A yoga instructor once pointed out to me the beauty in being able to separate what your mind is telling you versus what your body is vocalizing. For example, when we are moving through a flow or holding a posture and lighting a fire within our body, all we want to do is rest. But as soon as we are holding pigeon pose a moment too long we are then found craving movement. Our mind seeks stillness and our body seeks movement. Being able to let go of what our mind is trying to convince our body it needs can be outrageously satisfying. I think this is applicable in a variety of aspects.
I am and always have been a “busy body”. Constantly occupying my mind with anything and everything except for what it needs. This characteristic has recently grown increasingly evident within my life that simply forcing myself to sit here right now and articulate my thoughts can be challenging. Habitually focusing on the next task at hand whether that be ending a busy work day by scurrying off to a fitness class, catching up with a friend over brunch in between errands, making weekend plans around a family dinner, planning and researching mini getaway trips with my boyfriend while at my sibling’s sports game, or even arranging my day around when I could pencil in an hour for Sunday mass, I almost never allow time for myself to sit alone and think. Without a fail I find something to fill up my schedule, always. I had never attempted to train my mind to pause and focus on what I truly need, until now.
It is ironic because so many of my friends know that I always express my desire to go “off-the-grid” to spend some time unbothered alone time and here I am. Here we all are, with no plans and no place to jet off to and I thought it would be painful. Now more than ever I am trying to truly separate my mind and listen to my body which has required A LOT of soul searching. That is when I realized that it is exactly what I have been yearning for this entire time. Pulling my attention inwards and towards my soul to discover who I am when the noise goes away. This has always been uncomfortable for me to think about. Our soul is what stays with us and when we really truly look inward we may discover some things that we are not proud of. Through the years I have tried my hardest to stay close to my faith and a realization I have had is that when we look inwards we need to focus on how we are feeling without judging ourselves. This is when we will be able to see what we want our true self and our soul to look like. I have been able to focus on this by breaking from my reality and being reminded that when we leave this world it is our soul that lingers. So will we be disappointed when that is what we have at the end of the day? Or can we allow ourselves to tune in to our deep identity and let it guide us to what we need? Don’t be afraid to soul search and listen inward instead of being drown out by the influences and misconceived notions we carry within our mind. Listening inward will create a lot less overthinking and as soon as we find the beauty in separating the contradictive thoughts from what our body and soul necessitate, the weight of the world will seem a lot lighter.
I could go on and on about this idea as it has stimulated so much thought and lifestyle change for me recently. Mostly I would like to point out the fact that it is exceedingly important to surround yourself with beautiful souls that align with the vision of our own. I am beyond grateful for both Kristen and Dani and the inspiration and heart opening they have provided me throughout the past eight (almost nine) years of friendship. A quick thank you to both of them for sharing a little more of what we all need; I love you both, please continue to make this world a brighter place!!
