Meditation for March 4th, 2016
Listening to our Bodies
Being in touch with our bodies is a great way to stay healthy. Knowing when our bodies needs food, sleep, exercise, love and those scary times that we need to address our health. Sometimes just being in touch with our bodies helps us get ahead of a serious illness or disease before it does too much damage. When we are unhealthy, we can forget what feeling good feels like, so when our body starts to break down we won’t know the difference.
I remember going through my own health issue. I sat down at meditated and really listened to my body. It would say, “YOU HAVE CANCER! YOU HAVE CANCER!” and I would say, “I think I must be hungry, time to eat some authentic Italian food at a restaurant named Noodles.” The next day I’m in the shower lathering the soaps all over my body and really feeling every nook and cranny with my crusty washcloth when my body yells, “YOU HAVE CANCER! YOU HAVE CANCER!” and I say, “I think tonight I’m going to treat myself right with some butter and that fabulous musician Bruce Cockburn when I make love to myself.” Later I feel out of breath and dizzy from washing two dishes and my body yells, “YOU HAVE CANCER! YOU HAVE CANCER!” and I say to myself, “Self, I think I need to wear more flannels because I think they really look great on me and they hide this goddamn gut that my old man body is growing. Maybe I’ll try bringing back the trucker hat into my repertoire…”
The point is, I wasn’t listening. I was talking over my body. I could hear the hunger growls and the gurgles of a might-be-too-late dookie, but I sure did not hear the cancers. Maybe I was in denial or maybe I wasn’t really listening. You know, REALLY listening. Not with ears, but with my soul. Soul ears.
We listen to what our bodies say and we smell what our bodies excrete and we watch what comes out of us as much as what we put in. We stare down into the bowl to see our stools and what kind they are. We pay attention to the consistency, the smell, the size and how much. Did we have to wipe a bunch of times and do we feel like we still have to go even though we are still standing there staring into the murky waters. All of this is part of being in touch with our bodies.
As I said last month, our bodies are our temples that house our souls. We are like those giant robots in Pacific Rim that I never saw and our souls are like two cool people trying to operate a humongous fighting machine against prehistoric gargantuan creatures from deep in the ocean that have surfaced to reek havoc on the western seaboard. If we were those pilots (are they called pilots? Again, I didn’t see the movie) we would notice odd noises coming out of our robots joints or a bunk, bunk, bunk sound coming from the rear engine or maybe the booster throttle is sticking (Again, did not see the movie, so a little behind on the technology), and bring it back to the garage for repairs. Maybe a giant WD-40 spritz to the armpit? We need to have that same focus on our own bodies.
Prayer
Panacea,
I am lying here awake,
listening to my body.
As I hear something,
I turn to my phone and look it up on WEB MD.
Turns out I have:
Appendicitis,
Cholecystitis,
Esophageal Cancer,
Esophageal Spasm,
Esophageal Varices,
Esophagitis,
GERD,
Gallstones,
Pancreatis,
Lactose Intolerance,
Diverticulis,
Gluten Intolerance,
Endometriosis,
Thyroid,
Fucking Parasites, Man!
Ulcers,
Too much sugarless gum?!?!?
Stress! I don’t stress! I don’t! Why is this website saying I have stress?!? I’m not fucking stressed! Leave me alone! Answer me!
Food Poisoning – I did sneak into Taco Bell and swallow three chalupas in 2 seconds flat.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease,
Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
A bunch of other kinds of cancers,
or just gas.
Whatever it is,
please cure me,
or I’m going to die before the sun comes up from whatever I have from the above list.
Craft
If you do hear or feel something within your body that makes you think that maybe something serious is going on, don’t go to the doctor. What you want to do is look up the symptoms on the smartest doctor of all time, the Internet. If you can really listen to your body then you should be able to pick out the illness that you actually have. Now the Internet also has millions of articles depicting ancient medicines from the times when people only lived to be 35, but the herbal remedies and ritual cures must be legit. Pick out three to five of those cures and start applying them. Even if you’re not sure, post about how the remedies worked likes a charm. Look down at people who use modern medicine for their health care. Namaste.
Goal
Being a better human is a three-part job: mental, spiritual and physical. When our bodies are ignored or sick we have a hard time with the mental and spiritual part. God doesn’t like a sickie; so make sure you are healthy before asking for anything from Him. Learn all the noises your body makes and get used to what is normal so that you can tell when something is off.