Is Your Inner Compass Working? Finding Alignment in a Chaotic World
"Alignment is not about perfection, but about progress. It's about continuously returning to your center, to your truth, and to your highest self."
- Unknown
or read below
Hi friends,
I am just returning home from retreating with one of my beloved coaching clients in Hawaii. I am truly in awe of how people can transform and come home to themselves and their epic wisdom in such profound ways in a matter of days. I am honestly humbled, inspired and without words. This is truly the power of aligning with our "yeses" and allowing the greater intelligence to lead. I honor the courageous woman that said yes to herself, her desires and choosing to live not how it's been" but how she is truly worthy of experiencing her life.
This leads me right into this week's topic which is what the astrology of the month is truly calling us into...alignment. How can we take ourselves seriously rather than be serious with life? It is truly an act of self love to care if we are walking in alignment and it is how we truly serve the collective in more powerful ways in whatever hats we wear-mother, father, leader, friend...
If you missed my talk on energy practices - check it out. I shared some of my favorites way to set your energy and to claim how you want to show up in every moment. These are quick and you need nothing but yourself for them!
My weekly astrology mantra is "My words align me with how I am choosing to show up in this moment”. Check out my vid for more information on how to dress for the astrological weather. This week we are invited to explore how our words feel when we say them and the impact they have in our choices. One of those ways is to forgive ourselves for when we may not have ‘been our best” so we can let the energy flow and not keep us stuck in the past.
I leave you with one question: What is one choice that you will make this week in service to what brings you in greater enrichment to all that you are and are worthy of receiving?". Will you write me and share this? Take it seriously!!
Love to you all-thank you for allowing me to share what I love so much!
What is Alignment?
How do you know when you’re in Alignment?
How do you know if you’re out of Alignment?
And why does it even matter?
I feel the word alignment gets tossed around frequently in self awareness spaces without a visceral understanding of what it truly means on a personal level. This is essential because alignment at its core is only personal and different for each of us. I firmly believe that intimacy with our alignment is essential for truly living our lives in this modern age with integrity to who we really are on a soul level. I have come to understand my sense of alignment in two ways: one is experiential (physical) and one is expressive (behaviors). Let’s break it down shall we?
What does misalignment look & feel like?
Our alignment can be experienced energetically, physically, emotionally in all the different levels of our multidimensional selves. So, when I am out of alignment, it generally just doesn't feel right. I tend to feel tension in my body, for example in my gut, shoulders or I will notice my heart tighten up. I generally feel my energy retract and sometimes it dissipates outward or it will contract inward but it feels a bit “outside of my control”. I notice emotions like confusion, anxiousness, worry and a general sense of disconnection to me and life when I am misaligned.
Behaviorally, when I am not aligned I tend to repeat the unskillful patterns in my life that I have been attempting to shift which for me are over committing, not holding my boundaries, or moving from thing to thing without a lot of intention or awareness. I tend to distance myself from my experience in the moment, because that is what misalignment is in essence; not being connected to the core of you in the moment. And when that happens we snap into survival autopilot which is not necessarily the system that I want to utilize if I aspire to be my Genius self.
So what then does alignment look & feel like
One way to conceptualize alignment is to contrast it to our spine. Like our spine, our alignment is our framework and essential structure from which all else emanates. When I am aligned I sense my energy connected to my core values, my true essence of who I am on a deep soul level and what I desire to be and express in the world. I am connected to my experience in the moment because my energy is honed and moving from my spine outward into the world so it has a kind of flowlike feel of integration and synergy.
When I'm aligned, I am intentional with how I want to spend my time, what I desire, what feels “right” in the moment and thus I feel my best. I know that my energy is more expansive. I know that my clarity, confidence, and conviction in what I'm communicating or what I'm doing is stronger and more impactful. I feel emotions like delight, hope, contentment, appreciation and happiness. When we're misaligned, the energy gets fragmented and loses its sense of direction and impact because it has lost its connection to that center structure and thus its trying to find a “home”. Alignment is the felt sense of being at home with ourselves so it brings a sense of safety and security that is internally sourced.
And so why does alignment matter?
