Following Your Inner Knowing

How to identify when you need support + unearth the root cause of your struggles.

This year has been tough - big, overwhelming, full of grief but with smatterings of great joy and transformation too.

A theme I see repeatedly, and that has also shown up in sessions with clients over the years, is one of inner knowing that gets pushed down and ignored.

We do this most commonly as a defence mechanism, a ‘head in the sand’ approach that makes us feel safer by denying the scary things that seem exceedingly hard to deal with.

Unfortunately, this approach typically doesn’t have our best interests in mind.

So often when we express our struggles to a friend or even a practitioner we might be seeing, when they ask us if we know what is causing it, we say no. No, I’m not sure why I’m not sleeping. No, I have no idea why this rash keeps coming up. I am just not sure why I’m feeling triggered by the scent of roses. The thing is, once someone presses a little deeper it turns out we usually actually do know why we are having these experiences.

The problem with suppressed emotions is that they will manifest, one way or another.
If we lock a problem away mentally or emotionally,
that same issue will no doubt express itself physically in the end.

This is part of why I love working with modalities like card readings or flower essences: they can help us pull back those layers of denial faster than continuing to wrestle with our subconscious mind. To be clear, this isn’t a form of ‘spiritual bypassing’ but rather an offered key that opens the lock to our inner conflicts so we can really get stuck into the deeper inner work.

So if we now know that there is a good chance we do understand what is driving our reactions and the expression of our symptoms, how can we use this information to create change in our lives?

A great place to start is a good, old-fashioned daydream - a ponder if you will. I love to put on some music and my walking shoes and go for a run or a stroll to process and mull things over. I ask myself “why” and try to be as honest as possible with myself. Another great start is to begin journaling. Sometimes writing down our thoughts, feelings and motivations can be helpful, especially if we go back and take some time for reflection. Automatic writing in a journal can be revealing and is another technique worth considering when trying to identify the root cause of our struggles.

Sometimes, manual therapy can be just what is needed to move energy and release stagnation and tension. Examples of therapies that work well for this include acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractics, reflexology, and massage, among others. Ask around and try to make sure you pick a practitioner that aligns with your values, and that comes highly recommended by someone you trust.

Then you can consider therapies such as naturopathy, herbalism, card readings, flower essence therapy, traditional therapy, somatic therapy and other modalities that can facilitate healing and transformation in a more holistic way, incorporating the mind, body and spirit.

How do you know when you need to ask for support? When you don’t have forward momentum.

When the wheels feel like they are spinning with no traction, when you feel frustrated because you have rehashed the same scenarios time and time again with no progress made - these are the times when seeking help outside of your immediate circle can be beneficial.

Just to highlight the main sentiment of my message one more time - you almost always know the answers to your questions and troubles already. Some times are just more difficult than others to pull these answers out of our psyche, so it can be supportive to seek outside help.

Ultimately this is all a lesson in trust. How can we lean more deeply into trusting ourselves, our intuition, our connection with Spirit and the Divine? How can we push past our experiences with imposter syndrome and learn to trust even in our lived experiences or hard-won education? Trying the therapies and modalities I’ve shared above can help, but I also feel compelled to share that there is no substitute for practice and feeling the fear but doing it anyway.

Sometimes our greatest blessings lie on the other side of our fear, and we need to lean in and accept our inner power to access this happiness and expansion.

I hope this message landed for you. If you are seeking some external support and are interested in joining me for a session, I wanted to share that I finally have a new website, so you can go and take a look there or just book right here.

Something I have personally leaned into this year is following my passion for writing. It’s been a lot of fun and satisfying for my heart and soul. An article I wrote on the folklore of English Ivy has just been released in the 2024 winter edition of the Botanical Anthology magazine, so if you have an interest in getting your hands on a stunning and thoughtfully curated collection of herbal information, wisdom, recipes and crafts then just click here.

I’m sending my love as we crawl towards this year's finish line, and I hope you are enjoying some festive energy despite the chaos!

-Hannah