206. Transform Your Career by Harnessing Your Innate Power

At a management training company operated by one of her former college professors, Susan recalls, “I would go to the clients’ locations early to get to know them. I loved that part of building a relationship. It was not in my job description, and all the other trainers would just go out there and do their shtick. That just wasn’t my thing, I wanted to customize the workshop as much as I could, use company language, and make it really relevant, even though nobody had told me to do that. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

Recalling a significant incident in college later helped Susan recognize how strongly her decisions had been determined by other people. “I had declared a major during my first week at school and called to tell my parents. I tell my dad, and there was a very long silence. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the phone. Then he said, ‘It will take you 20 years to make any money at that, not until you get to the Ph.D. level.’ That scared me so badly that I changed my major to economics and marketing the next week. I remember almost 20 years to the day, I started work on a Ph.D. in mind-body psychology. I somehow kept that flame alive for psychology through all those years.”

“The intellect is great, but it’s more of the tool. The driver is really how we want to feel in the world. Our impulses and instincts can help guide us. They’re signposts. I had just never known how powerful those things could be. So much of my life I had been trusting that other people would help guide me, but not really knowing what my own preferences and needs were. I was very analytical. I really didn’t know that we could listen to our bodies, and that it could be such a source of power. Truly, that is where our innate power is.”

1. Recognize how much you’re dominated by other people and their thoughts.

2. Notice the subtle ways your body speaks to you, the “microsignals.” Learn to pay attention to them.

3. Realize that your mind and body know how to work together in concert with one another.

4. Take a step in trust and faith that what you want to do really can work out.

Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, by Candace B. Pert

Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development, by Susan Aposhyan

Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body’s Wisdom, by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana