Hi! I’m Kelsey. I’m a Certified Professional Coach, Human Design Guide and House Therapist. My intention for this publication is to help you remember who you really are so you can experience a joyful, easeful, abundant and wicked fun life. I also write about gluten-free whole-food plant-based cooking at Find Your Awesome Sauce.
When my husband Pete and I went to Dominica in December, we hiked to Boiling Lake. The lake itself is neat—it is literally boiling. But it’s the hike to and from the lake that make it an epic adventure—or as another hiker said, “more of a Black Ops mission than a hike.”
We started our mission in the rainforest, trekking through rolling terrain, and over slippery roots and rocks as we tried to avoid the deep mud. It was raining, but the tree canopy provided enough cover that it was more of a sprinkle on the forest floor.
We crossed a river (walking through the actual river) and started hiking through the cloud forest. The trail got narrower and steeper, the mud got slipperier, the rain came and went and came back again and the wind picked up to about 40 miles per hour.
Eventually we reached a point where the trail stopped. The original trail had been destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and, just two weeks before our hike, a mudslide had destroyed the “new” trail. So, we made our own trail, climbing down and up waterfalls, scaling cliffs and traversing a rock with a rope tied to a tree.
There were many times when I wondered, “how are we going to get back up/down this?” as we scaled some epic cliff face. And then I’d pull my attention back to the present, stepping where Chadi (our guide) stepped, putting my hand where he told me to put my hand, moving forward one step at a time.
When I focused on the step I was in, everything was possible. I climbed up things I didn’t know I could climb up, and I made my way down things I didn’t know I could go down.
But when I let my mind jump ahead to the future, I wondered if and how this was all going to work out. That’s when I felt fear and doubt. When I was in it—in the moment, in the process and in my body—everything felt possible.
This is true for everything we do: When we allow ourselves to truly be in the step we’re in, everything is possible. On the other hand, when we let our minds run the show, they jump ahead to the future and bring their old friends, fear and doubt, to the party.
Our wisdom lives in our bodies. When we truly understand, trust and embody that concept, we allow our bodies to lead while our minds become the passengers.
And it’s in this state of passenger consciousness that everything is possible.
I love you.
Love,
Kelsey
P.S. I’m leading a masterclass all about the sacral center on April 2. I’ll send an email about it tomorrow.
P.P.S. It’s not officially mandatory to hire a guide to hike to Boiling Lake, but it’s very strongly recommended. If you’re heading to Dominica and want to do this hike, I highly recommend going with Chadi. You can connect with him on instagram. He’s @chadi.767treks. If, like me, you’re not on Instagram, reach out to me and I’ll give you his email address.
Some questions to ponder:
When have you noticed your mind running away with fear and doubt?
When are you are totally in your body (and out of your head)?
When you find yourself future tripping, what could it look like to come back to this moment, this process and your body? How could you do that?
Yes yes yes. Thank you Kelsey for this ever important reminder. I had a client say to me once, imparting wisdom to me as they so often do, that when they get stuck, frozen, panicky, they just ask themselves, “What CAN I do next?” It could be anything. It could be the smallest thing. It could be to stand exactly still because even that is a choice (and sometimes the most attuned one).
My head starts running when I’m feeling something sticky. Often, deep down, something about my worthiness or goodness. A breath. Some compassion for my parts that still hold that fear that one wrong move will reveal me to be bad/evil/unworthy.
I don’t know that I’m ever fully out of my head, but I can be more in my body with my mind on the sidelines or contributing as requested by body during exercise, yoga, and hopefully this isn’t an overshare, but during sex. Oh and dancing! Always dancing 🪩
This is a good reminder. And some great questions to ponder at the end. Thank you.