Written by: Camilla Fellas Arnold, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” – Kurt Vonnegut
We’ve all heard the saying, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ but it’s sometimes easier said than done. Even when everything inside you is telling at you to make that move because it’s right for you, you can suddenly find yourself paralyzed in fear. Today I’m sharing the biggest game-changer that allowed me to get back into action. It’s easy to do anytime, anywhere, and makes a massive impact!
Over the past year, I’ve been learning to trust my intuition more and more and I’d like to think I’ve become pretty good at it. It wasn’t always that easy but now, even if something doesn’t make sense, but I’m deeply drawn to it, I take action. Often it becomes clear very quickly why it was useful or important and it’s always beneficial to me and my work.
Previously I have found things like Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT Tapping) and Kinesiology supported me in letting go of my fears and limiting beliefs allowing me to move forward on the things I knew were right for me, but I was afraid to act.
More often than not, it’s the fear of the unknown that is holding us back more than anything else.
However recently, I came across something that completely stopped me in my tracks. My ability to spot upcoming trends had highlighted the next step for me and my business. It was fresh and exciting and would kick my business up a fair few notches.
And then, of course, fear spoke up. Doubt crept in. I became paralyzed.
Everything in my mind, heart, body, and soul was screaming at me to make this move because it was going to be game-changing for the work I do.
But no amount of tapping, meditation, or deep breathing seemed to be helping me get moving. I sat there on the edge of the metaphorical building, knowing that as soon as I jumped, my wings would take flight but I simply couldn’t take the step. No matter how much I leant into how I felt, no matter how hard I rationalized and gave myself pep talks.
I then remembered a visualization exercise I had read in Sir John Whitmore’s Coaching for Performance (5th Edition) earlier this year. The idea is to get into a relaxed state and visualize walking along a street until you meet your future self and can have a conversation with them. I have facilitated this with many different clients I’ve coached since I learned the technique and it almost always seems to bring them the answers and clarity they need. Interestingly I hadn’t used it on myself though but it popped into my head as something to try.
As someone who has built a long-term daily meditation practice, it was easy for me to do this on my own but you may like to listen to some relaxing music or find a guided meditation that will talk you down into a relaxed state. Sir Whitmore’s version describes walking along a street until you reach a corner where your future self is standing but you could choose any setting that works for you.
The future version of myself that I met was a few months older, but I’ve facilitated this visualization where it is a future self for anything up to years into the future. I’ve found it is always a version of you that is far enough into the future to give you the answers you specifically need right at that moment.
So there I was, meditating, visualizing a conversation with my slightly older self. She had made this commitment and investment in a new way of delivering my coaching programme that I was currently sitting on the fence about. I asked every question I could think of about the technicalities of it to varying degrees of success when I remembered I’d already been using logic and rationality to make this decision and it hadn’t worked – so what would?
The answer, of course, stood right before me.
Trust in oneself.
The truth is, when we buy, we buy from people. We look for a face behind a brand, testimonials, anything that connects us to a real person because ultimately the deciding factor to taking action is how we feel. If we’re making a choice about something and there’s two very similar options, the one we’re drawn to – however inexplicably – will often be the one we choose. When everything else is all stacked up, we lean into our feelings and choose accordingly as the swing vote.
So why in this moment, was I not choosing to trust in myself and my feelings? Everything inside me was telling me that this was the way to go. All the evidence pointed to this being the perfect way for me to deliver my work in the future, solving so many issues and future-proofing my business all in one go.
I took a good look at my future self in that moment and she embodied everything I hope to embody on a daily basis; confidence, self-assurance, independence, wisdom, happiness, and self-trust.
I came out of the visualization and immediately took action. What has followed from that has been so many confirmations of being on the right track that I cannot even begin to keep count of them all. And so many other parts of my work have evolved and changed as a result that I know in a few months time when I hit the age of my future self from the visualization, I’ll be embodying all of those things and the step I was so worried about taking in my business, will have been the key component that changed the whole game for me.
So next time you feel paralyzed to take action even though everything in your mind, heart, body, and soul are telling you to just do it – I invite you to take ten minutes to meditate and visualize meeting your future self.
You’ll find all the answers were within you all along.
Camilla Fellas Arnold, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Camilla Fellas Arnold, creativity and writing coach, podcast host for Creative Power, publisher and international bestselling author. Using multi-disciplinary creative skills and coaching programmes she helps people unlock their gifts and achieve their creative potential. She holds a BA (Hons) in Design for Publishing, MA in Communication Design and is an ILM Level 7 Executive Coach and Mentor.
She has over a decade of experience in and is a passionate advocate for creative industries. A member of the International Society of Typographic Designers, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, she uses her unique expertise to support others embrace creativity in their lives, build their creative businesses and unleashing powerful creative flow.
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