Words as Resistors
light vs dark
If you have labeled yourself as a spiritual seeker, you may have spent a great deal of time learning about not judging, but what if judging doesn’t only refer to “making something wrong” but the use of words to create separation? And yes, words like slurs, curses, and accusations can certainly create separation, at least in the mind, but what if it’s much deeper than that?
Here’s an exercise to try:
Sit quietly and watch your thoughts with no purpose in mind, but to watch. Now keep watch on what takes place in your body as we enter into this next part. Look around you with a soft gaze and notice without words what you see. What happens in your body when your thoughts say, " Oh, that’s a table, chair, or whatever?”
Now look at another layer. It’s an ugly chair, a pretty table, etc.
And then one more deeper,
Oh, it’s the table my loved one gave me, and now they are gone, and I see the table as a painful reminder. The more words you add, the more layers of separation you create.
What did you feel in your body?
Was it constriction similar to the feeling of judgment, whether that be you judging another or the other judging you?
My last blog, “True Abundance: The Reality of Flow,” discussed resistors as a mechanical part that keeps too much information from flowing, or it keeps some information held in place. It serves a function to navigate the reality we find ourselves in, but it can also, as you may have just experienced, create a lot of constriction. And the more labels you have given yourself and clung to tightly, the more you will feel separate from the truth of who you are, who we all are.
Why does this matter? If you resist the thoughts that create suffering or if you resist thoughts that could be presenting new information to provide a way forward, then you will walk through life feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders. Ask me how I know. 😉 So then practicing this could provide a great deal of relief. Understand, though, this does not mean a life of ease; it points to a deeper peace that comes from a lack of arguing with reality.
So by noticing your thoughts, you find a space between them and “you’ and if you practice until something shifts, you can learn to turn down the resistance as it suits you.
If you’d like someone to practice with in a “real” life setting, I am forming an online (free) community to utilize a practice called NonViolent Communication. Please comment below if you have a desire to join.