Month: November 2009

“[The body is] a marvelous machine … a chemical laboratory, a powerhouse. Every movement, voluntary or involuntary, full of secrets and marvels!” ~ Theodor Herzl

I’ve been thinking about bodies today – not really a surprise given what we do around here…

Our bodies are amazing… really, truly, awesomely, stunning… and we take them for granted every single day.

Think about the millions of processes that go into something as simple as taking a bite of food… first, you have to see where the plate is; then you have to use an astonishing amount of eye hand coordination to actually get a bite on the fork.  Next, all kinds of muscles have to work in congress to lift the fork while muscle memory helps you unerringly find your mouth without the benefit of sight.  Finally, there’s the whole startling miracle of transforming a foreign substance into fuel for this unbelievably sophisticated machine.

And it all works so well that most three year olds have this sequence down pat… don’t get me started on the miracles that are throwing and catching a ball, driving a car, climbing the stairs, never mind breathing, growing, and thinking or, for that matter, tasting, smelling, touching, seeing, hearing, and sensing!

We do all these things unconsciously every single day… we actually physically experience the truly miraculous on an ongoing basis, and it’s so common place we never stop to wonder at the blessing of it all.

There’s a lot of talk in some religions – or, more truthfully, in the practice of some religions – about the evils of the body.  To be physical is to sin, while to be disassociated from the corporeal is holy…

I wonder about the logic of this.

If it is true that there is some all knowing force in the Universe who is not only the embodiment of good as many claim, but is also incapable of making mistakes then doesn’t it follow that we, as this Force’s creations, have bodies for a reason?

That it is part of the divine plan that we should experience the world from an embodied view point?

That we feel pleasure – yes, ALL kinds of pleasure – because we’re supposed to?

Otherwise, wouldn’t we be blowing around in the breeze, like so many spiritual jelly fish??

We have been given such a gift; we have been blessed with so much… it’s humbling and breathtaking when you stop to think about it.

“If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred” ~Walt Whitman

(* “I sing the body electric” ~ Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass)

“Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough.” ~Gail Sheehy

I’m late posting today and kind of beating myself up for it.  When we decided that HHP should have a blog, I created a picture for myself of being a part of people’s mornings, of being that perfect emotional biscotti to go with your mid morning cup of coffee at the office.  Clearly, since it’s now 5:10 pm, and I’m about to go back into session, today I have failed rather miserably in this goal.

I have a confession… I’m a perfectionist – actually, I like to say, stealing from my dad, that I’m a recovering perfectionist.  This means that I’m aware that, as a big picture person, I have the ability to see how things should be, but that, as a logical being, I also understand that sometimes (often times, really) I have to let myself off the hook at “good enough.”

Kevin Sullivan, a counselor and Director of Academic Support in the Office of First Year Programs at the University of Connecticut, has developed a concept he calls “The Perfection of Effort” as a replacement for our perfectionism.   Hind sight is indeed 20/20, and those of us with perfectionist tendencies can look back at something we’ve created and kick ourselves for not having reached the pinnacle of “what could have been.”  Perfection of Effort asks us to look at what we wanted to accomplish in light of how much time, energy, resources, and information we had going into the project.  If we can honestly say, given limitations in any of these areas (and there are always some,) that we did the best job we could, we must not only forgive ourselves, but take pride in what we’ve created under the circumstances.

So I’m going to take pride in the fact that, despite having a very hectic schedule today, I remained true to my commitment to post something upbeat and hopefully illuminating every day… and also that I’ve turned something that I was not happy with myself about into a positive – who knows if I hadn’t been berating myself for not posting sooner if I would have gotten to share “The Perfection of Effort?!”

There’s always a silver lining… : )

“Pleasure, or slow eating, is about savoring every bite that you take. And, so, that it’s really enjoying the food, really making it a holistic experience.” ~ Lisa Dorfman

I’m sitting on the patio of Starbucks, savoring what I hope will not be the last sunny day of the fall.   I’ve got a book in my lap, but I’m not really reading.  Instead I’m basking in the brightness, watching people go by, slowly sipping my soy chai latte, following a last lingering leaf as it surrenders to the inevitable and makes its dancing, spiraling way to the ground…

Savoring… sssssssaaaaaavooooooooriiiiiiiingggggg…. onomatopoeic – it sounds like what it means….mmmmm

I love days like this – long slow days with no “have-to’s.”  And it took an acting assignment to wake me up to just how much I need them.

It was a simple exercise.  (I’m not even sure that any of us understood what the point was.)  The teacher set a metronome and we had to enter the room, complete a chore, and leave – all to the beat.  We were each given the opportunity to experience three different rhythms and then we compared notes.

I was shocked to discover that I was the only one in the room who preferred the most leisurely pace.  I thought it was both odd and ironic that I should be the one who found slow so pleasurable.  I walked fast; I talked fast; I was always on the go – driving myself harder and further.  And yet it was clear to me on a body level that the pace that allowed me to savor was what felt best.

Over the ensuing years, I have come to understand that it is partially because I can move so quickly and be so driven that I enjoy operating at an unhurried pace.  I like to be forced to slow down, to linger over a task, to really be in my body and in an experience, to enjoy all the various sensations that come when I have enough time to actually notice them.

And today, I’m not alone.  There’s a whole “slow movement” happening – slow meals, slow sex, even slow education – in reaction to the often frenetic, over committed, overly “plugged in” lifestyle that has become the American “norm.”

