As you already know, your emotions and thoughts affect your physical body. In the same way, your physical body affects your emotions and thoughts. Knowing this well, you can actually change your attitude rather quickly if needed.
Faking your way?
Some would argue that being able to manipulate one’s emotions and states would not be “real”; it would be fake and superficial; it would not be who you are.
In some sense I totally agree with this perspective, because I see lots of people forcing themselves to “be happy” when they truly are not.
But the idea stated at the beginning of this post is not about repressing oneself but about how you can be more aware of yourself and your surroundings. How can you be more in control instead of always falling victim to your own 3-year-old-reactions?
Think about it: WHY is all the stuff you have learned from your family, schools, books etc. MORE authentic than anything else you could have learned? What you think you are is mostly a bunch of learned patterns and habits anyway. Is being authentic a state you inhabit when you stick to your original, taught mostly by your parents, patterns?
I mean, maybe your habits are really not so good? Maybe you can learn better ones? If you, for example, start to react like a five-year-old who has lost his toy every time someone gives you feedback it might be time to consider understanding and mastering your states a bit more? (and perhaps some good therapy as well.) Unless you are five, that is.
There is more out there than just you
Sometimes it is not just about you expressing your own “authentic” (starting to almost not like that word…) self but being able to see what is necessary in the moment. Perhaps sometimes you need to put a cork on your own egotistical tendencies and really help or see more than just you?
This takes time, practice and patience. But why not learn some tricks that can help you see your habits coming and being able to stop them before they take over? Perhaps, learning this, you will be able to not always react in the same way, for example to your own artistic creations, thinking it is just the same old crap as always and you end up tossing potentially good ideas in the trash?
Bodily awareness
Right now, how do you sit or stand? What would you say is the state of your body?
- If you are tired or a little unhappy, you are probably slumped over, holding your head with your hands, or feeling tensions in your body. Your breathing is probably shallow and you probably look down most of the time.
- If you feel rested and happy, you are probably having a more straight posture, you look up more, you probably breathe fuller and you are not “hanging” your body everywhere.
If you want to change your state you can actually just change your physical body. It can be as easy as standing up and stretch or take a walk for example.
How can we be creative with out bodies?
I’m sure it is pretty obvious to you but here are a few examples:
- Dance
- Make love
- Do sports
- Bathe (in different substances)
- Wrestle someone playfully
- Enjoy food (in any way you can imagine)
- Sing
- Exercise and stretch
- Run and jump
- Do things as slowly as you can
- Use your body as a paint brush
I’m sure you can come up with a better list. 
More awareness, more options
Have you noticed that you are much more aware of your body right now because we talk about it? Also, you can use this simple knowledge to get yourself more into the state you are after when you need to have a good focus, for example while creating something.
Sometimes you need more energy, and other times you might need to calm down. Breathing alone can change that instantly. Try it: Breathe shallowly, or deeply for a couple of minutes and see what happens.
Listening more to your body will take care of your basic needs as well. If you are really aware of your body it will actually tell you when to go to sleep, to eat, to exercise, to stretch, to have more water, to go to the bathroom and perhaps have some more fruit and veggies. Or perhaps when you need to take care of yourself better or go to the doctor.
The cool thing is, our bodies are smart enough if we give them a chance. We don’t have to be so damn clever or authentic in order to be aware of the gross realm; we need awareness and everybody has this capacity. Only ego is arrogant enough to compare thousands of years of evolution with the “perfect strategy” of this life-time alone.
Looking for trouble?
Where are you looking? Where are your eyes most of the time? If you see the street and the floor too much you are too caught up in your emotions and thoughts guaranteed. Luckily the solution is very simple: Look up!
Seeing what is around you is such a simple solution that you hardly hear people say it (because it is hard to make money out of it….). But it works. Look around, what do you notice? What have you not seen before? What is happening around you?
You could almost say that when you always look down you are looking for trouble because you become too self-focused, and at those times you become too serious and often start finding everything that is wrong. Also, you don’t notice what is happening around you; you miss the person(s) admiring you: you miss the effects of the wind and the weather: you miss the smells, colors and sensations in the air; you miss people’s voices and others sounds. All you usually hear is something like: “I am a steaming pile of something!” coming from your own mind.
Open the doors.
Think about it like this: Let’s say that your mind, heart and body is a combined room that you can fill up with things. Like all rooms, you have to clean the room now and then or old crap keeps piling up, making no space for new things. When the room is full, most people tend to close the doors and windows instead of cleaning the room out because they think no ones should see the mess. Or worse, being overwhelmed by the mess they avoid the room entirely and try to forget about it.
If we only focus on ourselves this way, all the time, without letting new fresh winds come in we get really sad and depressed. We get overwhelmed by a room that feels messy and stale.
Looking up, instead of always at our feet is like opening the doors and windows of this room. Fresh vistas, senses and ideas now gets noticed by us and this freshness cleans our room really well. There is so much life around you happening now that the old stale stuff cannot compete with and so, it gets cleaned out. Of course, if you go back to “looking down” too long it means you closed the doors and the new stuff will soon become old and stale again.
I want to mention that not all stuff in your room can or should be cleaned out. If you have ignored something really important in your life, it will need serious attention and awareness or it will haunt you for the rest of your days. I hope you understand that this about having a fresh perspective, getting unstuck and not about ignoring your issues.
How to open the doors?
Any kind of physical activity works wonders. All I have mentioned so far works. I highly recommend regular exercise for anyone, especially artists who sit inside on their ass too much (musicians and dancers too even though they might move because they hardly see the sun… And it has to be something different than what you do all day). Just going out to look at the sun (or the rain) is a good idea. It will give you lots of new ideas.
The hardest and the most simple idea that REALLY works well is “looking up”.
If you think “Where you look” is a small thing, then pay attention to where you look for the next week. That means, looking people in the eyes, noticing what is around you and also above you. Find what is interesting and beautiful in your neighborhood, city or area. Look straight in front of you when you walk, not at your feet or shoes. I guarantee you will have new thoughts and feelings, or much fewer worries than normal because everything you will take in will push your everyday-stuff out with great force.
If you have not done this before you will probably experience where you live as an entirely new place. If you manage to keep up this practice for a longer time you will soon discover that everything (beyond all clichés) is truly beautiful and mysterious, and my words cannot describe this experience even close. You have to experience this yourself so that you can understand what my words refer to.
Sensing
Sensing who we are is also a great practice. It is not just about feeling fantastic, sometimes it is just about acknowledging what is truly going on which could be that you feel terrible. Just notice what is going on. You don’t have to have a doctors degree to sense yourself.
Is there pain or discomfort in your body? Try to be more specific and feel what is happening in your body and where. With experience you will be very good at this and you will start to live a life that suits you, that is more healthier to you.
Challenge
You have five minutes wherever you are. Right now. Find something new about your surroundings. Go out and breathe for a moment if you can. Remind yourself as much you can of this practice.
While you are here, why not be here. There is much suffering around us all the time, but it is also exceptionally beautiful if you can see deep enough, if you can see beyond the suffering and the attachments.
Here’s to your beauty, and the beauty around you!
Cheers! photo credit
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Hello! My name is Samuel and this blog is about "creativeness" and overcoming procrastination. Check out "about" for more info. You can also connect with me via the icons below. Enjoy your stay!
