Have you ever sat down to write something or wanted to start a project of some kind whether practical, such as adopting a healthier lifestyle or a work or house project and found yourself about to begin and this voice pops into your head which is like a naysayer? It comes up with all the reasons that might stop you in your tracks.
Well, I had that today, when I sat down to do some personal self-reflection work - an invitation from the esteemed writer Liz Gilbert to start a prompt, 'Dear Love, what would you have me know about pretending?'
This is an exercise she created some years ago called love letters and she invites you to engage with SOUL - Spirit of Unconditional Love. Her guest this week could only partake by pretending, hence the prompt.
This is what happened to me.. It took 3 gos because this other part of me (in my mind) was having none of it and kept interrupting. I asked it to pipe down which it did eventually. Now bear with me here, I can have a wild imagination. What replaced the naysayer, the protector, as I like to call it, was what I can only describe as Mama soul singer - an African American black woman dressed in sequins and tassels on a stage and she was speaking to me where I was sat in the shadows behind the stage and she said, in a strong southern drawl - "you know kid, you know what, you just go for it kid."
''Huh, me?" I looked at her and back at myself.
"Yeah you."
It turns out she's my inner cheerleader. She's continues, "you don't let anything stop you d'ya hear me?"
"What's she referring to?" I'm thinking.
"Everything," she boomed. "Every damn thing."
"Huh?" I'm totally bowled over by this point. If I share what she's saying to me to my audience (a.k.a. you) they're gonna think I'm just pretending. I can't do that.
"Err well, that's what you're supposed to be doing," she interrupts my thoughts, "that's what this exercise is about ain't it? Pretending! What you doin' slunkin over there?"
(Aside) You see, I'd said to myself, 'what if I pretended everything was gonna work out?' (you know, I'm referring to the big things: work, love, life, the universe, everrrryyyythinggg:)
And this Black American Soul Singer voice, accent and all came into my mind and she started a-whoopin' and a-hollerin' and a-cheerin' and she was wearing sequins and tassels and she was like a mama bear you know, saying, "What you doin' slunkin' in the corner girl?" ( I felt like Baby when Patrick Swayze came up to her in the film Dirty Dancing).
She said kindly but firmly, "get up off your ass and get moving girl 'cuz you got this. You ain't got time to be sitting on yo' ass. You gotta get up right this moment you hear me and do yo' thing."
And I was thinking, 'what thing is she referring to?'
And it was like she could read my mind, and she said, "get yo'self up there on that stage."
I replied, "I don't sing like you, all swagger and glitter and gold."
She said, "sing from your heart baby girl."
And then she was gone. And I stood on that stage nearly pitch black it was and through sheer force I began to speak.
I said, "you know something. I'm not a glitter-clad songstress. I'm not gonna tell you what you wanna hear and make you feel all warm and glowy inside like these here beautiful singers do but I am gonna tell you the truth about a subject I've devoted over half my life to; The body. "Your body never lies. Your body never acts against you ever even when 'experts' tell you it is. It is always working for you. Whatever the conditions, it does its best. It might struggle. It might produce some hellish symptoms. It might scream and shout but it is not working against you.
I'm here to help you see that. I admit it. Me, your whole-person health practitioner, I'm not fun moments in your life, the coldplay concerts, the bbqs on the beach. I'm not here just for you to have a good time. I'm here for the sh*t times. The times when it's all gone to sh*t or it's all going to sh*t. I'm here for the times when you wanna go to the Coldplay concert but you can't because you're too sick or too poor or your relationship has broken down or .... (fill in the dots) So. You wanna climb into the pit and clear it out or you gonna stay there living half a life full of difficulty, pain, resentment and fear? Come on, let's do this! Let's get you well and feeling happy. Let's do this ok!"
I'll be honest with you, before I started this little exercise - the 'dear love, love letter, I thought I'd be imagining easy things like holidays and retreats, not having an imaginary convo with a mama bear African American soul singer whooping me along telling me to get on stage and do my thing. I mean, I like to sing but I'm not a singer per se.
But actually I thought about it some more. I am the one that helps you dig out the bottom of the sewer where all the sh*t lives, where all the 'not good enough' feelings live, all the pent up rage, the I'm too ugly, too fat, too thin, too weak, too tired..to do the thing - all the buried physical, mental and emotional 'stuff' that stops you living your best life. That sewer represents all the 'gunk' (toxicity) that shows up as symptoms; bad skin, achy joints, low mood, brain fog, anxiety, poor memory, menstrual pain, menopause symptoms, gut issues and so on. We gotta get underneath it honey. You ready? Schedule a complimentary call right here.
Sending you my best on this hot and sunny bank holiday weekend.
Love and hugs
Sophie xox
p.s. In hot weather especially, don't forget to drink pure, clean water regularly throughout the day, not more than 1litre in 1hr. At body temperature will hydrate you more quickly and if you're forgetting to drink water, you've lost your thirst and if you don't drink water over several hours you may also lose your thirst which is not good right. Dehydration is always the first stage of any imbalance in the body. Chronic dehydration occurs when you've lost your thirst for 2 years or more and leads to chronic dis-ease.