How my body told me to quit my job

Many years ago, I found myself wondering what direction to take my life. I had started taking classes at a spiritual center to learn about spiritual practices, like meditation, listening to my intuition, setting intentions, and visualization.

One day, I woke up, and I felt like I didn't want to do the work I was doing anymore. After a couple weeks, the feeling wouldn't go away. So with my new spiritual tools in my toolbox, I decided to see what would happen if I asked for the answer in my meditation.

I sat in my living room chair and I quieted my mind. After a few minutes of silence, I asked in my mind, "Should I stay in my job?" No answer came, so I asked again. And again. And again.

After a few minutes, a mental voice seemed to appear, and it said, "Yes, you should stay in your job."

I said to myself, "Wow. Okay. There's the answer. Thank you."

I opened my eyes, and I said out loud to myself, "Okay, I'm going to stay in my job!"

And you know what happened next?

My body immediately felt heavy. My breathing got shallow. I felt drained of energy.

Wait a minute, I thought. What is this? Why is my body reacting this way?

And it dawned on me. My intuition wasn't talking to me through the "mental voice" that said to stay in my job.  My intuition was telling me loud and clear through my body!

After I accepted what my body was telling me, I felt relief! My body eased. I breathed more freely. Everything felt right and aligned.

Since then, I've learned how to listen to my body. To see how it feels about certain decisions when I feel unclear. To ask guiding questions that give me hints about my feelings just under the surface of my conscious thought.

So here's your coaching assignment:

• Take some time to listen to your body. 
  
• When you think about something, or when you take a particular action, does your body feel light and joyous, or does it feel heavy or constricted? 
• Are you saying or doing things as if you're body is compelling you to do them, as if your body has a life of its own?

You don't need to make any rash decisions based on this exercise. The assignment is to simply listen to your body. And notice...without judgment. If anything, this is information for you to become more aware that there's a whole lot more to you than you might think.  And the messages we need to hear can come from the unlikeliest of sources.

Do you find it easy listening to your body? Or is this new territory for you? Feel free to post a comment below.

Here's to coming home into our bodies!