Can you recall when last you experienced the sensation of “goosebumps”? You know, the bristling of the hair on your skin or a tingling up your spine. It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it?
Can you recall what brought it about? Was it perhaps just feeling the cold? Or maybe something really emotional? Or perhaps scary? How often do you encounter goosebumps?
Background
So what does experiencing goosebumps mean to you? In our very busy schedule driven world, we are often so focused and engaged in what we are doing, that we can quite easily forget to “listen” to signals that our unconscious, our right brain mind or our intuition are trying to give us, right? It’s all about go – go – go and then the next thing.
For me today, goosebumps is a sign from my unconscious mind that something of great significance to my life or values is either happening to me or about to happen to me. I have learned that whenever I experience goosebumps to simply stop and “listen” to them. What am I experiencing at this moment? Why is my body reacting like this? What is my intuition trying to tell me that I should be paying attention to?
Some examples
You may know I grew up in South Africa and moved to Australia 20 years ago. I feel blessed to have been raised and educated in Africa, and today I absolutely love and appreciate living in Australia and truly call it home. However whenever I fly into Africa and see us crossing the coastline below me out of the plane I get goosebumps which shows me how much “Africa” is still “under my skin”. In fact I have gooseflesh now just writing about that.
Can you relate to that?
I also usually experience goosebumps when I am exposed to a piece of music that “touches my soul”.
Sometimes it comes about when I re-watch a special movie or video clip, like of our wedding ceremony, or when our children were born.
It also occurs whenever I observe someone experiencing a specifically successful outcome or recognition, like one of my children receiving an award or their degree.
I find it occurs even more so if I had some input into that success, like often happens in my coaching work.
It can occur when I am reading a passage in a book that might remind me of a certain special situation in my own life or that of my loved ones.
Or when I am observing other people or behaviour or certain situations unfold that remind me of something of real significance to me and my life.
I am sure you will have experienced similar situations to those outlined above, albeit in different forms and obviously different circumstances of your own. Provided you allow yourself to recognise them, they will continue to occur. However, details can get in the way of the big picture and prevent the recognition of goosebumps. So we need to give them some space, don’t we?
So what?
I hope I now have you focused on this extraordinary phenomenon? So what does this mean for us and how can we utilize and apply it when it occurs?
- Firstly I believe that we should stop and listen to when it occurs and relate it to whatever is going on or desired in our life and work at that point. Why not pause and allow your right brain to help you interpret that sensation and give you some insights into how you might adopt or apply it?
- Secondly what if you were to use it in conjunction with your planning, be it for your life of for your work or for this year or whatever you are considering for your compelling future? What if while taking some quiet time out of the rush you let your (right brain) mind wander over what it is that you “really” want you were given some useful signs? If you allow yourself sufficient quality time to do so, could it be that you raise the chances of your “stumbling” over a thought or idea that gives you goosebumps? Wouldn’t those be a sure signpost that this really means something special to you and that they are truly worth pursuing?
I know many business people denigrate the concept of “having a dream”. I used to do that myself – until I learned that it was in fact one of the most important aspects of any success. Anything and everything worthwhile starts with a picture in someone’s mind and then needs to be visualized, planned and converted into reality. If that is true, and so many people really struggle with this, and you are serious about your own success, then wouldn’t it make sense to arm yourself with all available tools that will raise your chances?
So next time you experience goosebumps why not take some time to listen to what your body (or your “soul”) is trying to tell you and “tune in” to its message. I would be delighted if this were in any way able to conspire with you for your success.
