Monday, March 21, 2016

Make the Physical Gesture

Studying Native American Animal Medicine, I've learned something special from Rabbit. Generally, I am not a huge fan of rabbit as a totem. Rabbit symbolizes fear. Who wants more of that? The way rabbit works is to remind you that you call your fears to you. You literally speak them into existence and pull them right out of the universe, so that they happen just as you feared. 

However, Rabbit doesn't leave you with only that reality. Rabbit also reminds you that you can release your fears to Great Spirit. 

Anytime I feel fear bubbling up inside me, I have taken to following Rabbit's advice. Rabbit suggests that, for most people, it isn't enough to just tell yourself not to fear something anymore. You have to DO something about it. My brain certainly works that way and I doubt that I am the only one. When I begin to fear something, I will write it down and then burn the paper. Or I will think about that fear and light a stick of incense and watch that smoke billow to heaven as I imagine my fear leaving my mind. Sometimes I even tap my chest and pretend I have an "eject" button on my heart and anytime I fear something I just press that button and imagine my fears shooting to the Sun where they are turned into energy that gives life to the world. However you need to make the gesture to get rid of your fears, I encourage you to do it. 

Making a physical gesture to symbolize a mental or spiritual change is a timeless and age-old phenomenon. Think about Baptism, a marriage ceremony, inaugurations, awards, or cutting your hair after you break-up with someone. These are all physical gestures of a mental, spiritual, emotional change that has taken place inside you. It is symbolic that something is different about you now. This change often happens on the inside. Making it a physical gesture then allows it to also become part of your physical reality, which is the reality we hold to most dear. We tend to think our physical reality is the "real" reality. So if that is where we "live" then making changes in our minds and hearts isn't always going to be enough to bring about lasting transformation. We will have to make a move, we have to DO something. We have to make a physical gesture to create a lasting internal change. 

No comments: