I so love the ‘Good Cog in a Good Machine’ concept. It takes the pressure of ‘performance’ off a person, and allows us to enjoy the safety net and the inspiration of collaboration. When, on Sunday, I tidied and sorted ‘the thousand things’ strewn across my home and desk from the busy week just past, using each held item as a reminder of the collaboration it represented, I could truly enjoy tidying and sorting. And I felt inclined to ‘clear the decks’ not for the sake of trying to attain order, but for the sake of being ready for the next collaboration fest.
I’m off training today, so just a quick check-in. Let’s read.
-33- Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength. To know that you have enough is to be rich. Push through and you may get your way, but return home and you will endure. Live out your days and you have had a long life. (The Tao Te Ching tr-McCarroll ed-Knierim, Chap 33)
And Stenudd’s version of this lovely chapter:
33
Those who understand others are clever,
Those who understand themselves are wise.
Those who defeat others are strong,
Those who defeat themselves are mighty.
Those who know when they have enough are rich.
Those who are unswerving have resolve.
Those who stay where they are will endure.
Those who die without being forgotten get longevity.
I like the know thyself line (Knowing yourself is to be enlightened.) But I also find honest value in this line: Overcoming yourself requires strength. This comes back to the inner anchor, I think. I’m going to ponder this briefly…
***Med***
Golly. That was unexpected – partly because I thought I’d dealt with it… What arose was ‘knowing myself’ to be prone to dissociation – disconnecting from, or vacacting, my own body. The antidote appears as the word I heard yesterday on a gym advert, ‘Endorphinate‘. It’s to do with re-inhabiting the body, deeply, consciously. As I have done so well at times of my life with qigong and gentle yoga and walking. And bodywork. And in the way that qigong, when done well over months, acted to heal my body with what I came to call auto-reiki.
Maybe this is what I need in order to deal with this seemingly intractable health issue of CFS and weight. Masses of embodiment work via qigong, dance, swimming…
Also, your dear friend Maria Bez.
Yes. She healed me before.
And your soon-to-be friend, Shen Yoga Massage.
Yes. Weeks have passed with my being absolutely in need of healing and bodywork. So maybe today is about taking action on embodiment. Practically, making appointments; finding a rhythm of self-care of the body as well as the mind; involving Other People.
Other People are also Good Cogs in a Good Machine. You can trust people to bring their healing powers to you. You are a worthy recipient of their gifts. Sometimes self-sufficiency can be a barrier to growth.
Ooh… sing it. It’s true. And I know that to be true of myself. ‘Overcoming myself’ requires the strength to trust others to come near to me.
This is interdependence. This is collaboration. This is each person sharing their gifts. Heaven is full of co-operation. So can earth be.
May I today take action on my embodiment processes. May we all learn to live in our bodies and not get stuck in our heads. May we all ‘endorphinate’ as the winter months come in. May we all heal ourselves. Amen.
I am taking action on embodiment (‘Endorphinate!’)