Byron Katie has said some pretty radical things about bodies….namely “a peaceful mind doesn’t care about a body.”
Not care about my body? Really?
People have many different levels of care about their bodies…some are very concerned, some have grave illness, some have constant pain, some have terrible injuries, some have head colds or back aches.
The trick with powerful quotes like Katie’s is NOT to read it and then jump immediately to why you are so wrong to have thought of your body during your life so often, and with such passion, with anger or criticism or concern.
All those cures, methods, doctors, practitioners, diets, medicines, tinctures, massages, specialists…they are all part of the path you’re on, a relationship you have with this thing called a body.
Some people get to meet many people who are healers of various body conditions, and some people do not. But everyone has body ailments of one kind or another before they exit their bodies for good. Everyone gets a body that dies sooner or later.
For some people, a strategy for dealing with the body is to pay as little attention as possible to it. I don’t think Katie is speaking of this kind of not caring.
You won’t become peaceful if you decide “fine, I won’t care about my body ever again, I will ignore it!”
But there is some place we all can become aware of that is beyond thoughts of the body, removed from these kinds of thoughts, different. We all have this inside us already. We all touch into this part of us many times a day, in fact. We sleep, have a conversation, read, think, discover, watch a movie, look, hear, rest, work. There is space in between thoughts of the body.
It’s the kind of Not Caring that I like to say is just Not Minding what happens. Those moments when I really don’t mind, I’m actually OK…I don’t know, I don’t have answers, but I couldn’t dream of figuring This all out.
“When you believe you are this body, you stay limited, small, apparently encapsulated as one separate form. So every thought has to be about your survival or your comfort or your pleasure, because if you let up for a moment, there would be no body-identification.”~Byron Katie
When we have something hurting, something painful…then thoughts of the body can appear to be more frequent, more intense. A problem is believed to be present, and boy howdy does the mind loves to solve problems!
Eckhart Tolle has said that when working with illness, the first and most important thing is becoming aware that YOU are not YOUR BODY. So, you are not “a sick person”. That is not what you actually are…not all of who you are.
You don’t need to actually even think of yourself as a sick person…and it is possible to focus on well-being, even when you don’t feel good. It may sound simple, but it’s not easy when you’re afraid or in pain.
“Choose to direct your attention to well-being rather than illness. As far as pain is concerned…don’t let the mind start also to complain about the pain. Don’t resist pain. Don’t create psychological pain on top of physical pain…..You CAN accept a situation that usually would be thought of as unacceptable….but not everybody is ready to hear this.”~Eckhart Tolle
Well-being, beauty, quiet, taking a deep breath, waiting, nature, art, music is all around. Moving your attention towards what is gentle in your environment, what you are drawn towards, what you like, even just a tiny bit.
The good news is that life goes the way it goes, and there’s no arguing with it. It’s the way of it. It’s actually OK no matter what you do, whether you find something around you that is without pain, whether you complain or don’t complain.
“None of us is ever OK, but we all get through everything just fine.”~Pema Chodron
It just may be a little easier, maybe a TON easier, if you relax and stop fighting this body situation. Not giving up with despair, just seeing what it’s like to be without the thought that you have a body that is sick or hurt, or fat or ugly. Giving up attack.
No longer against what is.
Love, Grace