body as the very present (a reading)

Photo by Jakayla Toney on Unsplash

Did you know that you can study the body by taking the time,

by making notes?

Do you know you can begin to regulate? Do you know that no one knows your body more? So, with all this in mind,

imagine you paid attention. This is a lifetime of learning. Imagine you knew how best to nourish your mind

(the place where your future is made.) Imagine you gave your body more of the things that it needs to flourish. Imagine you knew more about what to keep and what to let go of. This is a lifetime of learning. Imagine you started to notice and really learn your body;

the way that we learn the things that we love? What if you changed some of your questioning?

Not what do I think about this, but

what do I feel?

Not what must I do about this, but

where might I begin to find myself?

What are the sensations happening in your body?

In what situations do they come about? Where is the truth showing up

over and over and over again? When do you recede, and where do you contract? When do you expand and make the most of yourself?

Not why, but

where does it hurt? Furthermore,

what do you continue to put in your body that continues to harm your body? How much can a body take? How are you masking the truth of your body

over and over and over again? How are you blocking your messages?

Could you be more of a friend to yourself?

When the feeling comes,

when the discomfort is there,

how does it feel to sit inside it? Where is the thing that hurts?

Before we know why

we have to locate it. Before we begin to look for the solution/fix/release, we have

to locate it.

Where was the pattern formed? Where does the pattern begin? What are you repeating

over and over and over

again? Where is the disconnect? What is this tightening, this stitch, this ache, this will not go away, this breathlessness, this stiffening? Where is the thing, and how might you begin

to channel it elsewhere?

The difference between anxiety and excitement is you. Your perception, your projections, your distrust. You. You need new things.

We need new tools, new ways of working it through. We need new pathways from our memories to here. We need new systems, new responses to the things that were and are

and are no more.

The first thing to do is to feel.