One of the greatest movies of all time and one of my faves is Grease. I’m about to date myself right now, but in 1978, when it was released, I was 14 years old. So, it was made for me and my generation. Watching it made me feel alive, because although a different culture and a fictional storyline, I related to the struggles of teens and I was empowered by the audacious characters. For me, as I’m sure most, the favourite song was ‘The one that I want.’ It was the song that evoked the most emotion for me, particularly the verse:
If you’re filled
With affection
You’re too shy to convey,
Meditate in my direction.
Feel your way.
Obviously, this song and verse are fuelled by sexual tension and emotion, but nevertheless it is a powerful moment in the movie. If you watch the clip, from the movie, you will see John Travolta immediately and powerfully emotionally effected when Olivia sings the line, ‘feel your way!’ This blog is not about Grease, but it is about the power of emotion to move us to great things in life, whether that be romantically, financially, physically, professionally or any other area of your life you are wanting to see happiness and fulfillment. The key, I believe, is to… feel your way!
On my podcast this week, I speak again to the amazing Deborah Stathis. The podcast is called, Harnessing the power of emotion. I urge you to listen to the conversation because Deb describes this far more powerfully than I can. She lived it. After a devastating car accident left her face and brain seriously damaged and disfigured, her future looked bleak. If logical thinking was to prevail, she would not have been at all optimistic about her life ahead. But Deb didn’t act on logic, she felt her way! She looked in the mirror and really studied her face, her damage and her options, and it immediately created fear in her body. Fear of a life well short of what she had planned for herself.
She then used that fear in a constructive way to start thinking about the life she did want, and that vision sparked in her, as she describes it, ‘a relententless pursuit’ of her best life. It was this powerful emotion she felt and harnessed that moved her into action and kept her going until she had overcome every single limiting medical prediction for her life. She is now a gorgeous, fully functioning and inspiring lady making a difference in many lives.
The greatest mistake we make is trying to think our way, when the answer is to feel our way to our best life. If logic ruled, I would never have played professional sport. I was moved by the feeling and excitement of success in that arena. If common sense had prevailed, I would never be an author of eight published books today. It was the desire to change my circumstances and to impact lives that moved me into illogical action that has transformed my life. I am very grateful for the fact that I am a very emotional person and moved far more by feelings and far less that logic.
Here is the one piece of advice I would like to offer you this week; get out of your head quickly, get into your heart and feel your way! When you stay in your head too long, you often talk yourself into and then straight back out of things that if you acted would change your life for the better. Do you know what I mean? When you get an idea, a thought or an impulse, the quicker you can act on the feeling, the quicker you will be in motion. When in motion, things will start to logically unfold, and the path will open itself up to you. I have experienced this time and time again in my life.
Will you make some mistakes? Probably. Will you need to course correct at times? Definitely. Will you end up loving your life? Absolutely. You can’t go wrong if you act on an intuitive impulse. So, right now, as you are reading this, what is it in your life you want to change, achieve, acquire or resolve? Have you got a clear picture of what you want? When you think of being there in that moment, having realised that vision, how does it feel? You may not know exactly how to go about it, but don’t waste that powerful emotion. Get clear, get excited, get moving and… feel your way!