Listen to Heal
Everything starts with energy. I finished work at the office and raced away down the Oakland waterfront on my vintage road bike. I had to get to the fabric shop before closing so I could finish a side job for my client. So focused on my goal, I didn’t see the [in retrospect, SO obvious] cyclone fence that had just fallen into the bike lane from a construction zone. My bike and I ran up it like a ramp and went flying into the road - CRASH onto the hard pavement. Jacked on adrenaline and seeing a silver Prius zooming toward us, I picked up my bike with a broken clavicle and hustled off the street. I was lucky I had only broken a clavicle, but after frustratedly enduring rest and healing for one month, I re-fractured it while letting loose on the dance floor. This began from the chaotic energy of me racing around, not being present in my body in the moment and for the sake of something outside myself. Then I prolonged it with the same energy. As I lay resting in bed after re-fracturing my clavicle, I reflected on how my body had been asking me to slow down for a while now. I wasn’t listening to my body and to my emotions, so the energetic request got louder until I was forced by injury to rest. We’ve all been “slowed down” by sickness or injury, but have we reflected on why? Life doesn’t just happen to us, every ounce and nanosecond of life is created by us - by our subtle energies - and we have a choice to pay attention to those subtle energies before they become dramatic. How was I feeling right before it happened? Where is it in my body now? What is the consistency of the feeling? What images or thoughts arise when I focus on that spot? And on down the incredible rabbit hole!!! Subtlety is so much fun. Now I don’t see paying attention as a responsibility to myself to avoid drama, I see it as a magnetic fascination. When I watch, feel, or hear the subtle energies, and I honor them, I am met by myriad illuminating realizations about myself, my behaviors, my relationships, my past, my purpose, and more. And heck, it doesn’t require any tech! The next time you run amok in even the smallest or seemingly silliest way, stop for a moment to ask why. Just ask, exhale, and LISTEN.
