Growing up with a brother whose birthday is two days before mine was perfect! We had epic joint birthdays with all our friends, and we celebrated one another.
Lately, I notice it getting harder to fully enjoy my own birthday.
Maybe, lately, it is my soul that loves celebrating a new year of life, while my mind knows that my body will age and change with time, and my dreams have an expiration date. Maybe my mind questions time and birthdays while my heart and soul cherishes them. Maybe my mind understands that if we all donated or volunteered on our birthdays, instead of throwing lavish parties, our souls might feel more as one.
“Happy birthday to you”
For POETRY IN EDEN’S first birthday, I ask you to please give anything you can to this organisation bringing homemade food to the homeless in Lisbon - GoFundMe Fundação E. J. Santos. If you will not do that, I ask you to please consider volunteering your time or your money towards something that makes you feel something and feel a part of something greater than the self.
Thank you for being a part of this journey! Onward with light and love! Enjoy this discount to become a POETRY IN EDEN paid subscriber.
Mind, body, soul harmony
We often feel a separation within ourselves: a critical voice judges our actions and experiences. This judge is the mind, analyzing and comparing, while the judged is our deeper, embodied self - our soul.
The mind focuses on outcomes, goals, and comparisons, creating a sense of separation from the present moment. Our soul, however, is fully engaged with life. Our body walks, talks, and performs countless tasks without conscious thought – the body operates on autopilot. Yet, the mind takes credit, reinforcing the illusion that we completely control this experience of being alive.
This illusion leads to self-criticism. When our bodies don't perform as expected, we feel like failures. We forget the body isn't a machine we control, but a part of the natural world, with its own desires and needs arising from bodily structures and functions (e.g., the stomach needing food and the blood needing oxygen).
We have been conditioned to ignore our bodies' needs, focusing on achieving the mind's goals. This disconnect is the root of discontent and self-hatred.
Instead of forcing our bodies to conform to our mental expectations, we should aim to understand their purpose. We should look deep into our souls to uncover its truest energetic frequency and way of expression - its purpose. Purpose comes from strength, wisdom, and knowledge attained via consciousness. The soul is consciousness.
The body is innocent; it simply follows its programming. It's the mind, with its constant desires and judgments, that creates the division within us. By shifting our focus to the mind's role in this internal conflict, and our purpose that gives back to the world from our soul, we can begin to heal the separation and cultivate self-acceptance.
Overcoming our insecurities & doubts
Our society and social media continues to experience a compounding, potentially vicious cycle with a hyper focus on the superficial.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to POETRY IN EDEN by Felicia A. Iyamu to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.