Research shows that, by slowing down, by actively choosing to do less with more consciousness, we not only lower our stress levels, but our lives take on more meaning.  We have more opportunity to really connect with people we care about -as opposed to the fast food version that is a facebook status update, or a text message limited to 160 characters.  We also have the chance to actually enjoy our activities instead of gobbling them down, swallowing without ever really tasting.  Sure, we do less, but we take greater pleasure.

It’s a radical notion.  It means stepping out of the rat race, letting the “Joneses” speed on ahead.  It means limiting the number of experiences we might have, a notion many of us dislike intensely, fearing that in choosing less we might be missing out on “THE” experience… it’s a risk.

But perhaps in surrendering volume, we gain in relationship, presence, depth, and, ultimately, in Joy.  Maybe, just maybe, we must concede the battle to win the war.

“Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.” ~Wayne Dyer

“A man who sees action in inaction and inaction in action has understanding among men and discipline in all action he performs.” ~ Bhagavad Gita

I learned one of the most important lessons in my life from a seagull… I know – how ‘70’s of me… right?!

It was one of those amazing, endless Chicago summers and I was in the depths of transition– break up, job change, living on my own for the first time – a triple whammy of change that left me exhausted.

But I couldn’t sleep – noooo, not in my brand new apartment, not in the beautiful new bed I had bought to celebrate my independence, not inside anywhere.  Part of this may well have been that I have one of those mothers who would never let you stay inside on a beautiful day – and all the days were beautiful that summer.

So, in my free time, I took to sleeping on the beach (somehow this was allowed… mom never did care what you did as long as it was OUTSIDE)

It was really windy that day – windy enough that I felt a bit like I was getting sandblasted – but I couldn’t not go to the beach.  I’d been there awhile when I rolled over to brush the drifting dunes off my blanket – and that’s when I saw them.

Over head, there was an entire flock of seagulls.  The birds were flapping like crazy, trying to fly into the wind, but the wind was strong enough that they weren’t getting anywhere – all that motion, energy, and effort – all to stay in one place…

Directly

Over

My

Head

(crap)

(literally)

So, now I’m REALLY tuned in and awake… in fact, nothing on the beach was more interesting to me than those seagulls – it was almost as if the birds were in Technicolor and everything else had faded to gray…  and as I peered at them intently, one bird, at the very back of the V stopped flapping.

Just Stopped.

I watched as the air currents took this lone seagull and shot her like an arrow on a course perpendicular to where all the rest of the birds were trying to get.  She took off so fast that she was almost out of sight within a breath.

And then, at the very last moment before she disappeared, I watched my bird, still not flapping, change direction again.  The wind button-hooked her around on a right angle to the rest of the flock, and before I knew it, she had landed gracefully on the pillar that all those other birds were trying to reach.

And I GOT it.

• Sometimes, the shortest distance between two points is NOT a straight line.

• Sometimes, what seems like a detour is really a shortcut.

• Sometimes, no matter how much effort we put in, we’re just not going to get there by doing what we’re doing.

• Sometimes, the best thing we can do is surrender, and let the winds (or the waters or whatever) of Fate (or the Universe, or God, or whoever) take us where we’re meant to go, as opposed to where we think we should.

• Sometimes, it’s ok to go along for the ride instead of insisting upon steering.

• Sometimes, we really don’t know what’s best for us, and in those moments it’s ok to not do anything, but instead to wait until the next right action is clear to us.

Sometimes, it’s good to be reminded.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.” ~ Lao Tzu

(* “I dream of wayward gulls…” ~ William F. Claire)

“Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

We’ve been talking here in the HHP offices this morning – not just about the daily ins and outs of the business or the things you might expect us to discuss, i.e. energy medicine, manifesting, healing, the Bears –  but on subjects ranging from emotions & neural pathways to the death penalty & the overall failure of the penal system.

The nice thing, from my perspective anyway, is that this isn’t unusual.  We are fortunate to have friendly discourse on a wide range of subjects as part of our daily routine.  We talk about what’s going on politically, the news of the day, what we’ve been reading, ideas that have struck us.  We discuss, debate, springboard off each other’s thoughts, weigh in with our own knowledge & critical thinking.

Pondering ideas on our own can lead to some amazing leaps of understanding, and having the space to share that understanding, and grow from others’ response and viewpoint can both deepen and broaden our learning.  But maybe more importantly, it gives us a place to practice our discernment and cements us as a community.

Frequently, I walk away from these impromptu “meetings of the mind” with a much greater clarity and appreciation for the depths and intricacies of whatever the subject.   On occasion, I leave gnashing my teeth over a clash with an opposing view point – but even these frustrations bear fruit both in helping me see my own thoughts more clearly and seeing a wider perspective.  Always, I have renewed appreciation for the people I work with – their intelligence, intuition, and our connection to each other that allows for meaningful conversation.  We are all teachers and students here – a “Sarah’s Circle” vs. a “Jacob’s Ladder” – and we both give and receive the blessing of joyous and generous intellect.

We’re going to have a formal meeting of the minds this Friday, November 13th, at 6:30 PM.  We’ll be discussing gender roles, relationships, and the perceived disconnect between men and women… should make for a nice, light evening!

; )

We’d love for you to come and gift us with your perspective, your critical thinking, your wondrous intelligence… what a blessing for us all!

“The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing.” ~ Sigmund Freud