Mindfulness Challenge for the Week – Mindfulness Challenges

Healing Touch

Whether we currently experience the neurological symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease or not, we all have aches, pains and disturbances throughout our body from day to day:

A toe that aches today
A knee that is troublesome tomorrow
A shoulder that become tight tonight
An arm that emits pain over the weekend
A finger that happens to be painful next week.

There are many reactions that we have when our body sends out signals of discomfort. One of those reactions is to make a visit to the doctor who will prescribe medications or perhaps even surgery. That is one solution and it works well for some people. A second solution is to get furious at that part of your body that is sending out signals of angst. We can always fuss away at our body. We can always be angry at it because it is not doing for us what we want it to do in the moment.

There is a third response that I invite you to mindfully attend to this week. When you notice that your body is sending out some signal of discomfort, for example, a left knee that happens to ache or a right shoulder that happens to be somewhat painful, instead of going to the doctor – though that might be important and necessary – and instead of beating-up on your body, try a third strategy. Take one of your hands and place that hand on the place that is calling out to you for attention.

For example, if it is your left knee that happens to be troubling you today, place your left hand on that left knee. That is all you have to do, nothing else. Just place your hand on your left knee. If it is your right shoulder that is bothering you in the moment place your left hand on your right shoulder; just hold your hand up there.

Finally, and perhaps mostly helpful is when you’re going to sleep at night, do a scan of your body and ask yourself, what body parts happen to be calling out to you in the moment with some degree of distress. Do the same thing here. Place a hand over on that shoulder, that stomach, that hip, that thigh, or that knee. If it happens to be your foot you can obviously put yourself in a position where you can place your hand over your foot. Make it so that your are totally comfortable and you can actually go to sleep with your hand on that body part that is troubling you.

I emphasize, nothing else is required––no thoughts are needed of any type. Simply place your hand on the body part that is calling out for attention. It is called “healing touch.” No workshops are required. No special skills are necessary and it is not necessary to read any instructional books – just touch that place. Leave your hand there as long as you can. Apply healing touch whenever the occasion calls for it this week during the day, but especially as you’re going to sleep at night.

Try it. You will like it.

Robert

Declaration of Independence

My invitation for you this week is to sign and post a declaration of independence and to do so, if and only if it feels right. Many people, myself included, have throughout much of our life looked outside of our inner wisdom for answers. We have referred to the experts, persons in white coats or fancy suits or dresses, individuals with fancy initials beside their name, initials like PhD, MD, ND … You can list for yourself the assortment of initials that you have seen listed beside people’s names who you have sought consultation from. My own list fills up two sheets of paper. Because power was acceded to others, we, you, I and many others gave up our own sense of independence, our own ability to make decisions that are in our best and highest good.

Clearly it makes good sense to seek out advice from the experts. To see what people recommend is often a wise and smart course of action. Yet many of us, and I say again myself included, have many times wanted simply someone else to fix us, to make it all right. In so doing, we acceded our power, our inner wisdom––our ability to know what is right for us.

It is one thing to say that the body knows how to heal itself. That is certainly a mindful statement. It is also one thing to be sensitive to the signals that our body sends to us. Yet, it is also easy to slip out of that mindful space and to seek relief without checking in with our bodies; without asking whether or not this is in fact what our body truly needs in order to come back into balance and harmony.

Your body, my body, any body contains limitless wisdom. We have the power and the ability to know what is in our best interest. Becoming mindful of that wisdom is the key to recovery. Our body is the one and only resource that knows what is best for us.

My invitation then, only if it feels right, is to sign a declaration of independence.

Print it.
Sign it.
Post it.

Declare that you have the inner wisdom contained within your body to know what are the best and the right choices to make––the options that can help your body come back into full balance and harmony.

The Declaration of Independence follows. If it feels right, print it off, sign it and post it this week:

In the beginning, one cell was formed inside the womb of our mother that contained the wisdom of all that we are today. The wisdom of one is ten-billion times sevenfold today, as we are now equipped with a mind to organize our thoughts, a heart to evaluate them and a voice to express them. At this time and in this hour we declare our minds, hearts and voice to be independent of any and all control over the health and well-being of our bodies that we have blindly accepted in the past.

