Life in a Body

Helps readers use body language and their body personalities to break through to new levels of performance and productivity.

by Steve Sisgold

Busting Confusion: Caught Between 2 Feelings

Moving from Confusion to Clarity

Published on July 28, 2010 by Steve Sisgold in Life in a Body

I noticed something this week. I have been hearing a word more often than usual; confusion. I ‘m also not surprised, with all of the rapid changes and disastrous events going on in the world, plus all of the mixed messages we get about these events. WHEW!

Spin-doctors are all around us are giving their slanted focus of events like the economy, gulf oil spill, war, and more, twisted in a way that serves an agenda—be it political, commercial, economic, religious or personal, and we wonder why we are confused? So this week, I wanted to address confusion.

I love what Gandhi had to share about confusion. He said that there is no such thing as confusion. Gandhi believed confusion was not feeling which emotion we were feeling in the moment. When I heard that, my whole body woke up with energy. I thought to myself,” WOW, when I am confused, all that I need to do is to get in touch with my body, breathe and feel which emotion I am feeling” And it worked! When I thought I was confused about which car to buy, I found that I actually wasn’t confused about which car to buy, but I was just caught between two emotions; fear and anger. What happened was that when I went to buy a Hybrid a few years back, they only had a color I didn’t like and one demo model left, and friends told me, to get it anyway, and I went into “confusion” ( and almost bought it). But when I remembered what Gandhi said, and breathed deeply, I noticed I felt anger that there was only one choice of Hybrid in the area at that time, and I felt fear when friends and the salesman were pushing me, and telling me I was “blowing” an opportunity. After a few breaths, I moved out of confusion and clearly knew I did not want that car. I walked away and 15 minutes later got a call saying there was a cancellation and a new Hybrid, one with the color I wanted just arrived. Hmmm?

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If you are feeling confused about anything in your life, feel which emotions you may be feeling and see if you are confused or just stuck or frozen between 2 or more feelings.

Breathe deeply and feel what is authentic for you about the situation. Perhaps your confusion comes from getting too much data from others? The reason we “allow” ourselves to be influenced by others which can create a gulf between our mind and body, mind and reality, mind and our very heart comes from old imprinted fears, in the form of subtle messages we received long ago. We all receive these programs. Some are spoken, while others are merely implied. For example, you might have been told, “That doesn’t hurt,” when you were crying over a skinned knee, or, “You’re not hot,” when you took off your sweater on a warm day. These seemingly innocuous messages come from parents, teachers, or perhaps the school nurse—people whose authority you do not question before a certain developmental stage. Outer authority soon overrides inner authority and you become conditioned to doubt what your body knows or what we think of as “confusion.”
Take a deep breath and feel your emotions and see how that will clear up confusion as it arises in your life.

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Tags: 15 minutes, anger, body intelligence, bq, breaths, cancellation, confusion, economy, emotion, emotions, fear, gandhi, gulf oil, health, mixed messages, oil spill, rapid changes, stress, therapy

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Steve Sisgold is a Body Centered Therapist, the author of What's Your Body Telling You? and a life coach to best selling authors, Grammy winners, Business Leaders and more.

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