As someone highly interested in both biology (more specifically, genetics) and spirituality, this excerpt from Elizabeth Lesser really grabbed my attention.
>>>My friend told me a story about her 3-year-old grandson who hit a toddler who was visiting their house. The parent of the visiting little girl yelled at my friend’s grandson, who dissolved into tears of confusion and self-recrimination. Later, my friend asked her grandson why he had hit the baby, and he said, “I didn’t hit her; my body did.” This led to a conversation about impulse control and other things you try to teach a human child about getting along with others in this world.
It's hard being a human with all of our impulses—purely physical ones, or hidden emotional ones, or the kind of impulses that spring from defensiveness, or fear, or old wounds. I have been so aware of this lately because I am doing an active experiment with my own impulse control. I started the experiment when I learned that my sister has what is called Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD), a common response to a bone marrow transplant, whereby the graft cells (in this case, mine) begin to attack the host (my sister). Now this experiment may be based in magical thinking, but I still feel connected to the stem cells that I donated to my sister for the transplant. I imagine that they respond on some energetic level to my state of mind. We know for sure that one’s stress levels can negatively affect the health and function of our cells, just as one’s peace of mind can stimulate wellness. But is this still happening with the cells I donated to my sister? Perhaps not, but just in case, I’ve been trying to make impulsive behavior more conscious! Even if this has no effect whatsoever on my sister, I can use it as a way to grow into my best self.
Here are some negative impulses I have been keeping an eye on: my impulse to judge; my impulse to take things personally; my impulse to make up negative stories and instead of checking them out, believing them and making them my new reality. You may have similar impulses, or you may have other ones that snare you. See if you can stop yourself before acting on impulses this week. Don’t beat yourself about them; instead, make them conscious and gently question if you need to follow an impulse all the way to action. Like my friend’s 3-year-old grandson, see if you can distinguish between your higher self and your impulsive self. See if you can be the one who is witnessing the impulses of your body or your emotions or your ego. Put that “witness self” in control and check out what a difference it can make in your health, happiness, and the ways in
which you interact with the world.
>>>via E. Lesser
>>>My friend told me a story about her 3-year-old grandson who hit a toddler who was visiting their house. The parent of the visiting little girl yelled at my friend’s grandson, who dissolved into tears of confusion and self-recrimination. Later, my friend asked her grandson why he had hit the baby, and he said, “I didn’t hit her; my body did.” This led to a conversation about impulse control and other things you try to teach a human child about getting along with others in this world.
It's hard being a human with all of our impulses—purely physical ones, or hidden emotional ones, or the kind of impulses that spring from defensiveness, or fear, or old wounds. I have been so aware of this lately because I am doing an active experiment with my own impulse control. I started the experiment when I learned that my sister has what is called Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD), a common response to a bone marrow transplant, whereby the graft cells (in this case, mine) begin to attack the host (my sister). Now this experiment may be based in magical thinking, but I still feel connected to the stem cells that I donated to my sister for the transplant. I imagine that they respond on some energetic level to my state of mind. We know for sure that one’s stress levels can negatively affect the health and function of our cells, just as one’s peace of mind can stimulate wellness. But is this still happening with the cells I donated to my sister? Perhaps not, but just in case, I’ve been trying to make impulsive behavior more conscious! Even if this has no effect whatsoever on my sister, I can use it as a way to grow into my best self.
Here are some negative impulses I have been keeping an eye on: my impulse to judge; my impulse to take things personally; my impulse to make up negative stories and instead of checking them out, believing them and making them my new reality. You may have similar impulses, or you may have other ones that snare you. See if you can stop yourself before acting on impulses this week. Don’t beat yourself about them; instead, make them conscious and gently question if you need to follow an impulse all the way to action. Like my friend’s 3-year-old grandson, see if you can distinguish between your higher self and your impulsive self. See if you can be the one who is witnessing the impulses of your body or your emotions or your ego. Put that “witness self” in control and check out what a difference it can make in your health, happiness, and the ways in
which you interact with the world.
>>>via E. Lesser
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