Trust your heart. Trust your gut.
Revolutionary words I’ve said to my children for years. Not, “what I think” “what I say” but what they sense deep within is good and true for them.
When I work with youth, I tell them they have three ‘brains’; the heart, the gut/belly and the mind. It’s usually the first time they’ve heard this even though the heart and gut have extensive receptors, signals, networks to guide our functioning. But I don’t go into the science.All I say is, “think about a time when you’ve met someone that feels creepy. Their talk is usually ‘nice,’ they may offer to help you, other adults may refer them, but something tells you they are not safe.”
Usually at this moment, every youth is silent in a moment of recognition of what their body knows. Has known all along.
They’ve known, but this knowing has rarely been named, validated.
(Of course, I explore the same with adults in my retreats, circles)
This top down, head/intellect driven (colonial) system is not interested in our embodiment. In seeing us empowered, safe, reconnected to ALL life, knowing ourselves rooted in MamaTierra, the plants, the animals, the seeds, the growth impulse alive in each of us.
However, this remains within to guide us, anytime we listen
Supporting our youth’s discernment