Twelve Drummers Drumming...
Reverb Prompt #12
December 12 – Body Integration This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?
I must confess that I have never really put much stock in "alive" moments. They seem largely a trick to me, when I let my ego get trapped in the notion that there are things that are just more "real". To use an example, a McDonald's burger is just as authentic as a locally made buffalo burger. You can argue that one is better than the other and by certain measures (such as environmental or aesthetic) one is a clear winner over the other. That doesn't change the fact that they are both real. Therefore, if I'm sitting down at my desk working on a spreadsheet or standing on the rocking cliffs of Bon Echo looking over its deep lake and seeing a thunderstorm in the distance, both are real. The challenge is to find "the good" in both moments and if you can't you need to figure out if you can remove either from your life or just accept it as part of what is you.
I'm getting a little sidetracked. I guess, I am skeptical that my body and mind are not one. They tend to spend most of their time together. I can understand finding moments of being "present". Filtering out everything around you in a focus that allows the task to be completed, the art to be enjoyed, the data to be puzzled, is a good skill to have. Yet 21st employment is abstract (i.e. working on spreadsheets) and doesn't require the body to the same extent, unless one counts typing. Most of my "body/mind" activities that would mean the description are complicated tasks, like cleaning or cooking. Exercise I find is either brain numbing or brain supercharging. As a random aside, I wish a device existed that could transcribe your thoughts while you exercise, I fear some of my best ideas come to me when I am hiking in the middle of nowhere.
In the end, there is more to a person than "perfect moments", there is you in your moments of weakness as well. I believe in personal change, just not the clear cutting method. Whatever journey you are on, your luggage goes with you. The disintegrated you is as much you as the integrated you, perhaps not as easy to look at, a relative that you are embarrassed to bring to parties.
Looking over this blog entry, apparently I have a chip on my shoulder about this. I am very passionate about the real and believe its worth defending. Taking a step back, I could answer this question in the way of sport, achieving excellence in some complete sporting event. This didn't come to mind as I'm not much of a sport person (likely the reason for this rambling post).
Anyways, thoughts expressed; I'm stopping myself now. :)
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