This week I have been on the hunt to find a theme song for my life.
One that really encompasses where I am and where I am going. It’s to add to my Divine Design PowerPoint slideshow of what I’d love to create in my business and life.
(It’s kind of like a moving image that plays for my future every morning before I start work for the day.)
I came across this Sam Smith song.
“how I see myself with you
I don’t say a word
……
And look in my eye
You are perfection
My only direction
It’s fire on fire
It’s fire on fire.
……
But then we love and feel the truth.”
I had rolling goosebumps throughout the song. No, not all of it moves me, but some lines like “You are perfection” do it for me every time—waves of goosies rolling through my body.
Now, I get that for you, it might not be the case with this song, and these words.
For you, it’s more likely to be a different song or scene of a movie as we have different things that will move us.
These connected emotional states involve goosebumps.
So why do you get goosebumps?
OK, let’s get our geek on.
The technical term is cutis anserine (‘cutis’ means skin, and ‘anser’ means goose) or piloerection (probably not going to use that word again).
Now, let’s get clear, there are three types of goosebumps. This is how I’ve named them, and they’re not scientific-technical names by any means.
- The ‘cold’ goosebumps, the ones you get when you’re physiologically cold.
- The ‘chilli’ goosebumps—the ones that cause a cold shiver down your spine—usually occur with a perception of social disgust and fear.
- The ‘soul’ gives goosebumps with an experience of awe. This usually occurs with an integration, alignment, or truth being told.
The common experience of goosebumps is the ‘chilli’ ones you get when you feel cold and your hairs stand on end. This reaction is great for animals because all of their hair stands on end, they look bigger and scarier to their predator. For us humans, it helps to create a buffer between your skin and the cool air keeping you a little warmer.
Evolutionarily speaking, that came in handing pre-clothing days to keep our bodies warmer and is still serving that purpose now. (except for those people who lasered their arm hair – they’re now realising the downside. #deepsigh).
Let’s go a little deeper.
There are involuntary muscles just under the skin that activate the sympathetic nervous system, also known as the fight, flight, or fright response when experiencing a highly emotional state. When the muscle is contracted, it makes your hair stand upright and gives you goosebumps.
The goosebumps I’m referring to are the ones you get when watching a movie, hearing a speech, or reading a passage from a book. It moves you in a deep way and gives you goosebumps.
This feeling of being moved or touched can be accompanied by tears, goosebumps, and sensations of warmth in the centre of the chest or heart plexus.
This experience is described in Sanskrit as kama muta, a feeling of oneness, of love or union.
One particular framework for emotional experiences labelled as moving is the concept of kama muta. Kama muta theory involves sudden increases in closeness and community that evoke a distinctive positive social-relational emotion.
This emotion is often accompanied by tears, goosebumps, and feelings of warmth in the chest, and people often use terms such as “moving,” “touching,” or “heartwarming.”
The goosebumps you’ll experience in Maximum Growth classes, living life and doing “the work” are the soul goosebumps.
There are more nuances to why these goosies happen and scientific research is still debating about why we experience these types of goosebumps.
What they do know about goosebumps after studying brain images is that they activate certain brain structures, such as the amygdala (the centre for emotions, emotional behaviour, and motivation) and prefrontal cortex (cognitive control functions).
I can tell you from my experience that I’ve been writing down my goosebumps moments since 2009. Not every one of them, but a large sample to see what is common to what my soul is saying.
There are some messages in there that are profound statements, like things to do with universal truths, setting a big, crazy goal and achieving it, and receiving a payment from a client with the transaction name being “lifesaver.”
When we align our soul’s messages with a business and lead, magic happens. You’ll feel purposeful and that you’re walking the path that you are destined to walk. Every day, you feel like you get paid to be you and do the things you love most.
So, open a new Word document, and start generating your list of goosies.
Love to hear what is revealed to you. Do you require changing direction in business? Or are you on the perfect path for your soul’s calling?
Here’s to hearing the whispering in your ear from your soul,
Tanya “following my knowing” x
Leadership Coach & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator
BAppSoSc (Counselling)
