It might be a lost love, a work break-up, a friendship that ends, a traumatic upbringing, infidelity, or even something someone said, which crushed your confidence. An automatic response in situations like these, is to push your feelings down and build walls around your heart. Protective mechanisms, which you hope will dim your pain and keep you from experiencing similar pain again.

From your guarded fortress, you may become less trusting (this is understandable) and sceptical. You might stay busy, help everyone else, isolate yourself or work extra hard to prove that you’re fine. You’ll most-likely find all the evidence you need, to confirm that you have to protect yourself; that if you don’t, it will happen again.

You probably know that your mind can tell real doozy’s. You can have arguments in your head, assume things about people without even knowing them, pull up old stories about situations that are similar and justify why you’re acting the way you do.

The mind is fascinating and can be a powerful tool that can support you in the most beautiful ways. It’s also a bloody good liar; especially when you want to step outside your comfort zone or lean into relationships or opportunities, where there’s a possibility you could get hurt again.

Here’s the thing, placing walls around your heart, makes it really hard to decipher what is fact and what’s fiction.

In Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, Louise refers to the stomach as, holding nourishment and digesting food and ideas. I would add, it also digests our experiences, thoughts and feelings. So what happens, when we don’t digest what we experience?

She goes on to explain that our heart doesn’t only pump blood through our body. The Heart is the centre of love and security. What are we stopping ourselves from experiencing, when our heart is guarded while we’re hiding in our fortress?

I clearly remember a time when I went into protection mode after being hurt. I stated very clearly that ‘I would never let anyone hurt me again.’ When I voiced this declaration, I instantly built walls around myself and stayed attached to life being painful and unsafe. This had its problems too. While I kept my guard up, I wasn’t cultivating more trust in myself and others, I was hiding from past hurts and unknown fears. I also wasn't fully connected to the joy that I now feel on a regular basis and when I look back, I wanted to feel loved, but I pushed it away and came across quite ungrateful.

Our stomach and heart are deeply connected to our senses, including our intuition. When we shut down these powerfully intuitive, intrinsically connected areas of our body, it’s hard to make decisions and open up to different experiences.

Ever experienced a gut feeling that you can’t deny and you have to honour it?  Smelt food that makes your mouth water? Notice how excited you get when your loved one comes home? Felt absolute gratitude within your body, for a simple moment of pleasure, like a sunset, a smile from a baby, or a hug that feels delicious?

These are our feelings and sensations which send you messages.

These senses also help you…

• Decipher the feeling in a room when you enter.
• The undertone, beneath conversations.
• The aura of a person, when you first meet them.
• Whether a house or job feels right.
• When you’re out of alignment, with your values.
• The difference between green and red flags.
• Whether certain foods are good or bad for you.
• Which road to take when you're lost.

To shut down these incredibly, intuitive aspects of yourself, is to drive down a winding road, wearing the wrong type of prescription glasses and everything seems blurry. You don’t get a clear perspective and so confusion occurs and old stories take over.

So how do you reawaken the parts of yourself, that have been shut down?

Quite often when I ask someone how they feel about a situation, they often mention what they think. When I bring their awareness to this, they often say ‘I don’t know how I feel.’

Noticing how you feel and your sensations in different situations, is a great way to start reawakening your inner wisdom.

Observe how being in nature makes you feel, how putting your feet in the moana/ocean feels. Notice how you feel around your loved ones or the atrocities which are unfolding in the world. How do you feel when you’re around people who trigger you? Observe how you feel when you keep quiet when you have something to say, or when you allow your authenticity out to play. Notice how you feel when you dance, win, lose, begin and then finish a yoga class, eat a delicious meal, embrace your loved ones or think about the heartbreak you’ve experienced.

Begin to...

• Notice what you're feeling.
• Acknowledge your feelings.
• Observe how your body responds to your feelings. (heart racing, energised, tight tummy, sweaty palms, relaxed or tense...).
• Breathe slowly, inhaling right down into your belly and then slowly exhaling.

Do your feelings ramp up or do you become more settled, once you’ve acknowledged them.

Notice when you try and hold back your tears and then how you feel after you’ve let them flow.

Observe the difference when you avoid your anger and then allow it to be felt.

Notice when you feel anxious and how you begin to react.

Reassure yourself… it’s ok, I’ve got you, you are safe…

I learned the other day that most feelings only last for about 90 seconds. The thing that intensifies them, is often the stories we attach to our feelings. 

Take time to focus on your stomach and heart. Place your hands on these areas regularly. Send them love and gratitude. Begin to listen to the subtle and sometimes strong messages they give you.

The more you tune in and honour your intuitive centres, the more you’ll become aware of the guidance they’re providing. 

Remember your mind isn’t all bad. When you can make decisions using all three of these areas; mind, heart, stomach, you’ll have a highly intuitive tool that guides you throughout your life.

They’ll be no need to keep your walls up, because you’ll trust yourself to make decisions which support you. From here you’ll experience more joy, creativity, fulfilling connections and opportunities, that can only be found, outside the walls you once built around yourself.

Check in with yourself right now, what are you feeling?

If you'd like more support to explore your inner wisdom, break down your walls and embrace more of life, reach out below x