Sensation, the language of the body.
Sensation, the raw output of our sensory system.
Something or someone makes contact and our nervous system goes to work.
What kind of contact was it? Was it contact we were expecting? Was it contact that was desired? Was it spontaneous contact?
Did the hair stand up on the back of my neck? All over my body? Did my pupils dilate? Did I feel suddenly warm? Did I feel an overwhelming urge to run? Did I want to return the contact? Has my heart rate increased? Has my rate of respiration increased?
Did you know that your body processes everything going on around you? Your brain receives stimulation through sensory nerves, optical nerves, auditory nerves, and others associated with the spinal cord. Sense is made of the information and a response is sent out. You differentiate color, sounds and contact in a variety of forms through which your body will act.
You probably are already aware that if you see a wolf running at you growling, your optic nerves have been stimulated, the sound was processed by your auditory system and determined to be "growling". Possibly without much thought, you are also aware of the feeling of fear. You might be shaking and looking for somewhere to hide.
What you might not have noticed is that your pupils have probably dilated to let in as much light as possible so you can see any escape route available. Digestion has all but come to a stop - your legs need the blood flow to get you the hell away from the damn wolf! Your heart rate is elevated to get blood flow to extremities as efficiently as possible. You have a killer "buzz" going on from adrenaline that has just been pumped into your system via your adrenals. You are kickin' ass and takin' names! When it's done, your ass will be grass and if you haven't wet yourself (in your body's efficient effort to rid you of anything that might hold you back) - you're ready for bed.
Interestingly what is considered a normal "fight or flight" response to a real threat to life and limb, due to our societal definition of success, we often have this response on a what's-more-than-is-healthy basis. Instead of having a wolf growling at us from the hill, there's a couple of files we need to give our attention to, or we're gearing up to prove who is more worthy of a promotion on the office battlefield.
This digression will be continued in another post!
Sensation is what we're focusing on right now. If we go back and revisit the wolf event, we can extrapolate sensations from the experiential description:
you may feel itchy,tingly,trembly
you may feel the pounding of your heart in your chest
your legs may feel rubbery
you may feel the surface under your feet as dry, slippery, muddy, smooth, cold or wet
your throat might feel scratchy if you're screaming
you may feel a sharp "stitch" in your side from running
your stomach may feel crampy and you may experience nausea
Your body is talking to you, giving you it's take on the situation. In fact your body may have actually had you running before your brain had taken the time to formulate the word "R U N !"
We are multifaceted creatures. We are composed of Body, Mind Spirit and Emotions. Some of us consider ourselves to be mostly spirit and not "of this world". Others of us consider the body to be a dirty, and unappealing necessary housing for the the mind. Still others live in such emotion that they are human hurricanes. None of these comprise a balanced human being.
At this point in our existence we are on the never-ending quest to "balance" our lives; to find the ever-elusive balance that will make everything fall right into place. That magical balance will give us more hours in the day, or it will empower us to fit more stuff into the measly 24 hours we've been given. It will give us a super power so that we no longer need sleep. Or it will enable our bodies to create good nutrition when we're not eating any.
The balance that we are pilgrammaging towards is not anything we're going to find outside of ourselves.(Dunno if this a dictionary-worthy word but I like it!)
I said it in one of my very first posts in a moment of passion and 2 or so years later, I'm back:
THE BALANCE IS IN US.
Nowhere else. All we need is all we have.
Body - Mind - Spirit - Emotion
Every day it's easy to find reminders of what happens when we ignore or shut off a part of ourselves. Yet we encourage, admire and reward those who tortuously bend, twist, distort, knot, gnarl and warp our natural balance in order to fit a mold created by other severely twisted beings. Let me hear you defend it - I know someone out there reading this is thinking that this is the world we live in and if we don't conform than... If I don't work myself into a heart attack, get sleep on a regular basis and put being present to my children above sports then I'll be left out of bitch sessions with people whose bodies are breaking down prematurely, are unhappy with their lives and need everyone around them to be just as miserable as they are. Gee, I'm gonna miss that!
Not taking care of every part of our selves doesn't make sense; it isn't logical in the scope of the big picture.
When we give our bodies what they need:
When we give our minds what they need:
When we give our spirits what they need:
When we give our emotions what they need:
We are:
More Functional
More Productive
More Efficient
Mentally Agile
More Useful
More Loving
More Lovable
More Patient
Kinder to Others
More Generous
More Creative
More Pleasant to Be Around
(Btw, this list in N O T in order of importance!)
When your put self-care last (so that you can claim selflessness) you are cheating those you love. You're not giving them the best of you. You are giving them the worn, the beaten down, the exhausted, the impatient, the resentful, the angry and the frustrated. Why else would it be common to hear a parent say something like, "I don't understand how that kid can be so selfish. I gave up everything for him." Guilt is not love. Let's remember whose choice it was first to have a family. Those are not the words of a happy person; of a person who has taken care of themselves and are living the life they dreamed of.
Why can't we have the lives we dream of?
