By Dr. Gail Cloud, DC
The clock is turning. Another year is making its way known in the Western hemisphere through Fall colors, reminding us of the wheel of time towards our winter and time for inner contemplation.
For those who are Jewish and wheel of time time-keepers, this is also the time of the Jewish New Year. It is a time when we look at the past to learn from it and see our errors or misjudgments, how we might have inadvertently hurt people through our words or deeds, and take our moral inventory to grow and enhance our integrity and to others. Then, we look to the future to see how we can implement what we have learned and continue to learn and grow as individuals as part of the community of life.
In this spirit, I have been thinking about the idea of disabilities. We all have some disability, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or psychological. I think of those who are hearing impaired, have lost a leg or arm, have a learning disability, etc. Those disabilities begin to define us if we let them. We begin to think of who we are as people as disabled. We even have decals we put on our cars saying we are disabled. We label ourselves as disabled or impaired. Yet, truly we all, every single one of us, have areas in our lives where we can say we are disabled. A wise teacher of mine once said that we are all walking wounded in some way.
So, it dawned on me that this way of thinking that we are impaired somehow is not helpful for us. We may have a type of impairment, but that doesn’t mean we, as individuals, are impaired or disabled. We are wounded, hurting, loving, caring individuals, each with our gifts, challenges, abilities, etc. If we spent as much time learning all the ways of us, the challenging, the shadow, the beautiful, the rich, the easy, our lives would be so much more fulfilling. It would be helpful for us even to write down all the things we like and love about ourselves and read them daily. Our negative voices are so strong we need to cultivate a balance within ourselves by allowing ourselves to notice the beautiful and gifted parts of us as well. We are not disabled. We are… living, breathing human beings, engrossed in the process of being and becoming.
Let’s bring this spirit to our enfolding year. May we, this year, begin or continue to see ourselves with full and softer eyes, allowing all parts of us to live together just as we allow all peoples to live together in peace.
To schedule a session with me for coaching, chiropractic, astrology, and BodyPresencing classes, you can reach me at 314-995-9755. www.bodypresencing.com. gail@bodypresencing.com
PS. There is interest in another BodyPresencing class. If you are interested, keep the dates of Mondays beginning mid-January through mid-March open. Stay tuned for the information to come!!