Body Wisdom

Wow! How do the days get so packed full of chores and meeting people and working and living and loving and everything else on top! When am I supposed to get time to listen to God?

We are all so busy doing our daily stuff and added to this is the fact that you can almost take hold of the anxiety in the air by the handful, just because we are approaching Christmas. Yes, it is a holy day for me and thousands of others all over the world but, beside the overwhelming heat in Perth WA these last few days, there is also the extra engagements, extra shopping, extra family connections to attend to, extra hours to work to get the extra money needed to spend on all the extra things you don't really need...and the list goes on. I'm having a panic attack just typing this! All this hype is difficult to avoid and I personally need sound coping mechanisms to manage my days better and get the Christmas tree assembled!

One of the practices I'm going to try out is simply standing back from myself and just 'noticing' how I am being. Asking myself, how am I in this moment? What do I feel in my body? What does my body want? These are simple questions with often profound answers. My shoulders can be up around my ears, it's 3pm and I've had no lunch and I'm running late for my next appointment for example.

So I try to take a deep breath. Join me now. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and as you breathe out make a loud sighing sound and drop your shoulders. I feel better already!
It is this noticing or what I call 'listening' to the wisdom of my body, that keeps me connected to myself, my being and to God. I doubt God is ever rushing frantically from here to there. He is in the stillness and the quiet. This is why meditation is so good for us, and that also is probably why it is so hard to do!

I have found that starting off with as little as 5 mins a day has made it so much easiar to return to. I'm now up to 10 mins. I'll eventually work towards 20 min and if I'm a real pro I'll probably get up to an hour session. For now I am just counting my breaths. When I get to 10, I start again. I light a candle to remind me of God or Christ's precense and I have a small treasure placed by the lighted candle. Something that has meaning for me. Currently it is a small shell I found on the beach. It's color is white on the inside and a beautful soft 'shell' pink on the outside. It strikes me as precious and delicate, exquisite and natural. It appears fragile but it is strong and it is a reminder to me of the sensitivity and love of my creator God.

Right now I am 'noticing' that it is raining hard and loud outside, possibly hailstone and my neck and shoulders are getting very stiff so I am going to get off the computer and do some some housework....or maybe do some painting. I will leave you with a couple of photos I took at the beach when the sun was setting the other day. I have about 60 shots as it kept changing every 5 seconds.
I'm thinking of painting a dramatic series of clouds for my next art exhibition. Of course it has been done before, but mine will be different. Before I start though, I will need to learn a few cloud painting techniques from my artist friends. Can't wait!