It might seem odd to hear that “remaining present in your body” in order to cope with what you might be feeling is harder to do than viewing or participating in a violent act. And I am using the word violent provocatively because we are so indoctrinated with blood, gore, fear, illness, etc that we are numbed to the depth of the violence and fear we see, read and feel every day.

We go to gyms. We play sports. We do all sorts of active things to stay fit and consider ourselves healthy if we do these things which then seems to be a way that we “prove” inhabiting a body. However, for me the real test of inhabiting a healthy body is to feel your body. To be in contact with the depth of “what you feel” and then be able to appropriately articulate what you are experiencing.

Now that is truly inhabiting your body.

Exercising your emotional body creates emotional intelligence and it is similar to any exercise we do. It’s a process of utilizing your mental capacity to feel into what the sensations are in your body. It is the same thing as picking up a weight and exercising a particular muscle except you are doing it all through your thinking while feeling what is happening in your body with your thoughts. This puts us in direct relationship with all parts of our body, mind, sensations and the emotions that are born from this wholistic connection.

There is a saying I love “Don’t believe everything you think.” What I am speaking about is thinking and not having those thoughts immediately take you over. This is exactly what they do if you do not hone the “thinking muscle” to discern what is fact and what is fiction in the present moment.

This is why I say you need to exercise this thinking muscle to weed out the crap that clogs your brain and stay focused on what is present and alive in the moment. Patience is needed because this is a tricky and somewhat illusive process. Until you start sorting through these thoughts the feelings generally show up as if they are present as opposed to the possibility that they are triggering a memory that is stirring up a “familiar feeling” in your body. The feeling sensation comes from the thought which then wants to be acted upon and it could be based on something that might have nothing do with the present moment.

The last paragraph may need to be read a few times to absorb the deeper parts of what I am stating.

This is a lifelong process of teasing apart thoughts, feelings and the experiences that create our emotions.