I’m listening to a fascinating interview between Tim Ferriss and one of the people that I deeply respect Boyd Varty. He has mentored under Martha Beck, too.
This morning, I’m pondering a question that Boyd posed: “How do we know when we know?”
I hear a lot of people respond with, “I don’t know” when asked a deep or powerful question about themselves or what they want.
And I want to yell, “LIAR!” in the most compassionate way possible.
See, I used to be a big purveyor of the answer “I don’t know.” But in fact, I DID know (somewhere deep down inside me) but I was unwilling to (1) listen (2) hear or (3) speak the answer out loud.
I didn’t feel safe to listen to what I wanted or needed (for reasons too numerous and unnecessary to list here).
I didn’t know how to trust my body responses. To listen to my intuition. Or to act on these answers.
Now, I do.
My practice for the past 15 years has been to first LISTEN to my inner voice. To allow my body sensations to arise. To notice my thoughts and notice what parts of me are activated or triggered. And to REALLY notice the signs around me (often and mostly from Nature, but also hilariously from street signs, songs, and “random” things people say).
My second practice has been TO TELL THE TRUTH. SPEAK it out loud. No hiding, no lying, no changing my metaphorical spots. I did a lot of those thing in my 20’s and 30’s and I damaged relationships with others and myself.
My third practice has been to ACT on the information I receive. To do the thing. To make the ask. To bring forward the powerful question. To trust the cards. To trust the client I’m working with. To trust the Forest.
And so when Boyd posed the question, “How do we know when we know?” my answer was immediate:
- Check in with my gut – that’s where my knowing lives and it’s almost immediately activated now.
- Notice my body sensations – full body goosebumps? calm in my chest? Feeling warm and comfortable? All good.
- Speak it out loud no matter what.
Martha Beck would call this “being in integrity” –>one thing.
When we ignore what we KNOW we are in “duplicity” –> two things.
Give it a go, gentle reader…how do you know when you KNOW?
It’s a life-giving practice of patience, diligence, watching, observing…and then taking action.
And, you might enjoy the epic conversation between Tim and Boyd as much as I have.
Warmly,
Angie