body – Surprised By Joy

“Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do.” – Orison Swett Marden

The other night Mr. D came up and asked me for the rock in my pocket. It’s a small rock that has “believe” etched into it. As a little man of patterns, he wanted to put it with the others in the collection – a beautiful group of rocks selected for me by a friend. The other ones say things like “love,” “leap,” “hope,” and “grateful.”

I can’t really explain why I carry a rock in my pocket. There are times in life, now being one of them, when things are just a little bit more of a grind. I get a little bit of flow when I reach in and feel the etching with my fingertips. It’s moments and months like I’m going through now where I’m scrambling to get all that’s on my plate done, a little too busy and discombobulated to discern direction so I need a little extra “belief.” And there are periods when I feel a little disconnected from my faith so I’m missing the extra charge for my spirit and I make up for it with a little physical memento.

On my third round of IVF, I got pregnant with Mr. D. At the 10-week ultrasound, the milestone in which I miscarried a baby a year earlier, the fertility clinic gave me a stone in which “BELIEVE” was etched. I thought it was an odd gift for a medical/science based institution but because I was so nervous given my previous miscarriage, I was delightfully reassured. The stone from the clinic was a little too big for my pocket but I put it under my pillow for the duration of my pregnancy so I could feel the coolness on the nights I was uncomfortable or worried.

One of the benefits I’ve gleaned from yoga and meditation is a feel for the body-mind-spirit connection. When I can’t find quiet in my mind, I can still my body instead, and the sooner or later my mind receives the benefit. In the moments when my spirit needs more foundation, rubbing my finger along an etching shores it up in an indescribable way.

So I’ve stopped worrying if it’s silly and just drop the “believe” rock into my pocket on days I need extra “umpf.” Mr. D is right though – when I’m in balance, it does belong with the group of other words that all work together to hold the goodness of life.

For more of my woo-woo words and a bit of humor, check out my post on the Heart of the Matter, It’s In The Cards

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” – Mark Twain

The other day in the privacy of my back yard, my 6-year-old daughter and her friends were using water balloons to pretend to pee. I started to say something about that being crude humor but then thought of back when I was climbing mountains. I had a She Wee which was a urinary redirector so that girls can stand and pee.

On one climb of Mt. Rainier, I was roped to three of my guy friends and had to pee at 13,500 feet. I walked as far away as I could while roped up, turned my back and used the She Wee. When I turned back to the group, one of my friends was looking at me and said, “Sorry, I couldn’t look away, that was fascinating!” I laughed because it WAS funny and not at all creepy.

What kids know that grown-ups seem to have forgotten is that bodies are funny, amazing and full of wonder. Both of my kids started laughing at “a-choo” by the time they were 6 months old and now most any sneeze, burp or fart makes them break into laughter. Pop a knuckle or get a scratch and they are fascinated. And though they cry when they skin their knees, both are completely entranced by the sight of blood.

The body is great at getting out what it no longer needs. We grow up and try to keep it in – emotions, bad meals, sickness and somehow in the process take it all too seriously. At my age, any twinge of adrenaline and I break out in a full sweat. And when I do yoga in the mornings, I close the doors to the family room just so my groans won’t wake the kids. Instead of trying to pretend it isn’t happening, perhaps I should laugh about it.

Back to funny stories from the mountains. There was the guy I wrote about who came back from the outhouse at 12,500 feet in the Caucasus Mountains saying, “I just spent five minutes dancing with my toilet paper.” And there was another incident on the way to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. We had set up our tents outside Namche Bazar at about 13,000 feet and our guides had created a toilet tent for us – a hole in the ground with a toilet seat sitting atop small luggage rack covered by a tall, skinny tent shaped like a telephone booth. One afternoon the wind came up and knocked over the toilet tent with someone inside. Once we helped him out of all that fabric and determined he wasn’t hurt, it was hilarious.

Perhaps it is because we are vulnerable while we are relieving ourselves that makes us forget that it’s funny. And even this cycle of life, as inglorious as it is, teaches us something. So we might as well eat, drink, and pee merry!

Is your body doing anything funny these days?

(featured photo is Miss O at 6 months laughing at a-choo!)

Tag: body

B-E-L-I-E-V-E

The Body of Humor