August’s Memo: Learning to Trust Yourself
“Trusting yourself involves the willingness and confidence to rely on your own integrity, abilities, and character to meet the challenges of a particular experience, or all of life for that matter.”
-Judith Johnson (Speaker/Coach)
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (Philosopher)
“Within you is a fountain of wisdom. And you sell yourself short every time you allow some authority to define your limitations and cage your potential. Even if that authority lives in your head.”
-Vironika Tugaleva (Ukrainian Author)
Our culture often encourages risk reduction as a guiding principle from which to make life decisions, sometimes at the expense of trusting one’s innate and intuitive wisdom. If we only seek to minimize pain, suffering, loss and conflict, as humans we can find ourselves living from a place of fear – disconnected from that true happiness that our internal compass is pointing toward. Can we listen to and trust our intuition, that whisper of knowing? It takes conscious awareness to pro-actively trustyourself.
August’s Short Video comes from a hilltop in my neighborhood. I share on how trust impacts our brain chemistry to make us feel good, connected to others, open and in the flow. See it here!
As time passes, we can accumulate clutter in our minds that may no longer serve each of us. I’ve realized that life isn’t all about learning new stuff and just layering the information acquired to date. Sometimes it is about rearranging the information and even unlearning habits, behaviors and limiting beliefs so that we can remember and trust the truth of who we are.
For example, what do you do when you find yourself focused only on minimizing your risk (of harm, pain, and suffering) at the cost of trusting yourself to focus on your true happiness? What would that look like?
It happened to me when I found myself staying in a passionless job, and the longer I stayed in this work the more I grew to fear change. I feared the loss of income and benefits, and I feared the imaginary job rejection if I sought the job I really wanted. I’ve seen it happen to others too. Some people fear rejection and resist sharing their passion and authentic gifts with the world – whatever they may be (cooking, music, art, sewing, woodwork, etc.) I’ve seen it in my friends who fear reaching out to connect in relationship with others to create the loving relationships they crave. Living with risk minimalization in the drivers seat is pervasive in our culture, and our self-trust often takes a backseat or is thrown out the car window altogether. What if we were to put our main focus on our happiness, and trust ourselves to guide us in the right direction?
How To Trust Yourself
When you find yourself unhappy and focused on fears – what can you do? This wise advice comes from Judith Johnson (Author, Speaker, Life coach, Interfaith Minister). She recommends the following three steps:
- 1. Practice keeping focused on the present moment until that becomes a good habit. Stop worrying about the future…this allow you take appropriate actions in real time, the only time frame we can act in, the present.
- 2. Observe yourself and notice,, even make a list of those life experiences when you had self-trust, and when you didn’t have it. It allows you to get clear and recognize what trust looks and feels like for you. [When I’m in trust I’m relaxed, comfortable, open, creative, intuitive, etc. See the video for how trust impacts your brain chemistry, and supports these feelings.]
- 3. Practice doing more things that bring great trust…breaking the habit of doing those things that do not. Let go of the “should”, the “have to” and the demands, expectations, fears, illusions and delusions! The more you surrender into trust, the more it becomes an automatic response.
ABOUT NATURE-CONNECTED COACHING
Coaching is defined as a partnership with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires clients to maximize their personal and professional potential. I use a coaching process that embraces sensory awareness and mindfulness routines in nature to assist my clients along their self-directed journey of change. A coach helps the client unpack what is going on, what has caused it, what to do, what success looks like, and the path forward. This approach honors the client as being creative, resourceful and whole.
Have you ever had someone deeply listen to you share your challenges, and ask powerful questions that bring you to a place, making a shift that you never would have arrived at by yourself?
Each nature-connected coaching session offers you the opportunity to go deeper into your insights around challenges and/or concerns that are present in your life. You will be invited to take it to the next level in nature, where you can playfully explore your expanded options for change that will bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
Learn more about our
Individualized Nature-connected Coaching
I am grateful for you, your ambitions to be the best person possible, and your desires to connect with nature! Be well, wise, and connected to Nature!
Mindy Schlimgen
Life & Nature-based Coach, Outdoor Enthusiast & Naturalist
TESTIMONIAL
“I chose Awareness with Nature because Mindy is professional and highly skilled in Nature Coaching. I wanted to work on an issue regarding my husband’s pending retirement. I worked with Mindy and she helped me identify current and future goals and to understand my deepest need. I developed insights into my concerns regarding my husband’s retirement and ways to manage my concerns. I learned more about my strengths and how to continue growing my strengths and insights by being in nature. I loved Mindy’s calm demeanor and effective techniques to draw out my own answers to my concerns. I found the experience very enlightening. I would recommend Awareness with Nature to anyone who wants to grow by listening to your own heart to find the answers to your life concerns.”
– Teri Thomson-Taylor, August 2018
