Friday, August 23, 2019

Thinking of Certain Arrangements - #99

Since I'm spending all my spare moments revising memoir where I'm trying to describe my experience of Freudian psychoanalysis, (Spoiler Alert: it's not all wine and roses), my peeks into The Thinking Body* are short in duration. Luckily that's all it takes to find thought provoking sentences:

"Guilt, craft, vision, meanness, ecstasy and lure appear in certain arrangements of arms, hands, shoulders, neck, head, and legs."

What position are your arms in when you feel guilty? Where do you put your hands when you think of the future? What position are  your shoulders in when you feel mean? How does ecstasy appear in your neck? How do your legs express lure? What part of your body do you pay the most attention to? For me it is keeping shoulder blades down.

Notice how many feelings and judgement you make when you are  observing people and thinking about your self and your body. I resolve frequently to stop judging; perhaps if I describe what I'm observing as an arrangement of limbs, I will feel concern not criticism. Please let me know!

CLUE: Tell someone that you appreciate them. You both will feel better! Be specific. Tell me your experience please.

*The Thinking Body by my new favorite author Mabel Todd

Image: This photo is of the deck where we had our wedding. We converted it to an outdoor room. Fun to see it again! I love how green everything is now in Iowa as well as in the picture. And I also love being married.

2 comments:

  1. Nicky, I love this focus on body arrangements! What a wonderful way to take our minds out of the judgment sphere and into observational mode--always a better choice! I am also aware that the same body/facial cues can have different meanings depending on one's culture. Add that to the mix and it complicates everything!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point Diane - I remember learning when I traveled to India that head nods mean different things to them than to us. When I thought they were saying no - the were saying yes!

      I'm going to stay in (try to) observational mode this weekend!
      Thanks for reading and commenting! Much appreciated

      Delete

Please leave your comment - I appreciate hearing from you!
To leave a comment, click on the word comments at the end of the post when you are on the web page. A new screen will pop up and you will see a box to leave your comment. I know it is confusing but I SO love your comments. If this is too much trouble (and I get that), just reply to the email you receive with the post if you are a subscriber. I will paste in your reply and respond to it. Thank you - I learn from how you respond.