Photo by: Kevin Dooley
These last few days of Indian summer in Colorado have been so beautiful and I cherish them — the light breeze, warm (not burning hot) sun and the crispness to the air. I feel more balanced and grounded and have done more hiking and biking then I did all summer. I’m stepping out of my mental space and more into feeling and integrating, taking care to blend the mind, body and spirit parts into a new perspective — something I was unable to do as I spent the summer clearing and releasing old mental patterns.
As I’ve been focusing my energy inward, I’ve also noticed more and more people still very stuck in their mental space or “out of their body”. Yesterday I was headed to a client meeting when the woman next to me almost broadsided me, unaware the lanes were merging when the road paint had indicated the impending merge for at least a mile. The look on her face was pure shock, as if she had no idea she was even sharing the road with other drivers.
This is a clear example of what happens when people zone out so much in their mental space they are unable to stay connected to the task at hand, other than plowing through it unaware.
I totally understand that many people zone out in the car and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything grand. I say it’s just one small indicator of how little time people make for themselves to honor the process of integration between the mind, body and spirit to be present with what they are currently doing. And THAT can have big physical consequences on the body.
The Out of Body Experience
So what does being out of body really mean? To me, it means operating primarily from a mental space-only, racing against time to get it all done and pumping the body full of caffeine to keep the pace. Having a short fuse, poor eating habits, disrupted sleep, random feelings of exhaustion and a general sense of overwhelm or feeling like you cannot catch a break are also common. It can also create health issues without an identifiable cause or cure.
These are patterns we all experience from time to time, and that’s normal. They bring our mental “stuckness” to our attention so we can dig in and shift some things for clearing out and letting in the new. When it becomes a way of life, then the mental body is totally running the show — all the time— and that leaves little room for creative expression or new ideas to bubble up.
Depending on how you enjoy being physically active, the key point is to just do it regularly. Things like yoga, tai chi, hiking, biking, running, spending time at the gym — they all do so much more than give you a physical workout. They bring you back in touch with your own body, helping you connect in the present with how you are feeling and give you a way to release or work on releasing trapped emotions or breaking old thought patterns. The more you stay stuck in old mental loops and avoid getting in touch with what the body is telling you, you are giving the mind free reign to run the show. Then, you will experience life only through those perspectives or mental grooves, and that can be very limiting.
What Does Being Out of Body Feel Like?
I definitely can tell when I “check out” of my body. I feel spacey, confused and unsure of what choices are best for me or for my work. My appetite is off, I can’t seem to get into a rhythm and simple tasks take a really long time. My energy is also really low and slow, and I feel completely ungrounded.
Being present in the body is the only way to make creative leaps and revelations — otherwise new, innovative ideas remain in your head space and not actually executed on the physical plane. To live a busy life is always a choice, so if you honor your creative gifts and ideas, take the time to relax for a small amount of time each day and exercise, regularly, to get in touch with your own physical body and manage a busy pace in a more grounded, practical way — while still getting your ideas out there for the rest of us to appreciate.
So how do you “check out” sometimes. Can you feel yourself doing it?