Are you looking to deeply transform your life, but feeling afraid of the unknown? If so, this is for you! You can transform your fear of the unknown and live your soul purpose.
Big changes and transitions can feel scary. For everyone.
This is how the human brain has been wired.
The brain vital need for predictability
Prediction is an essential feature of the human brain function. The brain likes to be efficient in predicting what is going to happen in, or the implications of, a particular situation. To minimize costs and save energy (i.e., to avoid spending time and energy to encode every instance of a stimulus or experience as new), the healthy brain primarily bases its work on predictability. So, if you present it with a big unknown, it can panic.
Knowing this, we want to provide the brain with a few things: First, the brain needs to relax and feel safe in order to reduce the level of stress that it experiences. Then, it needs to be presented with a different perspective on the unknown. We can get the brain excited about the newness that it promises as this can lead to the release of ‘happy hormones.‘ Last but not least, bringing your soul at the center of the process will give it the additional energy fuel that you need to make your transformation sustainable.
Cultivating a minimum sense of relaxation and safety
The first thing to do, be it for individual and collective transformations alike, is to build a sense of trust that, no matter what, you will be safe. You cannot convince the brain overnight. But that trust can get built over time, and faster than you may think. This is where working with a coach or mentor can play a big role, if the approach is individualized enough to your specific needs. There are specific rituals and processes that can support the creation of that safety net and put into place a framework for the transformations that you are looking for so that the brain can start to relax. In some respects, we are telling the brain: there is a method to the madness.
This sense of relaxation (increasingly studied by neuroscience) can be further reinforced when a greater trust in the Universe / the Divine / Source / your own soul can be fostered. This is where spirituality and transcendence, in a broader sense, can bring an additional dimension in creating the safe space for transformation.
Change itself then becomes less threatening against a more predictable background.
Shifting the perception of the great unknown by celebrating the sense of newness
Not knowing about the future also means that it can be full of wonderful surprises. You are reopening to all possibilities and new opportunities, discovering new aspects of life and yourself. You are giving yourself the chance to becoming who you want to be.
All of this can feel like a big reward for the brain. A significant part of the literature in neuroscience and neuropsychology addresses that element of novelty. When we encounter a new situation, especially if it is rewarding or arousing in some way, neurons release dopamine. It is sometimes called the ‘happy hormone.’ To be more specific, this neurochemical is important for both reward processing and learning. The brain will get excited when approaching a sense of discovery and mystery. It will want to engage in the newness and learn more.
Befriending feeling lost in wonder as part of the spiritual path
Now, I have found that a big part of the spiritual journey is to allow yourself to feel lost, over and over, so that, each time, you can find your way again from a much deeper place. It can feel hard, and confusing, and even frustrating at times, but it does not have to.
You learn to create more space for wonder and awe. You allow yourself to slow things down and wander a little bit more through your daily life, observing with a sense of curiosity. This too will calm the brain’s default mode network. Nothing better than slowing down in the middle of a crisis.
You also get back to the basics: allowing life to guide you, day after day, right where you are in the moment, and “just” bringing to it your intention for being alive that day. Just one day, one step at a time… At times, your intention and presence might be the best that you can bring to the journey. And it is crucial as you are re-affirming your role as a co-creator of your life, even as you don’t know what is in the process of being created.
Not forcing the answers, but allowing the questions to resonate deep within
Then, you learn to allow questions to deeply resonate within you without forcing immediate answers. I always guide people to take that time to feel the questions within their body and witness the mystery without needing to define it or boxing it. Those questions will create space for more creativity.
The same way, I strongly encourage them not to rush too fast into answers or set forms of what the future should look like. I fully know that it is hard to resist but it is really worth it. Spending a little bit more time deep inward, harnessing the energy of what is trying to come to the surface will bring many fruits in your transformation process, making it lasting.
I have personally learnt to befriend those steps over and over, and savor their rewards. I know what it takes to make the most of these periods and reach potentials that you did not even know could exist.
I am ready to guide you through the threshold of your new beginning(s). Are you?
Béatrice Pouligny | Shamanic Healer and Spiritual Mentor
beatrice.pouligny@shamanicspiritualhealing.com
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