it is there is the first step.

The mind, including the brain, is an amazing computer. It processes, categorizes, and strategizes for the best of our selves. It has, through it's experiences, created a data base that is wonderful and can be very supportive. While it can contain corrupt files and lead us astray, it is a valuable asset when it is well trained!

The body is amazing at picking up signals and processing information and sending it to the computer of the mind while receiving guidance from the soul at the same time. All while chewing gum and walking! If you don't find that amazing, I have nothing else here for you. The body gives us that gut reaction and inner voice that while subtle, never lies.

So, when you combine them all and actually use them, it makes this life thing a whole lot easier. Believe it or not, it gets to be very fast so you can determine if you want to go to that party for instance or whether you would benefit from taking that job, on the spot.

They can all work independently but that is a lot of work. It saves a lot of time on the crazy train when your brain wants to over think something and when your body feels everything around you if you use them all. The balance of all systems go creates a seamless process. In the beginning it may be a bit like driving a stick shift, but you will get the coordination down soon enough.

How do you do it? Well, first give yourself permission to acknowledge all of these places and use them simultaneously. Then, when you feel that pull or desire for more, you take a moment to tap into that soul self and feel the support. Then you can employ the mind and ask of it "what is it you would like?" After you hear a question or use this example, drop down into your body and feel what the direction could be. When we connect to feelings we get a very keen sense of what is in our best interest.

So, start with something you are not attached to such as, do I even like broccoli or am I eating it out of habit? You could tap in, allow yourself to inquire as to what would be fulfilling in this moment and then feel the answer. However you decide to do it, the time you give yourself will be the real connection point. I wish that for you. That connection to self and then the collection of the team!

Rah rah sis boom bah!

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com