When No One Is Watching, Including Yourself

You have many faces - the one you put on in a professional setting, the one you wear when you meet your friends. There's another for family. There's also one for when you think no one is watching.

This is the face that tells a story of who you are. As your thoughts streak by, they leave a comet trail of evidence that shows how you are feeling in that particular moment. Perhaps you surprised yourself when you saw your diluted reflection in a shop window. Your face (and your body) speaks - what goes on inside is often shown outside - especially when no one is watching, including yourself.

It is in your best interest to get curious about your body's dialect. Is it congruent with what you wish to convey about who you are? Do your expectations and perceptions match the impressions that other people hold of you?

In Mind Over Mind: The Surprising Power of Expectations Chris Burdik shares an amazing experiment that helped erase phantom limb pain in American soldiers. Subjects were asked to move, flex and wiggle their intact arm or leg while gazing into a mirror. Most of the patients were able to quit the heavy doses of pain medication. The brain filled in the gaps - it saw the body as intact, so it bent reality to suit itself.

"There is no truth, only perception." - Gustav Flaubert, French writer

When you turn over the stones of perception that cover your world, your world is mirrored back to you. This is your chance to learn, change and grow.

On page 133, Burdik states:

"The idea flows from 'self-perception theory', which says that in addition to observing, perceiving, and interpreting the rest of the world, part of your brain is busy observing, perceiving, and interpreting you. The expectations of self-perception sway your attitudes and behaviors so they match the assumptions you've made about yourself."

How often do you censor who you are and how you move through your day? Has your mind raced ahead, leaving your body scrambling to catch up?

One way to align your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual self is to develop body awareness skills. In this month's post on Health Central I talk about body awareness and share some of my favourite modalities. Please see: RA: Body Awareness Skills. I then layer body awareness skills with stress techniques. It results in a stronger structure - a stronger me!

Learn to pay attention, and do and be - it's worth it. You're worth it!


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