Signs of alignment

This blog is about helping us to notice what is going on when we are aligned – or more specifically, when we are not.

Most of us move in and out of alignment all of the time, some of us dwelling more at one end of the spectrum than the other – depending on our psychological make-up and background.

Alignment is the way I think about whether I am ok, whether I am taking the correct action in a situation, whether I am speaking truly.  There are three key components to alignment, the thoughts I am having, the emotions I am I noticing and the signals that my body is giving me.

In any circumstance these three aspects will give us information that lets us know how we are doing and also gives us clues about what actions we should take (or not take).

My own experience of alignment is pretty simple;

·         If aligned my brain is relatively quiet.  Thoughts appear slowly and in response to external stimuli

·         My emotional/feeling state is either neutral or positive

·         My body feels relatively relaxed- as I scan my body, I feel ‘normal’ – whatever that is for me

Out of alignment

·         Thoughts are buzzing around – repeating and come with a sense of distraction and discomfort

·         My emotions are negative – often some fear/concern/worry is present

·         My body will be doing something that causes discomfort.  Typically for me the place I notice this first is in my belly which will feel tight

If any of these latter are running in you, its good news. It means that you have noticed that you are out of alignment and this then gives you a chance to do something about it.

An example. 

I was talking recently with a friend about a difficult relationship from my past that still affects me.  I said a bunch of words about the situation and paused, in the pause I noticed a tension in my gut, the realisation dawned that I had just ‘told my story’ and not what was actually going on now.

I said to my friend ‘I’ve just told a story and am feeling out of alignment, give me a moment’.  I stayed with my discomfort and then some tears appeared and then some new words.  As I spoke the new words my body moved back towards a feeling of ease and I learned something new about this old relationship that I had been hiding from myself up until that point.

When our actions take us out of alignment there are indicators that let us know that something is going on.  These indicators are sometimes blatant and sometimes subtle.  It can be really easy to ignore them especially if paying attention to them might have complicated consequences.

My challenge to you is to pay attention to these indicators, take a little time to figure out what they are telling you and then make a decision about what action to take.