Colour has suddenly appeared on my street. The blooms on the huge magnolia tree outside of my window are ready to burst open in unison with other magnolia trees on neighbouring yards. Early spring bulbs such as daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths tease me with the promise of warmer weather even tricking me into wearing inappropriately light clothes when it's still only 40 (10 C) degrees outside. Every day there is more of an abundance of growth and colour. Change is swift and delightful.

Nature reminds us that nothing we perceive with our physical senses is permanent. Each magnolia blossom, each flowering daffodil, hyacinth or crocus bloom is a fleeting burst of joyful energy that seems to be gone almost as soon as it was here. The point, it seems, is to first be accepting of the impermanence, and second, to fully appreciate the experience with all your senses.

In the grand scheme of universal forces, our physical bodies are no different to a flower's bloom: beautiful, fragile and temporary. Aging, illness and injury are evidence of impermanence. Because our ego "I" identifies with the body as part of its identity, this fragility is terrifying. The ego "I" can't trust the body to keep it safe forever. As a result, the ego "I" tends to fear the body and because it fears it, hates it too. The ego "I" then attacks the body with fear-based thoughts and blames it for anything that is going wrong in the person's life. Examples of attacking beliefs about the body are: "I'm fat", "I'm too old", "I'm ugly", "I hate my legs", "I'm out of shape", "I'm sick", "I have cancer". Examples of blaming beliefs are, "I can't get that job because I'm too fat." or "I am too ill to live my life comfortably". When these thoughts happen, the person is identifying entirely with the body. In the moment they are thinking these thoughts, they are the body.

Last weekend, I attended one of the Omega NYC workshop series, James Van Praagh's Soul Retreat workshop. Consistent with what I teach in our Growing Whole in Soul workshop, Van Praagh repeatedly impressed upon the group that "We are spiritual beings having a human experience." What this suggests is that we have a greater purpose for being here apart from living day-to-day.

To help understand what Van Praagh is talking about, it may help to imagine that we are comprised of separate bodies: each of us has a physical body, an emotional body, a mental body, an astral body and several higher spiritual bodies. Imagine that your physical body is a marionette through which the mental, emotional, and to an extent, spiritual bodies communicate. In this way, the physical body is an instrument of the mental body; as a telephone is to a caller. The body's job therefore is to act based on the thoughts it is given. If the thought exists, "I'm too fat", or, "I'm too old", or, "I'm sick", then the underlying belief is, "I am bad" (need to be punished), or "There is something wrong with me." (am not perfect). When "I" becomes synonymous with the body, the body becomes the target for punishment and attack. It is no wonder then that gym memberships go unused, diets don't work, chocolate sales increase and people get sicker and more depressed.

For spits and giggles, let's take out the "I" and replace it with, "This body". The beliefs now read, "This body is too fat", "This body is too old", "This body is sick", and "This body has cancer". Now that , "I", is no longer the subject, we can see the belief objectively as an "other". This separation of the 'I' that thinks the thoughts and expresses the beliefs (mostly the ego "I"), and that which is "this body" helps use to realize two things:

Watch these videos of Byron Katie doing The Work with a woman who holds the belief, "My body is too fat" to see how it is possible to find happiness when thoughts and perceptions about what is, change:

The body's natural tendency is for wellness. On a molecular level, the body is constantly regenerating. Studies have shown that most of the cells and tissue in our bodies are between 5 and 11 years old. As the body regenerates, it is doing its best to bring its systems into balance. However, our unchecked mind and actions sabotage the body's efforts. Given the right circumstances, the body can heal instantaneously. Dolores Cannon, in her books, cites several instances where physical healing was made possible during a Past Life Regression Therapy session –where the body took direction from the Higher self, or the Divine "I" and released the trauma. In a session I had with client recently, the Higher self directed and oversaw the healing of a deviated septum. Listen here for this fascinating excerpt of the session describing the healing using coloured light:

And with that, I leave you with these ideas...