Alignment matters because when we operate from misalignment our experience of life is diminished and therefore we feel diminished in our sense of self. Which for me has tended to foster those limiting beliefs around my self worth and value. When I am “off center” life feels out of balance and then I feel out of place and distant to myself and my contentment. “Is this all there is?” type of experiences are products of lives lived out of alignment.
At the root of our alignment is our ability to make clear decisions that are in truth and in integrity for us. Alignment begets clarity. And this clarity directly links us to our intuition and inner guidance. When I'm aligned, right beside it is my freedom. Right beside it is my empowerment to know that I can choose what I need to choose for myself. And an innate trust that it will always work out of best for all involved, not just me. Because truly, when we're in alignment, then our relationships become aligned. Then wherever we're spending, our energy is beneficial to all, even if sometimes the benefit is that we wake people up or that we disrupt people in ways that they need to be disrupted.
Alignment is like being linked to our North Star or our internal GPS with where we want to go.
It's our way of filtering the massive information that we have out there. so it allows us with all the different perspectives that we are exposed to be able to ground and root into what is true for us. Think about all the massive options exist for diet and exercise. How could we ever read and study it all to know what is best? We don’t have to because we can feel the resonance of what does work within our alignment.
*Now, this is not to say that we are designed to stay in alignment 24/7. I'm very human. And so there are times when I notice long stretches where I stay in alignment, and there's many things I proactively do to start my day and to anchor in my day to create this alignment. And then there are plenty of times in which I catch myself of alignment. I don't think the success criteria is ever to never get out of alignment, but it's more to catch ourselves and orient ourselves back time and time again.
How do we practice alignment
I want to share with you a practice that I've been using lately that really helps with my alignment. I created some core questions that I ask myself (based on my values) when I'm not sure if something aligns. These help me one, return to my present experience and to remember what is important to me. But, when I am making a more difficult decision sometimes I'll feel that alignment somatically and then I also feel the emotional response around it almost immediately which might be a fear such as the fear of disappointing someone or a fear of what will happen if I take a risk so these questions help me navigate when it gets confusing to sort out the truth from the response to the truth which is perfectly natural when we are changing patterns and supporting our growth outside the comfort zone of the familiar responses.
Here are my questions:
Am I a full body yes to this? For me when something aligns my body says yes. Now, sure, there might be fears and mind stuff that follows but if I'm really down to the core feeling of it and the core essence of a situation or decision when it is a clear yes, my body will reveal this and a my 60% yes needs to be a no or wait.
How am I feeling right now? I want to know. Because when I'm feeling fear, then that will explain a lot of the mind stuff and the reservation and committing to something or moving forward with it. And when I'm feeling excitement or just a little bit of nervousness, like that's okay to work with. If I am not sure then I need to pause before I decide and allow my emotions to regulate.
Does this support my intention for delight? Because right now, my life is anchored around this desire to be in joy and delight in all that I do. So I want to know, does this thing align with that? Do I feel good about committing to this or doing this activity a “should” or a “people pleasing” move?
Am I taking care of myself? Because I know one of my patterns is to take care of others at my expense and so I really want to check in and make sure I'm taking care of me first and that what my needs are emotionally and physically and spiritually are being addressed. I know that when I do this I can give more freely and fully of my energy.
Each of us have different values and experiences that we're motivated towards so that's why you can't really use anyone else's alignment standards. If the choice in front of us doesn't really truly align and resonate with you when we choose it then it will just lead you further out of alignment.
And the best way to know alignment is to slow down and really be able to feel into the decisions that you're making, with your time, with your words and with your commitments.
Bottom line: alignment is how we want to express ourselves for the most direct route, and the most fulfillment in what we do in every area of life.
So, blessings to you as you find your inner alignment, as you allow yourself to choose what perfectly suits your uniqueness, your values, and who you are on a deeper, soulful level.
Support Practice Recommendations for this week
“I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”
The Ho-oponopono
This ancient Hawaiian practice is to free you of anything that can pose as an obstacle in your life. You can change the words around or swap them for others-but the essence is acceptance and then letting go with remembrance of who you really are-divine consciousness. Repeat this mantra to anyone or situation in your life.