At some point in life most of us learn that you have to pay for what you want, and that you don’t always get what you paid for. And since we tend to think in terms of cash flow, we calculate how much we can afford. In other words, we give things a subjective valuation.
Here’s the truth: to live more centered in the present moment we need to become more sensuous. That way we can be more alive to the world and more sensitive to ourselves.
All that we have and are is right here in the body. Think of it this way: my fingers are tapping these very words into the computer as my brain formulates them. And you are almost certainly sitting in a chair as you read them, butt softly cradled (unless the chair is hard), feet pressing into the floor, and hands probably grasping an electronic device as your eyes follow my words.
Looking back at what has turned out to be a long life, I began to wonder this morning, why have I held back so often from trying out new things? And why was I so often unable to honestly admit how I really felt to others, or even to myself? If that sounds familiar to you, let’s explore it together.
Luckily we have guides to recall us to a more balanced understanding. Not long ago a poem came over my transom. Its humbling but uplifting message comes from one of the wisest people I’ve ever known—and I’ve known a quite a few! Her wisdom came from listening, learning, and experiencing the life her own Body/Soul.
It was 400 years ago that Descartes convinced us that we think therefore we are, and we have believed it ever since. Which inevitably leads to living mostly in our heads. What a heavy weight to carry as we go about our daily business!
That is one of many images that can help us settle down into the reality of our Deeper Being. Wish I could remember it when I’m reacting, or aching with sadness, or burning up with anger! Does my complaint sound familiar? We have the good fortune, at any time we are tottering toward overwhelm, to listen to Rumi: “You are not a drop in the ocean,” he affirms. “You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
It is a time of grieving, all over the world, for the loss of loved ones, of jobs, of homes, of independence. Never have we been so united in suffering. It’s an atmosphere all around us, a pressure we can’t escape. Day after day we struggle to survive and help others through the Time of Covid 19.
The last few days have been cloudy and rainy, so when I went out this morning I was overjoyed to feel the warm rays of the sun pouring down. “Thank you for being here,” I muttered to myself. And the sun instantly replied, “I am always here.”
An excerpt of my latest book: Awakening Body Consciousness: Seven Steps to Integrating Body, Mind and Heart has been published in The Rose in the World: Issue 32, Autumn 2020. The issue is available to download here.
