I'll start by saying today's Monday Mantra did not come easily to me. Usually I sit down and take a few minutes to tune in and breathe. Then the words arrive and I start to write.

But today I have sat here for hours, walked away, screwed around on my phone, thought some more, and still nothing came. Finally, I relaxed enough to stop worrying about saying the exact perfect words, and the mantra arrived. Phew.

When we get stuck on something, the anxiety about being stuck makes everything worse - it's a lot harder to hear our intuition when we are worried or in a state of panic. This is true of any answer you seek, big or small. The cliche to, "get out of your head" actually works. We need to let go in order to see truth. We need to take a risk in order to experience the freedom of flight. 

I promise your body knows the answer. I know this because I've lived it, many times. My body always knows first, then my mind catches on, then my rational thoughts convince me that my body and my intuition cannot be trusted. At that point I have to circle back to my body and ask it again, "tell me, is this right?" Even becoming aware of this cycle helps so much. 

Try sitting for a moment and ask yourself a question. About anything. Wait, and observe that the answer arrives. Then observe what your mind does with that answer - all the questioning, criticizing, blaming, and doubting. Then take a breath, and ask yourself again. Sit with the feeling you have when you acknowledge your initial answer.  

Fear will continue to hold us in bad decision-making as long as we let it rule our thoughts and our cells, as long as we continue to second-guess ourselves. We are so conditioned to make practical decisions based on logic rather than intuition, we never allow that part of us that already knows to actually be acknowledged. 

What if your fear wasn't true? What if the thing you think is holding you back isn't even a thing? What if we all trusted ourselves enough to make decisions based on our gut and not our brain?

What would that world look like? 

What would your life look like?

When you make a choice based on fear it might look like playing it safe. It might look like following someone else's advice rather than your own. It might look like making the "responsible" choice, or the "nice" choice. It might look like you second-guessing your choice a lot. Until you acknowledge yourself, no matter how crazy, far-fetched, or impractical, you will never know what waits for you on the other side of that fear. 

This is a humble, vulnerable time. As a result, a lot of emotions are coming to the surface, which means it's a good time to sit still and listen. Maybe your response is to take more risk, and maybe your response is to take less. But your intuition, and what is meant for you, does not care that there is a pandemic. If something is right for you now, your body is telling you. Whatever answer you currently seek, it is there, bubbling beneath your skin and throbbing inside your soul.

It is much easier to hear the answer, when you quiet the fear in your mind.