Do you know your original essence?
If you’ve never connected to your original essence before, let me introduce you. Your original essence is that part within, your core self, that is unharmed by whatever happens to you. It’s your original blueprint of health that’s always alive within you no matter what.
You might already know your original essence and all the ways it shows up or maybe you're unsure.
It might show up as a quiet inner knowing that there might be a different way. A sense of longing that’s been tugging at your heart. It might show up as hope, as not giving up despite it all. It might show up and hide in the dull ache that tells you that you can’t keep going like this - that something needs to change. It might make itself visible through desiring something else, a whole new life.
It might communicate with you through your body, through felt-sense, through an inner knowing that lives in your heart or through a unique-to-you way that you can attune to and understand.
If you've experienced trauma or violation, it's really normal and common not to hear or know the voice of your original essence at all.
Oftentimes when violation happens our original essence gets hidden underneath layers of shame, grief and anger - under the noise of all the parts that are working really hard on protecting us from ever having to experience anything like it again.
It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong or that it's lost forever.
All those protective parts, those layers of shame, grief and anger (or numbness) are possible gateways to remembering and re-attuning to the whispers and nudges of your original essence.
Sometimes all you need is the awareness that an original essence exists within you, to get you back into connection with it.
And other times you need support to help you unravel the layers and tend to all those protective parts and reconnect to your original essence. This might be through working with someone 1-on-1 in a soft and spacious container, or through books, rituals, and courses.
Whatever path you need to take towards your original essence, recognizing that you have one is one of the most profound and maybe potent parts of post-trauma bloom.
Your original essence is you are coming through for you.
It's all those parts within you that believe and know that something different is possible for you, that there’s much more to explore, much more to experience.
It's all the wild, wise magic.
Over the past year, I've shuffled even closer to my original essence and it has been coming through for me in many different moments when I needed guidance.
It came through for me by showing me opportunities for rest and replenishment when I was feeling burned out last summer.
It came through for me as a deep longing to feel freer in my body and challenging me to move beyond what my body story was telling me would be possible for me at the time. So I devoted time to unraveling my stories of hunger and food, my stories of isolation, disgust, and unworthiness which landed me in a whole new space of body appreciation and trust.
It came through for me as several quiet nudges when I was looking to feel deeply supported at the beginning of the year. So I followed the whispers and found the most aligned ever support for me in the form of a coach and the container I've been in has been life-changing.
It came through for me when I navigated having to pause my business for 4 months (so scary when you own your own business) by helping me unravel from years of conditioning around productivity.
There are still moments or situations where I feel disconnected, not fully trusting, or even impatient with my original essence and that's okay - being in relationship with our original essence is never about perfection but about allowing ourselves to be as we are in each moment (lovable, worthy and capable).
I truly believe (especially in those kinds of moments) that there's a wisdom to be found in our original essences that is deeply profound, potent - medicinal. Because it helps us reach for ourselves and turn towards ourselves over and over again in the most loving and brave way.
What is your original essence pointing you towards?
What kind of support do you need to reconnect to your original essence?