Today’s task:
Give your body what it needs.
Today I found myself on embarking on yet another adventure to 1) Get a ticket for a bus to Santa Teresa tomorrow and 2) Visit the San José farmers market.
I decided to take the local busses instead of traveling via Uber, which while keeping me on my toes, resulted in a rather mentally taxing morning, and I lost the motivation to make it to a dance class this afternoon.
Hence, today’s task, which is to give your body what it needs.
“If you are not aware of what your body needs, you can’t take care of it.”
– The Body Keeps the Score – pg. 275
This was a standout line from my reading today, which was quite appropriate considering the organic nature of my morning. I often find it hard not to cry while reading The Body Keeps the Score. I think a lot of it has to do with the way that some of the featured clients talk about their own issues and it really hits home for me. The way that we dissociate from our bodies, numbing ourselves from pain that we may have experienced in childhood or as an adult.
Today I let the tears flow as I thought about reading the reviews or journal entries from participants in my own courses in the future, and the impact that I hope to have on people. Being able to bring healing to the lives of others feels incredibly rewarding to me, to know that I could help someone else in their journey in such a way that they feel motivated to live and love again. And honestly, to learn to love themselves. (I found there’s a cool way to link the waitlist to Aligned Farm Design at the bottom of my posts, so if you’re interested in learning more, you can do so that way.)
It can be easy for farmers to brush off the nuances of what they feel in their body by plunging ahead and going forth with whatever their task in the field is that day. The emotional pain can be buried by physical exertion.
But it takes a lot more courage and a very open heart to pause, reflect, and notice what’s going on down deeper inside one’s psyche. Fear of what we will find often stops us from digging. And some of us are so addicted to the feeling of pain or discomfort that we’ll revel in it because it’s so familiar.
There’s often this assumption that if you are a farmer it means you have to compromise – on your health, on your financial stability, on balance regarding work and play and family…but when I think about it, the people that I met over the seven and half years or so that I worked in a retirement home, the most physically and emotionally fit individuals were those that grew up on their farm and were living on it until they could no longer. Farming keeps the mind active because you’re constantly problem-solving, and it keeps the body active through manual labor (depending on what kind of operation you manage).
As I meditated this afternoon, I thought to myself, I wonder if one of the reasons that Costa Ricans are so spiritually minded is because they’re so deeply connected to nature. Even in the city, there’s still living, tropical plants everywhere.
I got my hair cut by a woman yesterday afternoon who does it from her own home, and she mentioned to me that it was a great day to have chosen to get my hair cut because it was a full moon. I’ve heard this in astrology videos before, about certain rituals that we should be doing on a full moon, and cutting hair on that day is supposed to make it grow faster.
Her comment was one small reminder of the everyday influences of spirituality I see in the culture here. That, and the way that “Dios”, or “God” is interwoven into sentences. “Si Dios nos permite”, “Que Dios le bendiga”, “Gracias a Dios, estoy bien”. If God lets us, Blessings to you from God, Thank God, I am well.
I also can’t help but think that the connection to nature is what keeps bringing people back here, or to visit for their first time. If there’s anything I’ve taken away from my time here at the hostel, it’s that people spend money, travel, and take vacations every single day of the year. No exception.
When it comes to farming and starting a business, it can be so easy to think that “Oh, no one is going to buy my product because it’s too expensive”, or “What if the service I’m providing isn’t good enough?” It’s more productive, though, to lean into curiosity instead, asking yourself, “How can I make sure that I’m providing a ton of value to my customers?” or “What would a standout customer experience look and feel like?” or “What would lead to a stellar review of my product?”
This, in my mind, is where the fun and creativity starts.
A scarcity mindset asks “What if?”, proposing a slew of scenarios of things that may or may not happen. Or telling yourself you can’t before you’ve even given yourself a chance to consider the very real possibility that you could.
An abundance mindset commits and says, “I’ll figure it out.” It’s peace within the body, relaxed shoulders, deep breaths. It’s faith in humanity.
Tying this back to today’s task, giving your body what it needs necessarily requires an abundance mindset, because it often has to do with setting healthy boundaries, saying no, turning offers down, going in a different direction, resting when others want to go, and believing in the return on investment of taking care of yourself. This is also directly related to the types of products or services you put out into the world, your positioning, and the impression that others have of your brand. By creating something that’s truly unique, built/grown/raised with integrity and intention, there’s no reason that financial abundance shouldn’t follow.
