Do you hear that?
How to tune in to our alarm calls
Our youngest son (24), Isaac, and I went to a park near his home for a photography walk. He’s an analog guy, getting great evocative pictures with loads of nuance and feeling. I only want birds with my digital.
As we exited his car, I heard a cacophony of bluejays behind a wall of large trees separating us from a slow-moving, wide creek. Four or five jays were doing loud calls and in a complete dither. That many jays that worked up usually means a threat looms. Because of Jon Young’s book and my subsequent personal experience, I decided there’s a hawk about. Sure enough, the hawk called a few minutes later.
The alarm call is deeply purposeful for birds. It alerts all who know it (even nonbirds) that a threat is within reach. The loudest of these calls is complete silence. That means a threat isn’t just in reach but is imminent. If the forest falls silent at certain times of the year, you’re right to raise your awareness. Not so much for your safety, but you might be about to see a fox or some other larger creature of interest.
We all have a system of warning within us. Our bodies tell us a great many things. Signals come on a nearly second-by-second basis. However, the busyness and noise of life have a way of making us deaf to these alarm calls. When these ignored signals go on for a while, the things they were alerting us to can have significant health effects. Unfortunately, we learn of the impact through a health professional after we’ve ignored our inner signals for weeks or even years.
To notice, attend to or even hear the alarm calls of our minds will take physical awareness many of us have demonized. Paul’s unfortunate use of the word “flesh” to describe what mostly likely was ego has created at least a few generations of deeply disconnected Christians. “Flesh” is universally bad, a conduit for all forms of evil, and therefore should be bypassed or so filtered that hearing what our bodies are saying becomes nearly impossible.
Couple this with the overwhelmingly hectic and noisy lives we are conditioned (if not addicted) to lead, and our body’s alarm calls have long ago become unavailable to us.
We reap a terrible consequence for this disconnection, surrendering a vast amount of information that could help us heal. Or perhaps sidestep situations, patterns, and modes of activity that harm us.
On a recent Zoom I was on, Dr. Judson Brewer shared:
“Our feeling body is stronger than our thinking mind.”
As we’ve labeled “flesh” evil and made our minds our supreme guide, imagine the handicap with which we’ve saddled ourselves.
From an article about emotions in the body:
Connecting your mind and body is integral to your overall well-being… ignoring, burying, or blocking your emotions may contribute to more illnesses. For example, when your mind-body connection is weak, you may neglect your emotional and physical health.
PES (pronounced: “PEZ”)
In counseling people (especially men) for many years, I’ve given the acronym PES (like pez dispenser but with an S) as a routine checklist for a check-in. It starts in our bodies; here’s how it works:
P
Doing a check-in on your physical status, at least daily and multiple times daily, is a good first step. I’d argue that dropping into your physical awareness throughout a meeting is deeply helpful. Am I carrying tension in my shoulders right now? Is my forehead strained? We all carry stress in our bodies we’re unaware of most times.
E
Your emotions come next. Next time you’re thumbing through your social media timeline, are you feeling jealous? Displeasure? Ill-regard? A lack of empathy? You’ll be surprised how susceptible we are to a flood of negativity in our down moments (usually when we thumb through social media). Unnoticed emotions can run in the background of our minds and wreak havoc on many of our intentions and, eventually, our actions.
S
And finally, are you connected spiritually? If you were able to sense the Spirit’s presence right now, would you feel connected? If not, why? Is it addressable? Do you need to confess something? Reconcile with someone who you’ve been at odds with of late.
Notice patterns to step out of them
Check-ins are ways to sidestep our patterns and routines. We get off auto-pilot. Life sneaks up on us; our alarm calls will give us the first sign of trouble. Turn them up through habits of awareness.
Be well, Feral Souls.