Inward And Outward – December 17, 2022 (377/365)

Last night I got on a long-overdue call with one of my good friends whom I call a brother from another mother. I appreciate Jonas for his perspectives on life, and how we always seem to draw wisdom from each other literally every time we converse.

The last time we talked was some time last year, if not earlier this year. I could remember only because I was telling him about how we were still wearing face shields and face masks here in the Philippines. See, fear was the topic, and he went on with sharing about how things in his side of the world were definitely easier, especially when it came to handling the famous (and not necessarily notorious) virus. I was pretty jealous as he described how there were literally no more restrictions where he lived, and people were free to go about their business without wearing any face masks – and there were no ‘spikes’ or sudden increases in positive cases. He was saying that it wasn’t about an effective quarantine and immunization system, more than it was just people and families no longer tolerating the seemingly global mandate to live in fear.

So as we caught up on this more recent call I was more than happy to report that this same ease in restrictions has finally made its way to our shores, and we’ve been experiencing different ‘spikes’ – that is, an almost parabolic increase in the number of tourists visiting our fair city, now that there are no more lockdowns, and the holiday season has started full swing. Of course, Jonas was happy about it, and we were just celebrating how people are no longer wanting to live in fear, and, in his words, how we are no longer looking at our fellow human beings as ‘biohazards’.

I had to stop him there to appreciate his choice of words. Indeed, fear can be so brutal as to change our view of other people; it warps our view of ourselves by way of overemphasizing our own vulnerabilities, and as such, it’s only a matter of time until we see only the risks in others as well.

We then came to the need to inspect ourselves at what we call the cellular level – that is, to look at our thoughts, and even deeper. See I learned from our call that Jonas left the therapy job he was enjoying, to learn and to train under a new business which specialized in what he called, ‘deep needling’; and this is where I learned that such a craft exists, separate from Chinese acupuncture. Deep needling is utilized specifically to reach and treat muscles and other similar body components which could not be relieved using conventional massages. Our ‘cellular introspection’ would also have us using specialized tools and techniques to get to deep-rooted thoughts and ideas that have a hand in our faulty movements.

And there really isn’t much to it – I know I said ‘specialized tools and techniques’, but I think that it’s just us being more intentional in our deep-diving into the fears which inhibit us.

Or if we aren’t so keen to deep dive our fears, perhaps we ought to deep dive our purpose. Our passions. Perhaps to hit two birds with one stone, rolling with the same principle I point out when I say that we shouldn’t prioritize telling people how to avoid hell over telling them how to get to heaven. In the same token if we are motivated to at least spell out what motivates us, then we would move from inspiration, and not out of desperation. And it’s not to say we ignore our fears – no, rather, I think we would pay respect to our fears, or indirectly recognize them at least, as we put them in their place – that is, second to what we appreciate, and what inspires us.

And here’s where we came up with another ‘coin’ of sorts – There are things we learn about ourselves inwardly by way of our moving outwardly, and there are things that would have us move outwardly by way of what we learn inwardly. That sounds like a disaster to interpret so I’ll say that we move and are overwhelmed, and we are overwhelmed, so we move.

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Why, I called 2022 our year of getting overwhelmed by the love of God… and I’m about to jump into 2023, saying that we move out of our getting overwhelmed.

Jonas also reminded me of his diving into the books of Steven Pressfield, and I think I’ll be going over them very soon. Without wanting to spoil too much, he was very enthusiastic about the concept of us growing outside of ourselves. We kept talking, and we agreed that moving outside of ourselves is not without us thinking outside of ourselves; Which is right up our alley, as it supplements what we had to say about moving and being overwhelmed. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it all begins with the mind, but I will say that we’ve at least unearthed the vital connection between our minds and our bodies, our thoughts and our actions.

And sure, this all sounds pretty obvious, but for those of us who are in the body of Christ, we unfortunately prioritize our movements and actions – or, even our thoughts and ideas, sure – by way of putting them in a pedestal where they simply cannot stand. I say that just as we ought to be recognizing money as a tool, so we should look at our thoughts and actions as tools as well. So, wherever we are in the spectrum – whether we draw learning from our moving, or we are moving from what we are learning; we recognize that we are never without Christ, whose glory and grace is present through it all. It’s Christ who’s on the pedestal, and is consequently present in all of His creation.

Unfortunately around this time I’ve had to cut things off, because I was headed out to meet some friends. And what’s even more sad is that there weren’t tidbits as deep as what I’ve drawn from my conversation with Jonas, to be had with those folks. But, this is not to put them down. Perhaps there wasn’t anything by way of motivational anecdotes of the like, but maybe we just needed to spend time together, and shoot the breeze – perhaps there was already value in that.

Either way, again – Christ’s glory and grace is present, in me and through me, no matter who I talk to. He’s even with us right here and now, as you go through this. And with that said, thank you.

Until the next post, God bless you.