Mellifluence

Reverb10: December 12 – Body Integration

Following a link from Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project, I found the Reverb10 site, which encourages us to spend each day of December looking back at 2010 and thinking about what we want in our lives in 2011, through daily prompts. Since I started nine days late, I'm not going to write about all of them, but I think I'll write now about one that sings to me.

December 12 – Body Integration This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?

This is going to sound so weird, but the times when I feel the most integrated in my body are when I'm driving. There's something about how my senses and my body move in an intricate dance. I see a brake light or a car come into my lane and I react. I don't have to think about it. I know what to do when I change lanes, get on the freeway, take a corner, and it's like I'm totally in tune with everything around me. This is probably why I like driving so much. While driving, I have to watch my ability to drift into thinking and ruminating, so that I can stay alert behind the wheel. Not that I'm always good at bringing myself back, but, since mindful presence is so important while driving a large hunk of metal at insane speeds while feet away from other hunks of metal being driven by soft, squishy humans, there's more at stake while I'm driving, more reason to stay present.

I LOVE to drive. Sometimes I'll just take off and drive. In a mental storm, it helps me to calm down. When I'm feeling good, I love to explore. When I drive, I feel in flow and engaged, at one with my mind and body.