Looking back at today as my first day of redefining and living the word ‘physical’. I had a great opportunity to look at the judgment perspective, where there is a conflictual relationship with the physical due to things like judgment and blame towards my body, for example. I was doing yoga outside with my partner and I was feeling very self-conscious at first at the passing cars seeing me do my yoga moves.
I looked at living the word physical, and realized I was letting my mind get in the way in two respects. One was that I was judging myself again, in terms of feeling self-conscious of exercising publicly and fearing the judgments of others. The second is that I almost prevented myself from doing something beneficial for my body based on that judgement.
When I pushed myself to live the word ‘physical’, I took a moment to remove the mind component, and simply looked at the physical actions, because in reality it is only simple movement involved there doesn’t have to be more than that. I moved myself to do the yoga exercises, focusing only on the movements, and actually had quite an enjoyable time. I was able to create my own space with a focus only on my movements, where I used my mind to instead monitor and asses how my body was responding to the stretches and strengthening poses, not to worry about the thoughts of people in the passing cars, that would be pretty silly. My body felt good afterwards, and I felt empowered at having stood up and not accepted and allowed my own self-judgment to direct me. Instead, I directed myself in and as the physical.
The next point I faced in regards to the word ‘physical’ was fighting with my environment. This also occurred during my outdoor yoga session in the grass. There were bugs, there was a constantly barking dog, there was prickly grass, there was my knees and hands getting dirt on them. All of these things irritated me at some point. In pushing myself to live the word ‘physical’ in these moments, I chose instead to embrace these ‘discomforts’, within the realization that I am not alone here. I share my environment with many things that make noise and have textures and require dirt and mud to grow and live. When co-existing in any situation, there will be many things in the physical world that are not designed for human comfort, or the comfort of the individual. It is up to me to take self-responsibility for managing my ability to function in different environments.
I have to realize that there is so much going on in the physical world, and I am a part of it, so I can either fight that, limit myself and wish I were alone, or I can embrace and work with it, and benefit myself in that co-existence.
The next thing that came up was that I wanted to look at my physical world as physical actions only. Using my mind to scan and see what needs attention, and nothing more. What I was confronted with here was my addictions. I realize that I cannot wait to work through my addictions to be able to lay a foundation myself to live the word ‘physical’, so I decided to move forward without judging myself for my addictions, and start living the word wherever I was able to. This is a process and these are the first steps, I will not be perfect all in one go, I have to work with what is here.
When I practiced this ‘scanning and taking physical actions’ as a way to live the word physical, I noticed that there were so many little things I need to do every day that require my attention. Just like nature is constantly moving, managing, growing and thriving, so can I function this way in my immediate environment. Whether it was picking up after myself, doing tasks like laundry with more awareness and care for my clothes, or even taking a shower. I saw that I could do everything with more consideration and care when I did not listen to my mind throwing all sorts of reasons why I should take a shortcut or do it later.
In moving with and as the physical only, I was able to do so much more in terms of contributing to the optimal functioning and managing of my physical environment as the house in which I am staying, the vehicle I am driving, and the yard around the house where I spend time outdoors.
Previously, I held an idea that I can only properly maintain my environment to my standards when I live alone or with a partner where there are defined roles. But recently my life has involved living with others, and currently I am living out of a suitcase and moving around a lot in different people’s homes. I realized that I had used this as an excuse to not step up and take the same care and consideration I would when I have a more stable life and environment. I noticed that I kept misplacing things and becoming increasingly disorganized.
When I pushed myself to live the word ‘physical’ in this context, the solution I found was to assert myself in these new places. I made places for my things and set myself up as if it were my home, instead of living like everything was temporary. I made spots for the things I kept misplacing, organized my suitcase and found places I was comfortable in to sit and do my work. I also began involving myself in the cooking of food and tidying of rooms even if it wasn’t my mess. This is because when removing the excuses as to why I shouldn’t step up in these ways, I saw more clearly the physical actions that needed to take place to incorporate myself into new environments and become a part of the system already in place. This isn’t to become obsessed and take over a place, but simply to tend to things that need to be done, and leave the things that I saw others were responsible for. Whether it be to wash some extra dishes, pick up trash and put it away, or even cook extra food to offer to the others living there; if I could do it and it wasn’t too much for me, I would.
I saw another dimension of the physical, where it can be looked at as a huge processor. Just like my body processes everything
I put in to it, as well as my thoughts and feelings and the stress and strain I put on it, so does the external physical environment process all the pollution and everything we can see – it is all purified to the best of the physical’s ability. I looked at the trees and saw that although they appear to be simply standing there, they are actually constantly, consistently and dependably working, breathing, processing, creating.
My physical body is just like a plant or tree. All I have to do is support it to do what it does. For me today, that involved slowing down and bringing myself out of my mind, eating less (stopping when I am satisfied and not over consuming), drinking lots of water, getting some exercise, and resting well. Basically making decisions based on what is best for my body, instead of what I want or desire. Living the word physical involves decisions and actions based on the needs of the physical, not the wants and desires of the mind.
Check out this blog on living words:
"Furthermore, within that – everyone has different definitions of, for example what it means to be disciplined, to have drive, to be motivated, to express passion, to work with meticulous precision etc. and together with that definition there is a particular “experience” attached to it, as an energy. In this, the actual-living of/as the words discipline, drive, motivation, direction, passion, precision, specificity becomes lost, because an idea/perception/belief is created/generated of such aspects/expressions/attributes/traits within the context of energy and pictures and then the ‘chase / becoming’ of it – either through, in and as fantasies or reality becomes about the “experience” of the words and not the actual LIVING, BEING and DOING of/as the words as Self."
And, this recording on redefining and living the word 'Physical':
Redefining Physical - The Crucifixion of Jesus - Part 109:
"What is the physical, and how exactly does it support us within our process? How is the physical reality currently being misunderstood and what has the consequence been?
In this recording, discover why the physical is the key to real and lasting change and why the relationship and definition we currently have with the physical and our bodies has been getting in the way of practically birthing ourselves as life here in the physical."