PAIN: Pay Attention Inwards Now
Well, hello lovely people! Welcome to this week’s Friday Feels!
There’s always a lot I am learning and discovering in any given week. Sharing things that excite me with people I love brings me joy! It’s one of my Love Languages, for sure. Here are five inspiring things from my world of coaching, meditation and breathwork that I’m enthusiastically tugging at your sleeve and pointing out to you like a little kid *look look*.
1. Song of the week
Thank U by Alanis Morissette (Spotify and YouTube)
Following the mention of Alanis Morissette in last week’s Friday Feels, I’ve been down an Alanis rabbit hole ever since! Thank U, Alanis! The lyrics to this get me more and more each time I listen to it… I do love silence.
“Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you, thank you silence.”
2. Quote of the week
Universal Truth: PAIN means “Pay Attention Inwards Now”
Much pain in life stems from unresolved and unacknowledged repression of emotions⚡
I offer you this question, with love and gentleness: what is your pain showing you? Pain is a teacher… I have learnt so much from this type of enquiry. I’m very grateful to those who have supported me in exploring more of my pain and what it can show me. Including my friend Dr. Tracy Debi who I first heard this truth from: PAIN means “Pay Attention Inwards Now”. Listen to her great podcast episode about pain.
3. Practice of the week
The Presence Process! Next week, I am formally kicking off the Presence Process. This was a key part of my breathwork training across 7 months back in 2020. As a mentor to breathwork students in Integrative Breath training, I felt the urge to go through the process again with them. This requires nose breathing for 15 minutes twice a day – once in the morning and again in the evening. I will share more updates on this as I go!
4. Article of the week
From PAIN to Love Languages! I was told about Love Languages for the first time by an LA taxi driver. As we wove through the traffic near Santa Monica Pier, he confessed that Love Languages had totally revolutionised his relationships. Side note: every taxi I took in LA involved having deep, spiritual conversations with the driver – I wondered if every taxi in LA was like that!
The way we give and receive love is different for each person in relationships (whether that’s friendship, marriage, parent-child, friend, colleague etc.) You, your partner, family, friends and colleagues may have different Love Languages. Greater awareness of Love Languages can help you understand how others may be trying to show love, or wanting to receive it. My primary Love Language is Acts of Service and the lowest score one is Receiving Gifts! So if you *really* want to show me love, you can cross me off your Xmas pressie list and offer to help me with something I care about instead 😉
Love Languages for children – important for parents!
5. Client win of the week
SHE DID IT! 🥳 A client of mine has handed her notice in at her 9-5 job! She’s going full-time in her own business by January 2022. She had felt more and more drained by her 9-5 job but the idea of leaving that security was bringing up wounded stories connected to her childhood. In our coaching session, she noticed how her parents’ struggle for financial stability made her feel like she was insulting their struggle, by putting herself in a risky position.
A voice in her mind chided her: how dare she walk away from stability when her parents fought so hard to give her that. After she sat with that thought for a while, another realisation emerged: working for herself was the ultimate way to honour her parents’ struggle. Because she was making full use of all their love and hardship to give her a better life and taking it up a notch by following her passion and being a full time entrepreneur. Tears of gratitude for her parents rolled down her cheeks, followed by a pang of fear and excitement as she said “I am going to write my resignation letter after this call.” BOOM! 💥 Decision made.
Making friends with the wounded parts of you can create this type of meaningful shift. And with courage in your heart, you can feel an embodied confidence to make changes, even the risky ones.
No risk, no magic ✨
What magic is waiting for you on the other side of that perceived risk?
Thanks for reading. I appreciate you!
If you’ve got an article or a song you’d like to share with me, please do! I’d love to hear what has been inspiring you too.
Wishing you a lovely weekend!
Big love,
Briony x
P.S. I have another weekend retreat lined up for February 2022 – get in touch if you’d like the details!
