What’s the Body Saying?
The Head Bone’s Connected to the Thigh Bone…
Western philosophy has handed us an imperfect bag of goods that we are just learning to unpack. In the 17th century Rene Descartes described a theory of mind where the body was completely separate from reason and the soul. From that, Western thought developed two basic ideas: reason is disembodied because the mind is disembodied and reason is transcendent and universal.
This legacy has left us with a deep schism. It’s time to reclaim our connection to the body. It’s time to recognize that much of how we think is based in how the body feels—not necessarily the other way around. It’s time to move from a dualistic model to a holistic model where the mind and body not only act as an interface that shapes our perception, but actually shapes our reality.
Let’s look at some examples of how language clues us into how our body influences the way we perceive the world. These metaphors are not just linguistic, but also ways of describing how the body feels in different emotional states.
POWER AND CONTROL AS BEING “UP AND DOWN”
My boss has me under his thumb. I have the situation under control. That book was way over my head.
EMOTION AS “HEAT AND COOLNESS”
When we first met there were immediately sparks between us! I’m slowing warming up to her. I find him to be such a cold person. She was getting hot under the collar. The debate was getting pretty heated.
HAPPINESS AND SADNESS AS “DIRECTIONAL”
I’m feeling down in the dumps I’m on top of the world! I’m feeling under the weather. That threw me completely off balance
EMOTIONS BEING LOCATED “IN THE BODY”
The lecture left me scratching my head. I’ve pit in my stomach all day. I’m all tied up in knots. He bit my head off! I have butterflies in my stomach.
Body and Mind are Allies!
Many of these descriptions are based in physiological reactions. Our body temperature actually rises when we get angry. Blood vessels and digestive muscles contract, and the restriction in blood flow makes us feel the sensation of butterflies in our stomachs. People actually can die of a broken heart—a conditional called takosubo cardiomyophathy. The extreme stress of losing a partner adversely effects the left ventricle of the heart and can sometimes rarely lead to death.
In other words, how you think can affect how you feel, and how you feel can affect your thinking!
Life is experienced not as a disembodied fact unfolding outside of ourselves, but as an extension of our perception. Our perception shapes our reality. Rather than moving further away from the “rational” we are reuniting all our our assets—mental, emotional and physical—to better navigate the world and our place within it.
One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!
It’s time to reclaim our power. Let’s use all the resources that have been gifted to us. Let’s step fully INTO our power. Let’s RADIATE love. Let’s UPLIFT ourselves and others. Let’s boldly (and bodily) go where we are destined to arrive. Back home to the fullness of our embodied experience.
