Start close in… to yourself
Leave it to the exquisite David Whyte to capture in poetry what one of the central goals of my work as a somatic psychotherapist is. He says you have got to listen and follow your own voice first in order to not get entangled with someone else’s… well, everything.
People come to me to explore and rewire their felt sense of themselves and the way they think. Often their rough ideas about who they are and the corresponding “body state” is completely gunked up by external factors (people, technology, traffic).
Start to clear the pathway back to your own voice by asking yourself the simple question, “Who am I?” Do this often. By often, I mean everyday. Reconnect often with your core beliefs, your strengths, weaknesses, your passion, your talents, knowing where you’re from, where you’ve been, and where you’re going, as well as knowing why you respond the way you do, how you make others feel, being aware of you in body and mind. Become both a detective and a suitor to yourself over the course of your entire life.
Reconnecting with your own voice and ability to notice, feel, and value yourself is a process… a very powerful process. Once you know yourself (the good, the bad and the ugly), and feel and believe in your own value the more powerful you will feel both separate and in connection with others.
You are and always have been unstoppable.
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
(David Whyte)
Warmly,
Nicole