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Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Honor the Wisdom of Your Body

Writer's picture: Kimberly GenlyKimberly Genly

Honor the Wisdom of Your Body Martha Beck is one of my all-time favorite writers. I think she’s terrific and I quote her and recommend her books all the time. Yet, oddly enough, I’ve only ever bought multiple copies of two books to give away to other people and none of Beck’s are on that short list. Every time I receive a graduation announcement, I send the graduate a copy of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. And after reading Loving What Is by Byron Katie, I purchased eight additional copies and gave them away to eight random people – some to people I love, one a random person I met in a hotel in Santa Cruz, CA, while on vacation. I’ve noticed Martha Beck quoting Byron Katie often lately herself. Why? If I had to sum up Katie’s work, known as “the work,” or “inquiry,” in one sentence, it would be: The way we think about what is happening is the cause of all pain and suffering, not whatever is happening. Try this, from Beck, on for size: No other species of animal would do this, because no other animal believes words over experience. For example, chimpanzees can learn many words in American Sign Language, but even these clever beasts don’t create thought-structures elaborate enough to destroy their awareness of their actual situation. If you signed to a chimp, “Washo, your hedge funds took a dive; you’re bankrupt” or “Everyone saw you mating with Tum-Tum, and the tabloids are calling you a slut,” Washo would not throw herself on the electric fence. She’d probably just sign, “Banana, please.” If you gave her a banana, the real, present-moment pleasure of eating it would be far more powerful than dark thoughts about the upcoming suffering arising from her empty bank account and ruined reputation. –Martha Beck, Steering by Starlight. Have I mentioned how much I love Martha Beck? God, she makes me laugh. Often at the absolute idiocy of things I have done myself, over…and over…and over. I came close to falling into the Mentally Created Pit of Despair and Destruction just this afternoon. A week ago Saturday I gave a presentation, Authentic Performance for Speakers: How to Bring Emotional Espressivity to Your Authentic Voice, to a roomful of aspiring speakers. I had a packed house, an interactive and enthusiastic audience, and left the seminar on quite a high. The handouts weren’t there as I expected, the Power Point presentation got cut off 2/3 the way through when the projector stopped communicating with my laptop, and I knew volume could have been better in places. Like with the audio clips – and one of the actors I brought in for a demonstration couldn’t be heard at the back of the room. Yet, overall, I felt really good about it. Until the scoring (1 Poor – 5 Excellent) came in today. And I had a 2. A 2! That’s almost poor! And two 3’s, which is merely average!! This was supposed to be an epic presentation!!! All the good feelings about my work started to go out the window and down the street where they could be run over by a large moving van. Until I conscientiously did a somersault mid-air and pulled myself out of free fall into the Mentally Created Pit of Despair and Destruction. Okay, yes, there was a 2. That is someone’s opinion, just like all these numbers are. That 2 someone could have been bummed there was no place to sit (we literally ran out of room for chairs), or been all about the Power Point presentation and the handouts. Or have been sitting at the back of the room and couldn’t hear well. Or maybe they just didn’t connect with me, or the material. That’s okay. Not everyone is going to like, or connect with, me or my material. There were two 3’s, indeed. And there was a 4. And there were five 5’s. In other words, the majority of respondents found my class excellent. Take that, Mentally Created Pit of Despair and Destruction. Take thee, thine horns and pitchfork, away from me. Go thee…away, away, away! So, if you can’t really trust your thoughts, your mind, to tune into your authentic reality, what can you trust? The wisdom of your body. Surely you’ve been in the middle of a conversation and suddenly found your arms and legs covered with goosebumps, which I call angel bumps, when you hit on a particularly great idea. Or got anxiety producing prickly hairs somewhere in the vicinity of the back of your neck when you felt a certain person or situation was not good for you to approach. I once picked out an oracle card deck at the now defunct (sniffle; I loved that store) Spirit Feathers in Sellwood, Oregon. When I brought the deck to the counter to purchase, the woman working there suggested I might like another one even better. Now that one looked mighty interesting, too. I briefly considered purchasing both, but – seriously – I need another oracle card deck as much as I need a new book. I really don’t have room for any more bookshelves. I couldn’t make up my mind, so she suggested I try one of the pendulums in the case. A green stone one caught my eye. I had never used a pendulum before. I briefly held the stone, on a silver chain, in my palms and sent it a silent message to create more movement when I held it over the deck best for me to purchase that day. It stayed still over the deck the employee had recommended, and started circling like crazy over the one I had chosen myself. She and I said at the same time, “Well, that’s your/my deck!” I came back two weeks later to purchase the pendulum, and often rely on it to help access my body’s wisdom when I have a choice to make and am not feeling a strong intuitive drive either way. Here’s another, even simpler, tip from Martha Beck. Let’s say – as this is a situation which actually happened to my friend Katherine – you have gone to a car dealership to look at hybrid, fuel-efficient vehicles. Your car is down to its last exhalation of exhaust and you’ve known for some time you really need to get a new one. You’ve test driven three, are close to making a decision, and feel very comfortable with this particular dealership. Suddenly the exact car you are leaning towards is driven onto the lot 45 minutes before closing time. It’s one of those rare, rare, situations where a person bought it, drove the depreciation right out of it for you, and had to return it after just a few hundred miles, for reasons no one knows. So, the price is substantially reduced for what is virtually a brand new vehicle. It almost seems too good to be true. Katherine was in a quandary. She had no intention of purchasing a car the day she asked me to go test drive with her – she was just exploring her options. But we both knew that kind of a deal would go fast, regardless of how improbable the opportunity seemed. So, I shared this exercise with her. Go to a place where you can be alone and quiet. Stand straight and tall, firmly grounded on the floor, the earth. Think about the decision you need to make, in this case, purchasing a hybrid Toyota. If your body leans forward into the decision, it’s a go. If your body leans backward, away, it’s a no. Katherine went to the bathroom where she could be alone, her body said yes, she bought the car, and she loves it.  I truly believe Katherine was meant to have that car. We were there at the dealership much later than we expected. Traffic was worse than we had anticipated. Everything took longer than it should have. So she was there when that car came in. Because of the brief previous owner, the cost was in her budget, when it wouldn’t have been otherwise. Isn’t it nice to know we can trust our bodies when we can’t necessarily rely on our minds? I think so. Reality is always kinder than the stories we tell about it. –Byron Katie Authentically Yours, Laura

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