The true you in 2022
It’s just as important to get resolved about what you won’t commit to this year, as it is to know what you will commit to.
More often than we’d like to admit, there are those things you swear up & down about that you’re committed to doing & yet you also find that you’re not taking any actions toward achieving them.
Happy holidays... & a "happy" new year?
I’m not quite sure if “happy” is apropos, because it just doesn’t seem to be fitting for the climate as of late; and yet I’m still wishing that for everyone nonetheless.
I think many are worn out over the last two years & for good reason. Many are feeling unmotivated, lacking morale & low on spirit. The way we’ve handled the virus has been unhealthy & it hasn’t necessarily been all that helpful (IMHO).
Truly accepting others for who they are can be painful
No, I’m not talking about the pseudo-spiritual kind of acceptance, where you know the “enlightened” answer of being accepting of all living things, while you manage & suppress your critical feelings of them.
Slow down to speed up
When looking to heal an injury of any kind, we must slow down & go back to basics in order to reclaim all the sensation & feeling in that area. We must mend the mind, body & emotional connection … we must learn to FEEL the connection, not just understand it.
I’ve moved
I’ve heard that moving one's home is stressful, but as I’ve been growing older & “wiser,” I now realize why.
Moving, regardless of what that may look like, causes upheaval. Our comforts are being moved, as are our routines.
Not only that, but it also opens up our emotions in ways that we may not ever have suspected would surface.
Dream vs. Fantasy
We cannot go back to who we once were, we can only look to create that which we commit to each day moving forward.
One cannot recapture a lost youth, but we can seek to regain a sense of innocence by healing past trauma.
We also cannot go back to an adolescence where we once thought we were confident, bold or self-assured, for example.
Fuh-ker-ry
It might be wise to start dealing with a bigger issue that people aren’t paying very close attention to … the fear they’ve cleverly displaced onto people like the unva₵₵inated. They’re not your problem, your lack of connection & introspection into your own unhealed trauma, mortality & existential fear is though.
You're not being persistent, you're obsessing; and no, they aren't the same thing.
Obsessive vs. Persistent is a “Core Confusion” - (whereby something looks like something, but it’s really something else & has an entirely different effect.)
Persistence is determined to achieve a goal of some kind by any means necessary.
My healing journey through bodywork
Twenty years ago, I started working with my first teacher; I was 29. She was mild-tempered, extremely chill & with a tall-ish but petite build … but make no mistake about it, her bodywork was vicious. On more then one occasion, I left with the hinges of my jaw swollen & looking like a pit bull ... on those days my dinner consisted of a protein shake, enjoyed with a straw.
Healing trauma through bodywork
What does it feel like? Bodywork aimed at deep healing feels like an adventurous process where you’re reconnecting with numb, tight, disconnected, restricted & painful parts of your body. It aims to help you return to suppleness within your muscles, limberness to your joints & the biggest connection coming from all the feelings you’ve been storing inside as they come pouring out.
Why does it have to hurt?
The kind of therapeutic bodywork that I do is not for everyone. It’s very specialized & by design, it’s always a challenge. No matter if it’s your first time or you’ve had hundreds of sessions like myself, one can always expect to be challenged just beyond their comfort zone - that’s where the transformation occurs.
Feeling discomfort from the bodywork helps connect you with other kinds of pain you’ve long since forgotten about.
The benefits of criticism
⚡️Just because we’re getting criticized, doesn’t mean the information is correct. Relax yourself & try to to hear what’s underneath the criticism; it might just have to do with their own struggle.
⚡️Regardless if it’s true or not, become bulletproof & learn to be able to hear whatever it is regardless if it’s true or not.
Love is an interruption
“Love is an interruption in the direction you thought you were headed.”
Since meeting my lady & being blind-sided by love during quarantine, part of my healing path has been to let go of the vision for having a family that I held for much of my life & to celebrate the life I didn’t expect. This came as a surprise, but it also brought some clarity.
Oh, the noise
There are so many different kinds of noise.
There’s the physical noise of traffic, cars honking, people yelling & talking on cell phones.
There’s also the friends & family noise, constantly chirping at how we should & should not be & what we should & should not do with our lives.
Let’s not forget about the Covid-19 & political noise.
Freedom vs. Survival
Life can sometimes be difficult to navigate and we definitely live in a crazy world. One thing that has helped me, and might make finding your way easier for you, is thinking about a construct of "freedom" vs. "survival."
Imagine it as being on one side of a train track versus the other. One moment you’re in freedom: making decisions and moving along your merry way.
Don't judge
Don't judge your communications solely based on how it feels, base it off of whether you're engendering others' support or repelling it. Ask for feedback from credible sources if you can't tell the difference.
Many people judge whether they are communicating effectively based on whether it feels good or not.
This is a terrible idea…
The fear fallout
We’ve been saturated in the reporting of fear for 18 months; and despite our viewpoints on COVID-19, or the varying fear level each of us may have about it, everyone was connected to it.
This time period pushed people to connect with deeper fears within themselves that go far beyond the shutdown. Each of us had our own individual portal through which we were forced to face our fears.
Into the wild we go
Now that COVID-19 restrictions of all kinds are being lifted, how do we navigate integrating back into this new wild world?
The first thing to do, is to see the climate we are entering back into clearly.
An entertaining example of what we’re dealing with would be NBA basketball.
Terrain Theory
“If the Germ theory of disease were true, there’d be no one living to believe it.” - B.J. Palmer, the creator of Chiropractic.
Now, more than ever, the way this country thinks about health & healing needs a radical transformation.
Germs, microorganisms & cancer are not enemies to be fought against ...
The trenches
The young daughter of my first teacher was asked “what do your mom & Harold do in those sessions?” To which she responded, “Oh, they figure out life together - he cries, yells & laughs a lot.” ... 20 years later, not much has changed, other than now I’m doing it with others. Life is good.
I thrive in the player/coach construct; I don’t know any other way to live ... nor would I want to.