Move It
To be truly alive and on purpose, we catalyze, heal, ignite our minds, spirits, bodies and emotions into ONE healthy, steady flow. Organic and vital beings require ACTION: unique movement of our minds, bodies, spirits and emotions as one force of awareness. WE, as the true owners and makers of our lives, weave the dynamic parts and pieces of ourselves into one fabulous WHOLE fabric. Only then can we to realize our highest and best use and create OPPORTUNITY. To BE alive is to ACT!
Opportunity exists in every experience; most importantly the Opportunity to be Fully Human. Fully human, we realize ourselves as spiritual, emotional, mental and physical beings. To live purposefully we don’t ignore, leave out, or refuse any part of ourselves. “Use it or lose it,” has new meaning when The Four Fold Path is understood and we truly ACT and “go with the flow!”
Featured Journal Entry:
Lily is a YMCA Pilates teacher today, and a mom with big Life Purpose community goals. “Believe me,” she tells us at Rise Up! “I wasn’t always engaged. Guilty! ‘Couch potato’ was the name for me. Ugh! Today that sounds like a death sentence but at the time, with three kids, no history of physical training or sports experience, and two part time jobs, the thought I would also workout? Ridiculous! I loved getting everyone to bed and collapsing on, yes, the comfy potato-TV-watching couch. At that thirty-five year old juncture of, ‘is-this-all-there-is?’ and, ‘I am exhausted YET ALSO wishing for adventure!’ I thought ‘I need a meditation or Yoga practice to calm my spin cycle mind and slow down worry!’ I had no idea what either practice actually was and I was too out of shape to get off that couch!”
Until we understand we are complex beings that require knowledge, processes and tools to support ALL of who we are, we look for the “quick fix,” the one shot salvo that we hope “cures” this moment’s problem. We take care of our physical needs and join a running team but are afraid to deal directly with our emotional depression. We search for a spiritual path but avoid anything “too hard” like a serious meditation practice or the rigor of a Twelve Step Program or commitment to a weekly Prayer Circle. We are physical beings no matter how spiritually or intellectually evolved we think we are. We require emotional understanding and support no matter how fast, strong or agile our bodies are. The Four Fold Path asks us to pay attention to the truth and beauty of our inherent wholeness. Be Fully Human, and find Opportunity.
Lily explains how her life changed and she became an example to us all: “I never seem to be able to do anything the ‘easy way’ that is IF there is such a thing. One day, twenty pounds overweight, exhausted and feeling like a woman three times my age, I chased my runaway toddler as she and her tricycle were flying out of control and into on-coming traffic. Car brakes screeched and I could see her little body accelerating downhill just yards away from inevitable impact.”
“That was ten years ago. My heart freezes to this day, her mangled trike testament to what would have happened had a neighbor not lunged forward at the last minute. Relieved, I knew it was a miracle and that I could have lost my child because I wasn’t in physical shape!
Horrible! ‘I will never feel that out of control again if I can help it!’ I committed to get in shape. Joined the YMCA, started in their gym, and squeezed in a few jazzercise classes but found I needed more. Workouts were great, weight came off, and I looked younger. AND I also felt myself for the first time since I was a teenager! That may sound odd, but I have come to see it is very common. I heard and saw my same confusion in the stories and lives of the women around me. “
We are complex Four Fold Beings. To avoid, disrespect, or ignore any of these aspects of ourselves leads to one or another part of our lives weakening, breaking down or giving up. We find ourselves thinner and more physically attractive but emotionally spent or spiritually empty or intellectually shallow.
As Lily says so well, “when I feel myself, I am awake, mindful and whole, not compartmentalized into one narrow definition of myself. I want to be aware and healthy, mind-body-spirit-emotions. I want to know myself, not hide my true feelings or run from my dynamic spiritual center. If I leave part of myself out of my dancing, action-filled life, I cheat myself. I can’t claim whole-ness and I can’t Move It and bring all my gifts into the family and community.”
“At Rise Up! the unfolding of myself that I found in the Four Fold Path was both a relief (‘I am not weird; we all need to understand and express our entire selves’) and a challenge! A friend of mine said, ‘Lily, you want too much. Just be happy you are in better physical shape,’ but feeling myself as a spiritual and intellectual being woke me up
to my potential, to possibility and OPPORUNITY in such a meaningful way I knew it would be my Path forever!”
The true beauty of being FULLY HUMAN is honoring ALL of ourselves as emotional, mental, spiritual and physical beings. BEING aware and awake of ALL of who we are is the first step. An ACTION plan to carry BEINGNESS into our daily lives keeps up the cycles of realizing ourselves. As Lily said, “I want to feel myself as whole and act to contribute my wholeness to better the world!” To BE comes first; To ACT manifests Our LIFE PURPOSE!
When we Move it we act in our own behalf to weave that Four Fold Path into a beautiful tapestry of self-love and community service. To deny any of The Four Folds that literally blend, dance, and hum under our SELF-Love and SELF-creation, denies us the right we are born with to BE FULLY HUMAN. A dynamic self is a self that delves deeply into BEING and ACTS to create possibility and opportunity in every experience. The world needs the wholeness of spiritual beings who are emotionally sound, physically strong and flexible, and mentally challenged by solving the complex problems we face together! Move It and the world moves with you!
Featured Exercise:
Purchase a pack of 8 x 10 Index cards (Yup, old school!)
Using four separate colors of marking pens write Spiritual, (or spirit if you prefer) Mental (Intellectual) Physical (Body) and Emotional (Feeling) across one of each of the cards.
Ask yourself: “What am I doing NOW to support, heal, explore and build my life in these Four Fold Ways?” But before you put the finishing touches on #3, read #4 below and consider creating an Artwork to uncover your deeper self!
Create a Collage: Collages have a near magical ability to open your mind (your brain loves the process!) and creativity. The “real you” may be hiding behind a lifetime of not enough SELF-Love and SELF-Care. Grab a stack of magazines etc. and start tearing! Finding a picture, a phrase, a creative image helps open your inner being. A deeper, more honest answer to: “what am I doing for myself?” may appear!
Take another four index cards and write a poem, do a second collage, or unload a deep WISH you have never shared and begin a Four Fold Picture Journal. Start now (because it is only a start) and find images of your spirit, emotions, mental, physical in ACTION! Find images that say to you, “this will be me, weaving, dancing, creating my Four Fold Path, I will move it!” And MOVING will ignite my ability to find something beautiful and amazing in Every Experience, including OPPORTUNITY!