How are you doing? How’s it going? These simple questions can create some pretty complicated answers. They can send the person answering into a tailspin in their minds. Add, “How is your business going?” and things can really get interesting.

Have you ever noticed that your answer to the question, “How’s it going?”, changes based on your mood, your current state-of-mind or your feelings?

What if there is a difference between your current state-of-mind; the internal experience you are having; and what is actually happening?

Meaning, your feelings don’t actually tell you how it’s going. Your feelings just tell you where your head is at.

This last week, I was in a conversation with a business owner who was feeling stuck.

He’d been feeling bogged down, uninspired, stuck and frustrated. On top of that it looked like he needed to fix this, FAST, or it was going to derail everything. As he put it, “I keep getting in my own way!” And in his mind, this was serious; it was keeping him from having the kind of impact he knew was possible.

As we started to explore what was really going on, it wasn’t long before we were laughing, he was having insights and starting to remember the truth of what his feelings are actually telling him and what they aren’t telling him. 

Our feelings are informing us about the quality of our minds in that moment. They are a gauge for the level of clarity we have or don’t have. They are telling us if we’re in a reaction or if we’re seeing things with perspective.

During our conversation, it became evident that he had been looking to his feelings, and since he was feeling, in his words: “flat, stuck and uninspired”, he decided, he wasn’t doing well.

From that place, it makes sense that we get on the, “I have to fix this” train. I can’t tell you how many of those tickets I’ve purchased!!! And some, not too long ago.

Something really powerful happens when we see that our moods, our feelings, are pointing us to our quality of my mind – end of story. Full stop.

When we see this simple truth, we are able to get our bearings, find our way. Feelings, like thought, like all reactions, pass. They are not permanent. As they pass, we get new insight and a new perspective.

When we see feelings for what they are, we are able to penetrate underneath the appearance of things to their essence. And this is where the magic happens.

When we see beyond our current thinking, our current moods or feelings, we are able to tap into the a more useful measure of how we’re doing and how it’s going.

We tap into our deeper nature – a deeper knowing inside. This becomes our compass.