Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

The mindfulness challenge this week shifts from the silly and the funny and the specific to a more somber and quite profound assignment.  The invitation is to be kind to your body.  Before I explain how I suggest that you accomplish this task, let me explain the idea behind being kind to our body.

When symptoms flare we can very easily get very angry and upset at our body, even to the point of wanting to occupy another body. These low-vibration thoughts are certainly not in our best and highest good and certainly not in our body’s best and highest good.  Let me explain the dynamic that is involved.  First a story.

When I was ten years old my father, mother and my two brothers took a brief two-week vacation to Daytona Beach, Florida.  I have quite vivid memories of this trip because driving down to Florida from Atlanta my father was in a particularly ornery and mean mood.  Talking to my mother and ignoring the fact that the three children were in back seat of the car, he ranted and raved about how he wished he had never had children. They were too much trouble. They were a huge expense. They were a pain in the ass.  This went on and on throughout our entire trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Daytona, Florida.  Of course my brothers and I felt absolutely awful.

Using this experience as a template we will simply make a short transformation.  Think about the possibility that instead of my whole self being present in the car, only my body occupies the back seat of the car. The words from my father inn the front seat are actually words I am saying to my body which occupies the back seat of the car. In effect, I am saying cruel things to my own body.

Can you imagine how my body actually feels?  Absolutely horrible.  That certainly is not conducive to health, wellness and balance.

One more example – it’s important that you get the gist of what I’m talking about.  Imagine that your body is your loved pet, whether a dog, a cat, a horse, a parakeet or a hamster – a loved pet that was near and dear to you as a child, as a teenager, as a young adult or even now.  Imagine how that pet would feel if you begin to rant negative thoughts at them. Let me reiterate so you just get an idea of how horrible all of this really can be.  Just imagine you’ve got your loved pet on a leash and you have the following  conversation with them:

“You’re just not working very well.  I’m really very disappointed in you.  It seems day in and day out you have these awful problems.  I’m tired of dealing with this problem and quite frankly, I’d like to have another pet.  I’m just sick of it and I want this to be over with.  I want you to get well and I want you to do it quickly. I’m sick and tired of having look at you.”

Now, put yourself in the position of the pet.  The pet obviously is going to feel pretty horrible.  Most pets really do understand what we say. But even if they do not understand the cognitive meaning of these words they will most  certainly feel the energetic surge of negativity.

Well, our bodies are our only bodies. We may be able to get another pet but the body we occupy is all we get. There is no body exchange store. We can’t exchange our body for another one. If we insist on treating it with just these types of accusations and this horrible negativity, our body is not going to respond very well at all.

The challenge this week is to shift our orientation.  Of course our negative thoughts come from an unconscious place and of course they tend to be habitual.  We tend to basically bang up on our bodies because they are not working the way we would prefer them to work.

This week let’s shift that energy to an energy or kindness toward our body.  In the morning when you get up and in the evening before you go to bed, I have an invitation to you.  Say to your body,

May you be free from discomfort. 
May you be at ease. 
May you come into a full balance. 
May you be healthy. 
May you be centered.
May you be balanced. 
May you be calm and at ease. 
Thank you for always being there for me. 
Thank you for all that you do for me. 

Of course what you say to your body will come from your heart and will not necessarily reflect the words that I just used.  It’s probably sufficient when you see yourself in the mirror in the morning and when you see yourself in the mirror in the evening, to simply look and with an open heart say,

“Thank you for all that you do for me.” 

Be kind to your body this week when you get up and when you go to bed and at any other time during the day––send that loving energy to the one that needs it the most right now.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

The mindfulness challenge this week is to slow everything down.  Yes, this will take more time. I admit this is a consequence of the mindfulness challenge this week.  While this week’s challenge will take more time than is the custom, slowing every task down will have a profound impact on your stress level. Try it. You will like it.

What do I mean when I say, “Slow it down?”  If you are chopping up red peppers for a dinner, when I say slow it down I mean chop up those red peppers slowly and mindfully.  If you are walking from the kitchen to the living room, when I say slow it down I mean to take each step one by one with mindful consciousness, planting one foot after the other using willful intention.

Slow down each and every task that you initiate this week – whatever the task entails – from opening up a car door and getting in, to simply going to the telephone and picking it up to answer a call.

Many individuals who confront neurological challenges have a tendency to push up against any and all tasks. This persistent forcing and pushing fertilizes stress in the body. Because the nature of neurological challenges means that you must some how slow down activities, a war is declared against the enemy of getting tasks done efficiently and effortlessly. If we can’t get it done in a timely fashion, just push through it by God.  This activates stress levels and incites symptoms.

Reverse that tendency.  End that battle now. It is only making the symptoms worse because it feeds your stress level.

Slow down each and every activity.  Enjoy and relish what it means to open up the door to your car, what it means to walk from the kitchen to the living room, what it means to actually cut a red pepper.

To succeed with the challenge to slow tasks down you must plan ahead.  Give yourself at least twice if not three times as much time to accomplish each task. If you are a person who tends to plan out each day, if you are a person who makes a list of activities that must be accomplished, reduce the length of that list in half.  Give yourself plenty of time to accomplish each and every task that you have chosen to engage in.

Notice the profound impact slowing down has on your stress level and be sure to notice what happens to your symptoms. Celebrate the miracle of what it means to be mindful with what you do and how you do it, moment to moment.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery