Image by San Diego Shooter via Flickr
We are doing a narrative series on understanding where emotions and behaviors come from:
- Emotions Are Contagious
- Our own Emotional Junk
- Positive Emotions and Behaviors are Contagious Too
- Our Conscious Self is Our Board and Paddle at Sea (today’s post)
Paddle boarding in the Pacific Ocean (OP) today brought me to flocks of pelicans, breaking waves and a seal who said hello. The OP was kicked up into big swells and long-shore currents. There was all this ocean to connect with using not much more than a paddle. Where do the waves come from? The moon? The wind traveling currents of changing temperature? And what did I have? A paddle and a board.
Our body is about like that. There is this huge amount of unconscious self that we are connected to but not in a direct sensory way. Our emotions, touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight; our spiritual quotient, emotional quotient, intellectual quotients – these are a pinch of what make us who we are. These are our summarily interpretive lens for the world. They steer our choices and shape our understanding of reality. They are our “paddle and board” in an ocean of biology.
Even though the things we have a direct sense of, a direct connection with and thereby implying control of is not the majority of what makes us who we are, it is such a privilege to actively engage in it. It is what makes our life worth living.
When we think of where behaviors and emotions come from, we think of many paradigms. But that pinch, that bit of the great enormous creation we are that we are conscious of is such a pleasure and wonder. To not engage with it fully as we are free to do is an unqualified loss. It is to be without board and paddle at sea.
This is not to say that we are to ignore the great majority of our biology that is otherwise who we are. Any surfer knows better.
Self-Care Tip #270 – Do all that you can with the amount of direct awareness you are given and relish the experience.
Related articles
- Emotional Intelligence and Why It Is Good for Business (kenyantechnopreneur.wordpress.com)
- Where Do Emotions and Behaviors Come From? (friendtoyourself.com)
I love your analogy, Doc 🙂
that empowered me cin. thank u.
I suppose this means to ride the horse rather than being ridden by it.
laughing. silly carl. i hope we don’t have to say not to let a horse ride us because it would hurt! 😉
Also love this analogy! Never thought of it this way, but so true!
suzi, u r a mind i can’t wait to hear from. thank u for this. keep on.
I like your analogy… your six sense at work. Marie.
laughing marie! u caught the sixth sense!? sweet!
I caught your sixth sense only because I was already working on my new post for the next day, about our six sense!!! 😉
awesome!
i just read it and was blessed. thx.
Those comments are exactly what I would say. I never thought of it this way, so true.
thank u jackie. i’m happy to “float” along w u! 😉
I would like to know more about our spiritual, emotional , and physical quotient that makes us up. If that’s what’s keeping us afloat from our unconscious I would like to hear more about it. The Course in Miracles says ” we are not our bodies, we are free, we are as God created us to be” and that of course is Spirit. We make everything else up. Everything else is an illusion.
Clar, u r taking me to the floor! ok. ck out this post and tell me what u think. i’ll mull it around some more and hope to write some more about it. i agree w u. it’s important for us to know about our board and paddle so to speak. thanks for hooning in on this.
That is an interesting way of looking at things. I never thought of it like that, but it makes sense.
thanks duck. it’s fun to share our odd thoughts 😉