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Balancing Body and Soul

Relationships have been said to begin with a metaphor — the desire to invent a narrative that weaves your lives together in a way that you can read as destiny.

I came across this quote in an article on twiblings but it struck me as applicable in another way—the relationship we weave between body and soul.

I did something quite unusual for me this week—twice! I took care of myself. I don’t mean that I didn’t let someone else take care of me. In both instances I decided that my body needed some care and I would make my body a priority over the needs of others (and my own need to be there for others).

Although this is a small personal triumph, I write about it because I just finished reading (yet) another book on the secret of Kabbalah—the secret is “giving”.  The arguments for giving are undeniably very spiritual sounding—giving is the antidote to egoic selfishness.

A new narrative that I am suggesting we explore—and then weave together is our relationship with our body.  Our body’s signals call us to pay attention to how much we are giving and how much we are receiving.  A body out of balance reflects the weariness of what it is carrying, in my case the weariness of body shows up in my neck and hip.

So let us be wary of being weary—by wearing out our welcome of a relationship gone awry with our body—a narrative that speaks too much of altruism and giving to others without enough story of how we care for ourselves. Here is then a secret of Kabbalah (and life)—find the right balance.

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