As nomads we all know how to follow a GPS, the miraculous software that replaces a physical compass, but did you know we all have an internal Body Compass that can clearly guide us and help us make decisions? Nomads are constantly making crucial decisions, where should we go next, are we safe where we’re camped, what rig do we choose to travel in?
I’m not talking about an internal compass to drive route 66, although indigenous humans probably did have that skill, but an internal compass that’s a reliable guidance system for our lives.
Much More Than Intuition
We’ve all experienced gut feelings when something is off, or goosebumps when we resonate deeply with the truth. We can up-level this process by learning to access our inner guidance with conscious intent.
Taught in Martha Beck’s Life Coaching program, this is one of the first things I share with my Life Coaching clients, and if they get nothing else from Life Coaching, it’s by far the most valuable tool.
The Body Compass is bundle of sensations felt in our body that says, YES this is great, or NO way don’t even go there!
Gut feelings are part of this body compass, but there is even more information found in the sensations and physical responses felt within our bodies.
The Body Compass communicates a non-verbal yes or no that our body experiences in every moment, rooted in signals from our nervous system that translate to physical sensations in our body. The problem is that we’ve been socialized to ignore, and even invalidate those messages.
The Body Compass is unique for everyone, and why it’s so important to “calibrate” your own personal Body Compass and learn to tune in to it’s signals.
This isn’t woo-woo, but actually supported by science. In his book, Incognito,The Secret Lives of the Brain, David Eagleman describes a fascinating study about decision making, based on what we’re calling here the Body Compass.
A Superior Decision Making Tool
In the study, subjects picked cards from 4 decks, with each card representing a gain or loss of money. Two decks were stacked in their favor, while the other two were stacked for loss. Subjects drew cards one at a time, and were asked a various points in the experiment to identify which decks were good, and which were bad.
The subjects autonomic nervous system, the unconscious system that regulates bodily functions, was closely monitored with each draw.
By the 13 th card, the subjects responses showed they were having an unconscious reaction when they drew from a BAD deck!
They already knew on a subconscious level which decks were good, and which were not, but it took 12 MORE DRAWS, UP TO 25 TOTAL, BEFORE THE SUBJECTS CONSCIOUSLY KNEW WHICH DECKS WERE GOOD OR BAD!
Eagleman related that “conscious knowledge of a situation was not required for making advantages decisions.” WHAT?? How can that information NOT be a game changer in how we make decisions about our lives?!
Calibrate Your Personal Body Compass
A simple way to do this is to bring up a wonderfully pleasant memory, hold that memory in our mind, and then consciously tune into bodily sensations. The trick is to feel sensations, not to focus on thoughts.
Where do we feel the sensations in our body? Head, chest, stomach? Are the sensations warm, light, tingly?
Each of us has a personalized set of internal signals that give a yes or no when we need guidance. For some, a bad decision feels like tightening of the gut with burning in the shoulders. A good decision may feel like light in the spine and tingling in the hands.
The body compass never lies, isn’t influenced by outside opinions, and is always right, provided we’re not tuning into other strong emotions like fear.
Trust Your Wild Nature!
Learning to trust our personal Body Compass can guide us to places that will challenge us to face our deepest fears, but will also lead to our most profound joy!
Once we know we’re feeling the positive pull of our body compass, and not the negative repulsion of fear, we can stop saying maybe … and say a hearty YES to the journey!
That conscious YES commits us, even if we can’t yet see a clear path. It doesn’t mean every thing changes overnight, but saying a clear YES awakens the life energy that propels us forward, and gathers the forces that help us on the way.
You don’t have to see where you’re going to know where you’re going, and the body compass is a reliable, infallible guide down the path!
When we say yes, our dreams will transition from something we’re just thinking about, to reality that flourishes in the physical world!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get a personal ReikiCoaching session to calibrate your Body Compass, contact me here!
I also go into the Body Compass in depth in my book Wild Women on the Road, A Women’s Guide To Nomadic Freedom In The Modern Age.
Check out my Nomad Life on cosmicnomadvoyager.com
