Who are you?
Are you female or male? Or perhaps neither? Would you describe yourself as tall or short? Do you identify yourself based on where you live or where your ancestors hail from? Are you a litigation lawyer perhaps or a city bus driver? Are you the optimistic sort or is the glass always half empty for you? Are you a wall flower or the life of the party?
While all the previous labels or descriptors help society categorize you, so to speak, none of this describes who you truly are. From a very young age, perhaps even before birth, we are given labels to help define our place in this world. While these labels may seem helpful in terms of describing aspects of who you are, they also result in something that is far from helpful. They provide us with boundaries – perfect little boxes – by why which we are to conduct ourselves in this life.
I remember this phenomenon when I first had my son. As I entered into the community of motherhood, I quickly found that labels were used to categorize mothers based on their parenting choices.
“Hi I’m Joanne. I’m a cloth diapering, co-sleeping, exclusively breastfeeding, baby led weaning, unschooling, all natural mama.”
I kid you not! As I navigated this new world of sleep deprivation, constant worry and how exactly to bundle up this squishy new life, I now also needed to figure out where I fit in the parenting community (apparently). More perfect little boxes…
“Girls do not to rough house” and “boys do not cry”; have you heard them before? If you are intelligent you are automatically funneled into one of the many university options. If you struggled with government schooling (notice how I didn’t say you weren’t intelligent?) you were unworthy of such a journey and you were shuffled off into a different direction.
Not long ago we would have told the help to mind their business and know their ‘place’. However, this ‘place’ is not something that is tied to their genetics, DNA or spot in the cosmos. Their ‘place’ is an artificial construct placed on them so that they would know how to act, respond and understand this reality; nothing more.
What’s this?
An apple or is it fruit? Are we limiting its existence by calling it such and is it instead of the more general concept food?
In fact an apple is none and all of those things. It is fruit, sustenance, a seed of life, a solid state of matter…
It simply is.
What if we extend this current line of thinking to our health state within our bodies and minds. What limiting labels do we place on ourselves and why?
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The label of ‘unhealthy’, as an example, places many restrictions on people including what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Some cannot exercise because they believe their unhealthy state precludes this. Others cannot go outside because their diagnosis (which is a scientific label) of allergies precludes this. She cannot meditate because her religious labels will not allow her to expand beyond the reality of the book she was told is gospel. He cannot understand that scientific paper because the label of ‘plumber’ limits his mind and therefore his ability to comprehend. They cannot be happy because they were told they were depressed. And so we go on and on…
But what if we stripped away these labels? Even the most unhealthiest of people can exercise, in some way shape or form. Despite the limitations of their physical bodies, exercise is simply movement. Does the label of overweight or unhealthy, for example, allow you to slip back into a comfortable existence of sedentary life?
Even in my darkest moments of depression, I had glimmers of happiness. Should I have been defined by my label or simply supported as a being who was trying to understand her place in this world?
So is it possible that we derive comfort and stability from labels? Do we not exercise (to use the above example) because we cannot or because we do not want to? Does it help us to understand the emotional and physical trauma we undergo in this human existence by placing a definition or label on it?
Consider for a moment, that you are now labelless. You no longer have these artificial boundaries of health, dis-ease and emotional well being narrowing your interactions with the greater whole of life.
What healing possibilities are now at your fingertips?
Is any of this easy to do? Well, of course not. But those things that are hardest to do are often the ones most worth doing. Both this past year and current year are about dismantling systems that no longer serve us. Delving into the shadow aspects of ourselves and truly getting to know our place in the cosmos. Stripping away the artificial constructs that limit our minds, bodies and existences.
I know this is heavy and perhaps daunting. Exploring the darker aspects of ourselves, in this case our need to cling to labels created FOR us and not BY us, is a tough “pill to swallow”. Asking yourself some of the theoretical questions I posed earlier is difficult and scary. I know because I have done it many times and continue to do it to this day.
Remember to not fear the answers to these questions, for you made no mistakes on this journey of life. You instead made choices that allowed you to get right here. Some choices good and others were designed to help you grow and evolve as a person. But all of them lead you to this very moment where you are sitting and reading these words. Blame and guilt will not help you move forward. They will instead keep you stuck in this neverending and restrictive loop of labels and definitions.
You are not alone in this new journey of self discovery my friend. As I expand my understanding of health (all aspects) and reality, I am meeting so many beautiful souls along the way. Souls that, hand in hand, are exploring the depths of this world with me. You too will find other souls to share this path with and it will be beautiful.
In good health,
Regular Readers/Watchers
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