It has been a year of growth for me. For the first time in a long while, I’ve been open to new ideas, and have felt free to trust my intuition.
It’s been wonderful.
One of the ideas I’ve contemplated lately is the concept of body, mind, and spirit. I know there are lots of interpretations, and I thought I would share my thoughts about it with you today.
Over the weekend, my children were arguing in the car. One thought the other was being too loud, and the other thought her sister was encroaching in her space.
I decided to share this lesson with them…
Our body is composed of our physical self, and it’s biological processes. It is what we see when we look into the mirror, and is made up of many cells and organs, including our brain.
Our mind is a function of our brain, and is therefore tied directly to our physical self. One of its main jobs is to keep our body in homeostasis, or equilibrium. It is for our comfort. As a brain function, it might tell us that a loud sound might cause a stress headache, so it needs to go away. Or that someone in our space might compete for the resources we need to survive. So they need to move.
A lot of the thoughts we have on this level of thinking are primal, and are left over survival instincts. It wasn’t too long ago that humans lived in a world totally different than we live in now.
We might experience these thoughts as jealousy (if our neighbor has more than we do, they would be more likely to survive during a famine, for instance), or even as lust, which is tied to the biological desire to reproduce.
If we listen strictly to our minds, we will likely live selfishly. Our mind wants us to live, and live comfortably at that. It wants our genetic material to pass on to others as well, so yes, it can continue living, too.
I know this is a very simplified explanation, and the mind is capable of many other things. But on a base level the mind, as a bodily function, is concerned for the survival of the body.
Our spirit on the other hand, is (in my opinion) the seat of the Divine inside of us. It is pure love and light. It is what continues on after our death, while our mind does not.
It’s that small, still voice that says, “Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t be selfish.” It’s not the thoughts of our mind, but the observer of those thoughts. This is our true self. Our conscience lives here.
Our spirit isn’t our body. It’s not male or female. It’s not our mind. It transcends that.
I tried to explain this to my children as we drove down the road. Each moment, we have a choice as to what we are going to listen to. I think once we understand why we have selfish motives and desires, it’s easier to ignore them and instead, walk by the Spirit.
Of course, we should tend to our body and mind as well. They are so important also! But when given a choice between kindness and unkindness, we should choose to be kind.
This is a choice we need to make over and over again. But if we decide to stay tuned into our Spirit, it becomes more effortless to choose the right thing.
