HEALTH AND WELLBEING.

Knowing Ourselves. 

There is a joy that comes from knowing ourselves and an angst that arises when we don’t. The word knowing, in relation to ourselves, brings to mind a cerebral picture of who we are, where we’ve come from. Yet an awareness of self, is more than intellectual, it is embodied.

The body is the foundation of our sense self, a self which sometimes we can mistakenly believe is our personality or our temperament. These character traits are moulded by our experiences and exposure to our cultural and social ideals that do not define the essence of who we are, they may define who we become.

The essence of ourselves lies literally within the fibres of our body. The tissues of our blood and viscera, our muscles- converge to form the picture of what the body and thus, self is. To grasp a sense of this is to to pay attention to the sensations of the body, the heart, the gut, to observe the subtle tensions and textures of the body. Scientist’s label this as interoception.

It is this inner feeling that we may yearn for when the strings of modern life and its pressures pull us in many directions. It is in attuning to these inner feelings that help us to grow, to heal. They give us and substance and resilience. The answer to the question who am I? To know ourselves intimately in this way frees us.

22. May. 2025.