It makes sense that trusting your gut can be hard if you had to constantly override it—as a way of staying safe and connected.

For many of us, we may have grown up in environments in which we had to override our inner knowing in order to:

• Keep the peace

• Stay safe

• Receive affection

We may have wanted to speak up but we sensed doing so could get us in trouble. So, we held back and stayed quiet. Or, perhaps we said what we thought someone wanted to hear rather than voice what felt true to us.

It's disorienting isn’t it? It’s incredibly confusing when doing what’s right feels wrong; whereas doing what’s wrong feels strangely “right”…more comfortable and less risky.  

So, no wonder it's hard to make decisions, choose directions or navigate tough discussions! Trusting ourselves can feel incredibly hard when we’ve spent so much of our lives learning not to. It’s not that we wanted to override our gut, but rather we knew doing so made life “better.”

For many of us what kept us safe and connected was not listening to our inner knowing. We picked up on the fact that if our parents felt okay, then we would be okay-ish. So, we did what we could to make sure they felt okay. We pleased and appeased. We became high functioning and independent. Needing less meant receiving more attention and affection—even praise.

If this resonates with you, then you may be interested in my upcoming online, 6-week course Coming Back to You. The patterns and habits we perceive as "bad," "wrong" or “in the way” are often healthy responses to an unhealthy environment or traumatic experience(s). They’re not random—and you’re not flawed.

And while these strategies may have helped us get through an impossibly hard stretch of time, they often came at a cost. We weren’t given the space and support to:

• Have our feelings without getting caught up in them or shamed for having them

• Value our inner knowing and act on it

• Develop the resilience to stay true to ourselves

These are skills are skills that can be learned. In Coming Back to You, you’ll learn a gentle, empowering body-oriented process, which will enable you to feel more connected to yourself. You’ll learn how to value your feelings and trust yourself, so you can live more fully and be more authentically YOU.

Curious to learn more about this course and how to register? Click the button below to learn more.

Not sure if this course is right for you? Let’s chat!‍ ‍Click here to schedule a free, no-obligation 20-minute call.

Here’s to living fully in these hard times,

Lauren

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