For a moment, imagine a beautiful house that has become run down from many years of wear and tear.
The bones are good and there is a strong foundation.
This house is ready to be great and to shine and sparkle.
And you love this house with all your heart.
But all aspects of the house seem to be continually in need of attention and sometimes repair.
You see its potential for absolute greatness and you want it to be at its best but there seems to be a lot of work that needs to be done.
In this analogy, you are the house.
Below the house is the earth.
The earth is constant, reliable, deeply supportive, vast, and connected to all other life and creation on the planet.
In this analogy, the earth is your soul (or as Gay & Katie Hendricks refer to it, your "essence").
Your soul or essence is at the core of who you are and it is always there for you.
We all stand firmly on our essence and it is a reliable source of comfort and strength for us.
But being in the house, sometimes we forget that we are held up and supported by our essence.
Sometimes we lose touch with it.
But this is not in our best interest because we cannot survive without the earth (our essence).
Our essence is pure love and pure connection.
You can only go from good to great by connecting to your essence throughout the day.
When we lose touch with our inner being, we can forget that we are worthy of unconditional love and we deserve to be happy, healthy, successful, and abundant.
Where are you in your life?
If you feel like you have been through a lot in your life and you are ready to live your life to the fullest, this type of exploration is essential for moving forward in a happy and healthy way.
It is not just about our soul and our body/mind. There are many aspects to our lives that we should explore if we want to be truly GREAT.
But let's start by focusing on connecting to our essence.
How can we stay connected to our essence/soul?
This can be seen as a lifelong journey.
It all starts with awareness.
Often, when we feel upset or negative it is because we are disconnected from our essence, from who we truly are, from love.
Every time you notice yourself complaining, feeling upset, reacting with fear, or other issues that don't feel so great, you can tune in to see if you are connected with your essence.
It is always important to allow yourself to feel all of your emotions whenever possible.
Squashing them down and/or ignoring them usually leads to the emotions increasing in power.
As you bring your awareness to yourself and notice upset or feeling less-than-wonderful, you can begin to reconnect with your essence.
You will know you are connecting with your true self or your essence because you will start to feel a shift.
Connecting with essence will feel like a relief.
With the house analogy, we can start to see how if the "house" is connected to the "earth" then it is more stable and safe.
When we take the time to connect with our essence we can feel safer, more stable, supported, and connected.
This is a wonderful way to improve your life and will most certainly lead to more greatness!
The following is a list of ways to connect with our essence.
- Being present
- Meditation
- Prayer
- Breathwork
- Sitting quietly
- Communication
- Movement
- Love
- Responsibility
(inspired by The Nine Pathways to Essence by The Hendricks Institute.)
The body & mind/essence connection is the foundation for all positive change.
Whether you are trying to improve your health, your relationships, or your life, starting with looking at your foundation is key.
