Transcending Ego into Freedom

 What is ego?

Many times, we associate the word Ego as someone who is 'highly egoistical', someone who is usually quite arrogant and selfish, and sees themselves as superior to others.

But Ego means much more than that. Ego simply means the self. An outer layer of self that is presented to others, that is thought out and perceived by our conscious minds. 

It refers to our association of who our 'self' is - our personality, race, religion, nationality, education, job scope, and the like - most of which are societal constructs and does not define who we truly are - consciousness.

From there, we define what we are and what we're not, who we are more willing to associate with, what we are more likely to do as a career, what hobbies we prefer, what rituals we perform, holidays we celebrate.

In some sense, it is not necessarily a bad thing as it adds colour and variety to life. After all, all colour mixed up simply becomes black, or ugly shades of brown. So there is value in keeping certain things separate at some point.

But what I'm about to talk about here is not about societal structure, but rather, the darker side of holding on to our ego/personalities - that is trauma.

As you can imagine ego limits us to a certain way of thinking and behaving. But not only that, it also locks us up into our own limiting storylines...

The healing process is strange in the way that it requires us to see things both ways.

First, we have to see and accept our shadow selves...

Then we have to let go and dis-identify with it.

For example, if you have depression, you first need to acknowledge it, ie:

- Yes, I feel depressed.

- I accept that I am experiencing depression.

- I will do what I can do treat myself better and get better, such as seeing a counselor, talking to loved ones, making lifestyle adjustments and removing elements that are contributing to my depression, taking a break and forgiving myself for not being able to perform and do things as I used to, and taking prescribed medications if necessary. 

But to complete the road to recovery, one also need to dis-identify the self with depression. It requires one to change their inner dialogues to create deep and lasting change, ie:

- Depression is just a feeling that I have. (to replace "I am a depressed person")

- I don't have to do this if it is causing me so much pain.

- I don't have to force myself to be grateful if having this doesn't really make me happy.

These steps are also applicable to every aspect of healing, including trauma or chronic diseases:

- I accept that I have experienced this event

- I accept how that event made me feel at the time of occurrence, that I felt hurt, anger, hatred, shame, etc...

- I allow myself to fully experience those emotions as it is simply how I feel. I respect my feelings...

And then dis-identify

- I don't have to be that traumatised person. It is not who I am.

- I don't have to be who I am because of that event. I can always be who I wanted to be, regardless of what happened or didn't happen to me.

Because the truth is, we are the stories we tell ourselves. And we can be whoever we want to be, by cleaning up our hidden emotions, forgive and let go of what does not serve us, and retell our own story.

Wishing you love and light... ---<--{@ <3

The Act of Swinging

Very often, we tend to associate relaxation as a state of passivity, resting, and basically non-activity.

Not only is this untrue, it also encourages stressful, intense behavioural patterns.

There is such a thing as relaxed effort - an understanding of energy efficiency.


The use of 'swing'

Swinging is a common act in playground play. As children grow up, we graduate from being pushed on the swing to kicking the air by ourselves. Either way, there is a sensation of freedom and fun in the rise and fall, against or into gravity...


In swinging, we learn to orientate ourselves in the direction we want, we control the balance of weight and kicking on both sides of our body, lest we start to wiggle side to side (that is, if you are on the traditional metal chain swing).

We learn to control the amount of strength we use, and we find that as we swing more and more, we only need to add a little extra effort for it to go higher, and eventually, we need not apply any effort at all and it keeps swinging at a height and velocity that is enjoyable. We only add on a little gentle kick occasionally to sustain that height. Kick too hard, you might find that you start to swing outside of your comfort zone, and you might lose control and possibly even fall off the swing into a crash landing.

Some master dare devils might even demonstrate the ability to swing all the way up and make 360 degrees turns. But most of us simply enjoy the feeling of weightless, effortless movement, with the wind in our hair. It is truly a delight...

Aside from the standard seat swing, you might also find yourself swinging on other apparatus; perhaps the monkey bar, or the climber. Or perhaps you're just swinging your arms as you skip towards your friend on the other side.

On the field, as you get older, you might be practicing baseball, or tennis, badminton, golf, etc, where you find yourself practicing your swing. You lead with your arm, and the rest of the body follows.


Either way you do it, the one thing in common is that, you need to loosen up and let go when you go for a swing. If you hold on tight, you're merely lifting, not swinging.

You also lose the joy and the feeling of effortlessness...


Directional Swing

Yet, a careless swing with no obvious direction only leads to one looking like a deranged individual. On a seat swing, you'll be flinging yourself all over the place, possibly knocking into others who are seated beside you.


Swinging, effortlessness, relaxation, balanced with movement, creates a wonderful, enjoyable experience. But if done without direction, would throw you off in no time.

Swing in Dance

Swinging in dance is the same.

An effective swing in contemporary dance for example, is light, minimal effort, and directional.

Done right, it can help lift you to great heights, whether its your arms, your legs, or your whole body.

But wherever the movement is initiated, the whole body is involved in its lift. We orientate ourselves in the direction we want, we control the amount of strength we use, and we find that as we swing more and more, we only need to add a little extra effort for it to go higher...

So, let's enjoy this video of the Rite of Spring, with lots of highly intense and complex movements, often propelled by the power of swing... (among others)...

Have a nice day, happy dancing!...

 

  Love and light 😊❤️