“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers, too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.”
~ Ralph Ellison
This is what we too often do when we want to be well. Ask everyone but never look within for a clue to the answer. And within has a lot of powerful information for you.
I can ask a person: “What do you think you need to do to (fill in the blank)?” and you know what? They nearly always have an answer. They have a clue. They have something that points them in the right direction. They may need a guide, like me, some extra information and some faith to try, but they have a direction. They have, in effect, a pretty good answer.
It’s normal. I think this is how we’ve been trained. Or maybe brainwashed. To trust others more than ourselves. To trust a degree or white coat or something else. Anything that isn’t us. I know I did it, too, before I regrouped and realized I knew a ton more than I realized I knew. And, even without that, that I had an inner guidance system that was pretty damn smart.
If you’re struggling with feeling your best, consider listening to your intuition — that gut feeling, that heart pull, those little ideas that pop up in your head, the signs you come across during your day. Are you noticing? Are you remaining aware? Or are you brushing them aside because they don’t sport white lab coats and multiple letters after their names?
That sort of information might just be what you need to get back on track. Listen. Investigate. Give it a try. Don’t immediately decide — Well, I can’t do that anyhow. How much do you want to be well? How much time are you giving up to being unwell? How much of your energy, time and finances are being drained currently because of how you feel?
It’s time to try something different. Your body’s wisdom is right there, if you access it. Get off the other-people-are-smarter treadmill for a bit, and listen in. When you do, you might be surprised how much valuable information you get that will help you get back to feeling good.
