What Exactly is "Stepping In"
I have often found myself asked to “step in” to something - a feeling, an animal, a gift, an emotional space, etc. - and I know that I have simply done it without really thinking about what that means. Lately, as I’m working with folks, I have thought more about asking them to “step in” - what it means and how to explain it to them.
Stepping in happens when we drop into our center, connect with our essential and then allow the current space to wash over us. For example, if a client has accepted a power animal, then I will ask her to “step in” to that power animal and experience the message it has for her. Power animals are personal and only the receiver can get the information being offered. Therefore, she has to allow her thoughts to stop, find that place of calm and connection in the soul center, and then invite the power animal in. Once she is in that space, she can experience the power animal and hear it’s message. She can then choose to accept the message and it’s gifts or traits by allowing them to enter through her chakra centers, informing her whole being through her energetic field. This type of stepping in gives her a knowing, an understanding, that often cannot be expressed in words. It is truly an energetic exchange.
Opportunities to step in also occur when we experience difficult times, situations that we may want to avoid because they are painful or scary. Our brains will go into survival mode and tell us to avoid a situation because it is emotionally dangerous. While I am thankful for the brain because it does keep me alive, I also know that sometimes I need to have a conversation with my brain about what we are going to do. Our energetic fields also have a knowing and can make decisions. We just have to be aware and pay attention to the messages. When difficult times come, stepping into them is often the best thing we can do. Change happens in the midst of chaos, and chaos comes when we need change. While our brains will often tell us to avoid the chaos, our energetic fields will be drawn to it. Our energetic fields often know more than our conscious brains can process, so we should always pay attention to the difficult times when external situations provide opportunities for internal awareness and change.
When our conscious brain is in protect mode - afraid of the scary situation that surrounds us - we will often fall into the role of victim and look for someone or something to blame for the chaos. That allows us to avoid the hard stuff - the grey area, as a friend of mine coined it. But the grey area is the exactly where we need to be…stepping in with great intention and awareness. It is okay to feel the fear, the hurt, the confusion, that stomach-dropping-I-don’t-know-what-to-do feeling. It is okay to feel out of control and not have the answer. When we turn off that conscious brain that tries to control and keep us safe, we create space for awareness and growth. That is stepping in to the hard spaces. That is allowing true change to take place.
To step into the hard spaces, we must go through the same process as stepping into a power animal. We must find that soul center where we are aware of our own breath and heartbeat. We connect with our essential and ask for the guidance needed. We allow the feelings to wash over us, acknowledging the fear and moving through it. This can take moments or days, but on the other side of the fear, we will find opportunity. We will find the gifts we have grown as a result of the hard space. Those gifts are our tools to create a new reality for ourselves, a new knowing, a new being.
Step into the chaos. Allow it to inform you. Find the gifts. Seize the opportunities. Step into being.
