Some people are comfortable being in a body. They like exercise and athletics. Some are very grounded. I tend to wonder if these people are as comfortable with emotions. Do you ever notice in any given day, how many emotions seek your attention? Are you comfortable when this happens? I think they catch many of us off guard. “What? Where did that come from?” “Oh, no, not that again!” “I don’t want to deal with that, here, now!”
Then there are those who are at home with emotions, maybe not always comfortable, and yet, “Be, in my body?” “Let emotions flow through the body?” “But what about trust?” “What about whether or not I’m comfortable?”
I don’t think we’re taught how to feel our feelings, and, how to let them flow in and through our own body.
Have you ever noticed what happens to and with people who live with disabilities? Usually, the first things that happens is someone wants to “put” us somewhere, usually in a chair. It’s assumed such people are not as physical. No! A wonderful therapist told me years ago, “You need to be more physical, not less!” Yes! It took me a long time to make this my own.
I’ve often said that people with disabilities often live between feeling isolated or violated. Neither is a good place. Both are lonely
In my “Differentness training sessions, we would talk about words and stereotypes, images that come to mind when people hear words such as: disabled, handicapped, afflicted, invalid. Usually they bring images of less-than to mind. I wish I had a recording of the many times I would say: “spell invalid.” A student would start: “I n v a l i d. I n v a l i d. I n v a l i d. Oh! In valid!!!” And then I would ask: “Who are people in our society we try to make or keep INVALID?” Women? Children? People with disabilities? People of a different race? People of a minority? Equally, we do it to men. Kids decide parents are invalid. Any one group does it to and about others.
When have you felt you were treated as though you are invalid?
And what happens to self-esteem when one gets a message they are invalid? What happens to emotions that want to come up and be expressed, or to feelings about being in a body? What happens when someone gets up, after being “put” somewhere and begins to move around? Do they move freely, or are they stared at, spoken to as though they can’t, shouldn’t, know what they know, make their own choices, move freely? If you don’t like feeling invalid, how can you validate someone or others in your life more fully? To whom can you give more room to be who they are and express feeling and be comfortable with their own beingness in a body?
Being in a body means it’s good to have boundaries! It’s good to move freely and to express fully! It’s good to allow emotions to flow through and from our bodies.
Being valid isn’t about right or wrong. It isn’t about feelings that are reasonable or anything that has to make sense! Feeling are quite beautiful, really. They affirm our aliveness and individual experience and expression.
We talk about body, mind and spirit because all three are important. Many people try to ignore one or the other. I think we came into this life to live from all three. I encourage you, all of us, to let ourselves feel, think, intuit, sense, and to be in the body, allowing all that wants to be experienced and expressed! In fact, we have so many phrases that say to much: trusting the gut! Listening to the heart. I used to do a guided imagery scan through the body, with many phrases we’ve typically used with body parts. It’s powerful!
Your body, your emotions, your mind and the Spirit realm continue to seek our attention. Let’s be a friend to these parts of self! They are resources! They are there to support us! Let’s let them work for us! Let’s say no to anyone who wants to assume we are less than the fullness of who we are! Let’s say yes to all that wants to seek expression and experience through us!