I have lately noticed that my body shares with me a sense of relief and light, happy energy when I eat raw fruits or veggies. And sometimes when I eat cooked food, even if it's very healthy home-made, my body has been responding with a depressed energy. So I’ve been listening and respecting... which is to say, I’ve been aligning my actions with what I’ve heard by factoring a good deal more raw meals into my days. And I feel happy and peaceful in friendship with myself, because I’m choosing NOT to act like a jerk by eating emotionally at the expense of causing conflict and detriment to my body.
By contrast...
My housemate, who does not drink very much water... ever... and who exhibits sOMe signs of chronic dehydration, last night declared something I never hear him say... “I’m thirsty!”
He had eaten corn chips with salsa for dinner, and I put two and two together that his body wanted water to deal with all those corn chips. I watched him walk into the kitchen, open the fridge, and pull out two strawberries.
I queried, “You're thirsty, but you're not going to drink anything?”
He replied, “I don’t want to get up in the night; so I'm getting the water from these.” He held up the remains of a strawberry.
I was sitting on the couch, finishing a huge salad, feeling so peaceful in giving my body exactly what it asked for. And seeing my housemate hear his body's cry for water (I mean, this guy NEVER gets thirsty, so it HAD to be a serious need!) and watching him essentially refuse to listen, made me sad. I mean, he did sOMething; but really he was not listening. He decided on handling his body's request with “a better idea” that didn't really get the job done. So I spoke up.
“Seriously? Your body is ASking you for water, and you're not going to drink any?! You just ate all those dry, salty corn chips, and your body is telling you it needs water to process the stuff!”
This landed. My housemate’s body language has a way of softening whenever he feels truth, and I saw this softening as he lifted his index finger to say without words: you’ve got a point there. He then proceeded on a slow, distracted mission to find his water bottle. I didn't know why he didn't just get a fresh glass of well water from the faucet; but hey, whatever... I didn't want to micromanage, so I let him be.
The contrast between our approaches left me feeling deeply in that moment about the phenomenon of self-respect and how it could accelerate or hinder our blossoming into health, peace, and abundance depending upon what the self is to which we find ourselves listening and giving respect. Are we listening to a voice that emerges from our core in alignment with the creative, harmonious energy of Love? Or are we listening to the heady, emotional voice of our ego structure... our personalized library of beliefs that we developed to help us survive in a world without Love in it?
My housemate’s ego structure tells him a lot of things about how drinking water is uncomfortable, and he listens to that... stubbornly. He has a deep-rooted pattern of faith in lack and scarcity, and to him it is almost like a game to get by with as little as possible. Like I said, when he feels the energy of truth, he softens. His ego is humbled and he feels grateful; it’s always beautiful to see. But so many moments of so many days, he’s caught up in an old familiar habit of figuring out how to be comfortable with doing, using, and giving as little as he can get away with... and getting away with it gives him glee.
I care for him deeply, and I see how this ego pattern chokes off the flow of Love energy that could manifest in his life IF he let it. I mean, he’s a nice guy; it's not about how he treats other people. It’s more so how he treats himself... the way his perspective and attitude chokes him off from receiving Love’s gifts of grace in his being and his life experience. My heart goes out to him, and I support him every way I can. But I can’t control him... Love does not control. I can only hold the abundance Love offers in MY heart FOR him, and be present with him in each moment that we share.
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In every moment that we act, we are listening to one of two voices in order to come up with what that action is. The conviction we have in taking the action, is commensurate with our trust in what this voice is saying in that moment. It's always easy for us to trust the voice of our ego, because we built our personal ego structure as a collection of beliefs that we trust. The voice of spirit, on the other hand, always has something completely new and fresh to say, arising straight out of the unknown in the now. Well... when spirit speaks for the body, it may say things that are pretty common sense and that some people agree with from their ego structure... because in having a body for many years, some basic needs of body maintenance become familiar. But as you can see from this... Login as member to read the whole explication