We acknowledge the miracle of life itself. We celebrate the ability of our body to rejuvenate itself despite any and all limitations that we may currently experience. We see the limitless possibility for manifesting any and all dreams for the future. We release any and all limitations for recovery we have imposed on ourselves. We assert our independent right to decide what actions are in our best and highest good.

We understand that the conditions which foster neurological imbalances are complex and multifaceted. We ask for and openly receive healing. We pledge from this day forward to listen to the wisdom of our body. We commit to take any and all actions that are required to bring our body back into balance. We agree to transform habits that have been making us ill. We declare independence from the oppressive and dehumanizing claims that recovery is not possible.

We accept full responsibility for the well-being of our own body. We realize it is not constructive to judge any particular treatment option to be superior to any other option or to criticize another person for the options they have chosen to pursue. We know that a therapy or a treatment which helps ourselves or another person may not necessarily be helpful to others. By affixing our signatures below, we join with others who honor the power of the body to heal as we restore, rejuvenate and regenerate the inner wisdom of our body to heal.

Affix your signature to the bottom of this statement. Post it in a public place in your house. Invite others to affix their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. Honor their decision to sign or not to sign.

By affixing your signature to this Declaration, you have become more mindful of the power of the body to heal itself.

Robert

Notice Sounds

Depending on our physiological make-up, our background and our genes each of us has a preference for how we take in information from the world. Some of us are visual. I’m raising my hands because that’s what I tend to do. We take in information through our eyes, through sights and through images. Whenever we enter into a new space we see what is there primarily. Noises are secondary and touch is tertiary.

Some of us however aren’t seers or visual people. Their nature is to be auditory. They take in information through their ears. They process information through sound. Finally, some people are kinesthetic which means that neither the visual or the auditory tends to have much punch. The primary sensory input for kinesthetic people is through touch. When anybody, any person, any entity, any living creature is touched, a wealth of information is conveyed to the person who is kinesthetic.

The mindfulness challenge today and this week is primarily for individuals who do not typically take information in through sound. Each and every day when you are in a safe space, when you are sitting down, turn off your visual senses and your kinesthetic senses, then activate your hearing senses. Take into your body everything that you hear, however loud or soft; however abrasive or however sweet to the soul and heart. It doesn’t matter what sounds you are hearing. Simply acknowledge them and hear them. Notice that the sounds come from many different places and sources. There are layers and layers on top of sounds once you begin to be attentive to them.

It’s even more complicated however – we don’t just hear sounds that are external to our body. There are also sounds that come deep within our body. Our body actually makes noise continuously. Our body makes noise all the time. Notice what noises your body might be making internally. Simply hear and acknowledge those noises.

Finally, there is a sound that many people also hear; it is almost as though there is a voice outside of them talking with them, consoling them, giving them advice. I have a very well-known songwriter friend who tells that all of her songs are heard by her before she actually writes them. Where does that sound come from? Where does that music come from? She says she has no idea. It simply happens to be a gift that has been given to her from somewhere far, far away.

The invitation however doesn’t have to do with these sounds that come from some place other than physical. Focus your attention on all physical sources of sounds whether they are external to you or internal in the sense of sounds that your body actually emits.

I now have a companion invitation that will fascinate all of you whether you happen to be kinesthetic, visual or auditory. As you are in bed and about ready to go to sleep, I invite you to cup both of your ears with your hands and listen to what you hear – to what sounds your body is making. Do it every night. Do it for at least a couple of minutes and if you are so motivated, keep your hands cupped for at least 10 minutes. Place your hands in a comfortable position so you don’t have to hold them up – literally rest them on the pillow, cup and enjoy.

May you treasure each and every sound bite that you hear continuously throughout the week. Be sure that when you turn your full attention and focus to sounds that you are in a safe place, that you are seated and that you are not required to perform any particular duty or have any particular responsibility. It’s important not to activate those new neural pathways if you are doing driving or operating heavy machinery, or doing anything that might result in injury.

May you delight in listening to sounds all week long. Some of you of course take in sounds as a matter of routine, so this challenge won’t be new to you, but cupping your hands and listening to your body will. Enjoy and we’ll talk more about the deeper meaning of listening to the sounds in a few days.

Robert