A Body of Evidence

OUCH! That hurts!! Suddenly we are in touch with our bodies. We touched the hot skillet, we missed the nail and hit our thumb with the hammer, we fell off the ladder and broke our leg, we did any one of a number of things we humans routinely do to cause ourselves physical pain. Or perhaps we did nothing on our own, perhaps we contracted a virus or got a disease or were injured in some way through no fault of our own. Suddenly our bodies become the focus of attention and what do we want? We want the pain to stop, we want the disease to go away, we want an end to whatever physical misery has come our way. We make the demand that things return to pain free normality and if we are lucky, and they do, our attention once again strays away from the body and out into the world.

Consider this. The relationship you have with your body is very much like the relationship you have with the people in your life. What would happen if you only paid attention to your children when they were misbehaving? You'd have some pretty rowdy children, would be my guess. What if you only spoke to your friends or your spouse when they displeased you and then only to express your disappointment or displeasure? You'd be in some pretty miserable relationships, I'd say. Yet, how often do we give our bodies positive attention, express gratitude, reverence, even adoration? It sounds embarrassingly uncomfortable, doesn't it? How did we get here, in this place where we take our bodies so for granted, where we have all these standards for how they should look, how they should feel, what they should be able to do, and all without a smidgen of recognition for the miracles they afford us every single day?

Our bodies have an estimated hundred trillion cells and each one of those cells performs six trillion tasks a second, a second, and each cell instantly knows what the other cells are doing. The astounding complexity of the human body boggles the mind. Just to scratch the top of your head involves a complex set of signals and instructions that represent an absolute miracle. Ask anyone with paralysis about this miracle, this gift that we take for granted every single day.

So, next time you stand in front of the mirror and critique your physical appearance, next time you take ill or suffer some injury, take a step back and consider your relationship with your body.  Take a moment for a deep bow to the mysterious gift of a human body, whatever its current state. You can be assured, your body is working hard to tend to your needs every single second whether or not you acknowledge its constant, unwavering, unselfish contribution. Talk about being loved unconditionally. There is a body of evidence to support the notion that it is your number one fan.

Wake Up Caller ID

Have you noticed? There are teachers everywhere. The grocery store is full of them, the gym, the library, the mall, the bank, the gas station, the office, north of here, south of here, in state, out of state, everywhere. It's strange how I had not noticed them before. In all fairness I was so busy, so much to work out in my head all the time, how could I possibly be expected to pay close attention to everything around me? When I first started noticing them, probably in a moment I had inadvertently and imperceptibly dropped below the radar of my constantly vigilant mind, I was intrigued. That's when I started seeing teachers everywhere. I don't remember who they all were. There were, there continue to be, so many. I wonder if they are aware they are my teachers? Some of them definitely don't seem to know but then I see the occasional twinkling eye that tells me they are all not as clueless as I might guess.

The morning buzzer goes off, I awaken and the day begins. I do not carry the buzzer around with me to keep me awake, I am already wide-eyed. Buzzers are forgotten as soon as they awaken us. Their job is done and the rest is up to us. Good teachers are the same. And they are everywhere. You'll see.

Traumatized

Traumatized? Please don't tell me that what has happened to you should not have happened. I will listen to anything but that. We all have had our traumas, some more than others. Some have endured unspeakable traumas, no doubt about it. I don't seek to minimize or advocate denial as a way of coping. I seek only clarity, an intelligent way to lead us out of our suffering. What works to lead us back to joy, to sanity? I have come to see that it is what we have done to make sense of our traumas that hurts us the most. Somehow along the way we developed a set of rules and conditions to life, a long list of very firm and absolute beliefs about what should be and what shouldn't be.

Trauma happens. It happens and then it is over. We have a memory of it, sure, but it is not the memory that causes us to suffer, it is our belief that it should not have happened. We place that belief firmly on top of the memory and it becomes a guard locking us in our own prison of pain. Wounded and weakened, we keep pointing to the memory, to the original trauma as the source of our suffering. We can do that for years, for a lifetime, looking past the prison door that we ourselves have installed to justify how miserable we feel.

How do we know our traumas should not have happened? Do we know for sure, absolutely 100% for sure? They happened. That is what we know for sure. Beyond that, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, we can't say. Wouldn't you be at peace and more able to appreciate what is in front of you right now without the thought that your traumas should not have happened? Absolutely. Just seeing this is the beginning of freedom.

So don't tell me what happened to you yesterday or long ago should not have happened. Tell me how you are today. Look around, really look around, and tell me how your life is going today.