20210219 - Body Scan

All of us have patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that we follow. They are automatic reactions to our surroundings. We develop those patterns over time based our experiences, how we were received by the world, many of them in early childhood. We can refer to those patterns as our programming or conditioning. The patterns can be positive, empowering, constructive and loving or they can be negative, weakening and destructive. In any case, they is there. I’ll give you some examples to illustrate what I mean by a pattern. - “If I don’t produce any value, I don’t have any value” - When I feel misunderstood by my partner I use “the silent treatment” - When I feel a lack of control I react with stress and increase the speed in everything I do - When people show they want to be close to me I take distance to avoid the risk of being abandoned - I believe I need to put my own needs and wants aside to feel belonging By practising our awareness we become more and more aware about those patterns which gives us the option of thinking or acting differently than what our programming tells us. To seek intimacy even if it’s scary, to meet misunderstanding with compassion, to respect ourselves even together with others. To act the way we want to act and think the way we want to think even under circumstances where this is hard.