Yes, you read that right. It’s an “e.”
NOT a “y.”
No fires to put out, no dramas to solve, no racing heart or panic.
I’ve spent enough time feeling like life was an emergency. I’m ready for some sweet transformation heading my way.
So I brought myself to this conference: Emerging Women Live in NYC. And here I am — starting the 3rd day.
We’ve heard from great speakers like Arianna Huffington, Brene Brown, Karen May (from Google), Tami Simon (founder/CEO of Sounds True Publishing), and more.
One thought that haunted me right up until yesterday is, “Who am I to be here?”
I’ve had this one before. It comes in many disguises.
It’s the voice in my head asking me, “Who do you think you are?” in the most judgmental tone.
Some old mental thought loop warns, ” Watch out! Don’t get too big for your britches now.”
I don’t just hear these echoes from long-held fears, I also feel them in my body.
It feels like ICK.
It feels like sweaty palms.
A knot in the base of my throat.
A sour stomach.
Lots of thought threads going on at this conference. One of my favorites: the hallmark of being a woman is that we feel things.
The feminine expresses itself through the body. We enter a room and we pick up on all kinds of signals.
Without even trying to, we scan our surroundings for the vibe in the room. We pick up on who’s there, how they are feeling and what they might need from us.
One problem with this type of tuning into the body is that it’s all about externals. (How are they feeling?).
It can really do a number on us.
It’s so easy for us to hook up our bodies to what’s going on around us (even if we are shy, we pick up the signals).
But, we have to connect with ourselves from the inside.
Body-centered practices can help us tune-in. We must practice quieting the outside influences so we can tune inward.
We have to make a practice out of shutting out external so that we can listen inward.
This practice time can help us understand who we are, what we are intuiting, how we feel, what is the next step for us.
Concepts like trust, safety, courage. They can’t just be concepts in our brain.
We have to experience them in our bodies.
Chantal Pieratt, founder of Emerging Women Live, says “Until trust gets into your body and you feel it there, it does not exist.”
That’s a bold statement.
I believe it is true.