There was some synchronicity in my life today. At lunch, we talked a bit about identity, and how people will naturally divide themselves into groups – Republican or Democrat, vegetarian or carnivore, religious or atheist, etc.
The initial question became why? Well, people just like the things they become passionate about. Okay, but why does that divide us?
I think there are a couple of reasons. 1) we like what we like and therefore want others to naturally feel the same. In this case, we exert our own ideas and agendas onto other people. 2) we feel attacked by others when they believe that the things they like are ‘better’. I put better here in quotes because we are perceiving they think their things are better. Really, we only feel this way because they like their thing and do not consider the things we like as high up on their own list.
This is a tough one to crack. I think in our culture we put so much concern on other people’s perceptions, that if they don’t like what we like, we become defensive about it. Ultimately, by doing either of these two things we are isolating ourselves. We put ourselves into smaller groups. My point during lunch is that divisiveness is only bad when we isolate ourselves from everyone else and/or if we don’t let ourselves accept that what we like does not need to be liked by others (and vice versa).
One of my co-workers, Bill, questioned if this meant that we should stay away from identifying ourselves with icons or specific categories. To which my other co-worker, Chad, mentioned that identity was an important part of life. This is where things get interesting. To Chad’s point, if we did not have an identity in some way, what would be the point of existing? We like the things we like and we want to spend time with people who like the same interests. Identity can bring a lot of fulfillment to life, and that can definitely become a beautiful part of living. Internally, I did agree with this, but I knew there was some part of me that disagreed at the same time. I didn’t feel balanced at that moment, but my questions were answered later as I went for a run listening to my audiobook.
In my current book, The Energy Codes by Dr. Sue Morter, Dr. Morter talks about these seven codes that will allow us to connect body, mind, and soul. As I was reading through the first code, I think I recognized why my conversation earlier did not feel correct. The first code deals with anchoring our souls to our body and mentions that we must bring together soul and body to achieve our highest potential. To do so, we must focus inward on our bodies. She points out that our identity is within ourselves and not outside. With our above conversation, we were tying together that our identity comes from what we like to do. This is tricky, because what ‘we like to do’ can often be more external than internal. These external likes are what truly divide ourselves, and it disconnects our body from our soul. Dr. Morter’s first energy code specifies that we must focus inward to truly know who we are. Once we look inward, we recognize that we are not divided by recognizing who we are and what we like. Rather, we become connected to the world around us.
After explaining the code, Dr. Morter mentioned a powerful exercise that caused me to reevaluate how I perceive the world. She mentioned an exercise that we can all do to focus inward. First, we must look at an object (or person) standing 5 feet away. We should send all of our thoughts and energy into that object. Sit for a few moments and notice how this feels. Next, we must draw all of our energy back into us and see how this feels. The exercise is meant to cause us to spend mindful attention looking inward at what it feels like to be in our body. The interesting part was when she explained her own experience with this exercise. Now let me preface one thing. Dr. Morter can sometimes be a little unrelatable because she has experiences that the normal human does not have, however, this should not cause immediate invalidation.
With her exercise, Dr. Morter mentioned she will have everyone attending the workshop send their energy at her. Then she has them draw it back into themselves. She mentions when this happens, she is literally forced backward when they send their energy. When they bring their energy inward, she is drawn to them. Take away the ‘paranormal’ experience part of this. These words still make logical sense. When we exert outwards, we would push people away, and when we pull inwards, we bring them to us. The point of anchoring ourselves inward is because as we disperse our energy outwards, we literally push outwards on those around us. We can have great intentions of helping others, but by focusing outward, ultimately we are pushing on people.
I can attest that as I understood my own identity over the course of my journey, I began to look inward to see myself. As I did this, I began to draw success in my work life and I found myself bringing people to me. As if they were drawn to a beacon, people were appearing seemingly out of nowhere to help me continue to learn my identity and better myself. However, I still have a lot of work to do to anchor myself. I spend a lot of time focusing outward at other people, especially at work. I want to help everyone, and by doing that, I need to recognize I push people away. When I focus inward and really work on myself, this is when I draw people to me to help me become a better version of myself. This is what will generate true success.
