Some six years ago I was working on an upcoming workshop, and working a lot. The dulling shadow of burn-out was beginning to flirt in my periphery.
Talking with my coach at the time, I made mention of feeling tired and not having taken a real break for a while and then continued on whatever I thought I should be talking about (this is why having a coach is so great—you end up saying stuff that you wouldn’t have otherwise verbalized. Brilliant. Scary. Brilliant.)
She did that annoying thing that coaches do: she said, “Hold on. Let’s take a look at that.”
What?? I’m supposed to be talking about work stuff with coach, not down-time, right? Press, poke, ouch! She knew she’d hit a sore spot.
(Skipping ahead in the conversation) she suggested I commit to taking a break. I agreed to that much.
“Great,” she said, “what might that look like?”
Just like a coach to get all specific.
“Uh, well,” I hemmed and hawed. This just hadn’t been something I’d been thinking about. Finally I blurted out, “I could sign up for a yoga retreat. I’ve been wanting to do one.”
As soon as the words had popped out of my mouth, I sensed a buzzing deep within me. It was palpable—mid-rib cage, center of my body.
I committed to booking something by our next appointment.
Once we were off the phone, however, a little voice in my head told me that contrary to the recent conversation, it wasn’t that important and that I had higher priorities to focus on already!
That little voice knew that if I put off booking something, the enthusiasm would fade and I’d forget all about it.
I tried to get back to work.
THAT BUZZING SOMETHING WOULDN’T LET ME.
Seriously. I couldn’t focus on anything until that trip had been researched, booked, and calendared which took all of about 20 minutes: Yoga retreat, 3-day weekend, immediately after my upcoming workshop series, 2-hour drive, affordable. Perfect.
As soon as the transaction was complete, that buzzing something within me got so giddy happy it was positively ridiculous. I paused in mild surprise, wondering what was going on.
It was like my Inner Kid had been neglected for a really long time and all of a sudden she was being given the weekend of her wildest dreams. I tell ya, that kid was thrilled! She was jumping up and down yelling, “Yipee-dipee!!!!” (Yes, my Inner Kid says dopey things like Yippee-dipee.)
I was so crazy, irrationally happy that it was obvious this seemingly ill-timed booking was clearly smiled upon by the Universe in such a major way that to deny it would’ve been to tempt a terrible wrath beyond imagination.
Well, not exactly that. Seriously though, to deny that obvious communication would’ve been to silence a part of me that was desperate to be heard. And judging by my response, it was apparent that I’d been turning a deaf ear for quite a while.
What I got from that experience (besides a great yoga weekend at my favorite hot springs) was an understanding of what communication with my happy Inner Kid feels like and represents direct connection with my Soul.
Since then, when facing a decision, I tune into my heart center—and usually they’re big-ish decisions like choosing conferences to attend, places to go, trips to take, or say, deciding to rent my house out for a year while I go traveling in Mexico.
My Inner Kid will either be feeling kind of bored, or she’ll be bouncing around all buzzy and giddy as if to say, “Please say yes! Please say yes!”
Nowadays, the giddiness is more subtle—it doesn’t have to get as extreme as it did that day with my coach for me to listen and honor it. I recognize the communication and that’s all I need to know.
There are so many different ways for you to communicate with your Soul. And the beautiful thing is that it’s already there sending out communiqués, patiently (usually) waiting for you to tune in to the patterns.
Are you listening to your Soul’s attempts to be heard? Is there another way your Soul has been trying to get through to you that you’re ready to hear?
Go ahead, give it a go. You just might make your Inner Kid wildly ecstatic, and when she’s happy, you know you’re on the right path.
XO
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Image credit: Shawn