Everything you Evoke Exemplifies Evidence of Embodyment

So, I ask annoying questions all the time.

Who are you?

What do you want?

How did I actually manage to get in your house, thinking it was mine?

Why are you still screaming?

Jeez, I’m going already…

You know, the usual.

But sometimes they’re pretty daunting to answer. And the last two usually involve cops, so it’s a different level of urgency when it comes to the answer.

But if you don’t know where to start, then you could look at different aspects of your life for clues.

I’ve banged on previously about looking at the stories and characters we feel drawn to. Archetypes of awesomeness and behaviour that we either aspire to or use as affirmation about who we are. (Or think we are. They’re not always the same thing. Buts that’s another long-winded conversation about the Shadow and its super fun integration.)

We could also consider what and where our standards are, because they also tell us something about our beliefs, which in turn tell us about our core values. Which is kind of a big deal to most people, and a massive part of what makes us, us. Possibly the only exceptions being narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths. But usually their core value is themselves, so that kind of still counts… If you do the mental gymnastics necessary anyway.

But, what if there’s other stuff to look at?

Hands up who’s heard the saying “how you do anything is how you do everything”?

Thanks for that guys, don’t all hurt yourselves in the rush…

On the upside, you’ve proven the truth of that statement. Go you and your slow raising arms!

How many things do you actually do your absolute best in? Like, 3 things? Is one of them Netflix binge-ing? Sorry, that was mean and uncalled for. BUT, even if that was the case, how honestly invested in the absorption and digesting of this season of Ozark are you? Maybe 3 episodes in, are you nodding off after the snack coma that you induced with effortless consumption of… whatever your particular poison is?

What does that say about how invested you are about things that you allegedly like to do?

Probably not much. And that’s the GOOD stuff.

What about everything else? Work, family, health, cooking, relationships, driving, learning, clipping toenails?

What kind of responses are you coming up with just now? Are you surprised you’re still alive based on how you care for yourself, let alone drive? Are your bedsheets shredded by those jagged edged boxcutters you have one the end of your feet because you just didn’t give enough of a shit about cutting them?

What do you think that effort says about you as a person? Really, deep down, what?

That what you do matters? Well, if I’m not being a touch too mean, and that actually is pretty close to the mark with you… probably means not much.

And how long has this been going on? Long enough that its “just how things are”? And if that’s how things have been for long enough, is there any kind of feeling associated with these things in your life anymore?...

Yep, sorry Darryl, I’m being mean today. Truth bombs, away!!!

So here I am, ripping on you again. Like a jerk.

Does that mean it’s not true? Or right? Or accurate? Or relevant?

That’s what I thought.

Anyway, back on point time, sorry Ned.

If the answers you have about the things you do aren’t particularly encouraging, how does that make you feel about your life and what happens in it?

Is it sting-y enough to put a bit more presence in how you go about your life?

Because that’s the realisation we all need at some point. I get one about once a month. Those sometimes gentle, sometimes brutal, reminders that maybe I’m in 3rd gear (at best) with what I’m currently doing. About all sorts of different shit. And its confronting to acknowledge that maybe this or that could be better, let alone a whole life, if I just addressed the present-ness I use with whatever the hell it is I’m looking at right then and there. Better, or more enjoyable, or done right the first time, or something to genuinely learn from.

So, it boils down to this…

EVERYTHING you do matters. Because its all evidence of where you can cut corners or put the hard yards in.

Everything YOU do matters. Because you are always watching yourself, and your sneaky bastard brain and behaviours reflect what you let yourself get away with. Or step up to.

Everything you DO matters. Because the doing of something, and the outcome, is the ultimate evidence. “Is it good enough, me?” you ask. “Eh, I’ll take it for today, other me,” you lackadaisically reply. (Which is damning enough, right?)

Everything you do MATTERS. Because it always does. We don’t get to compartmentalise our personalities as much as we wish. Its just a matter of how much life and stuff and things, especially yourself, means to you.

So, if everything you do matters, what are you telling yourself with your thoughts and actions?

Are you telling yourself that you, or the life around, is worth anything? A thin shred of effort? Because regardless of if you’re invested or not, you are setting a standard for yourself, across the board. Is that a standard you’re actually happy with?

Everything can have meaning, if you look for and allow it. Just depends on you and what meaning you want even the smallest things to have.

Look at what you do. It’ll tell you a lot about you and what you think about you right now.

Some of it won’t be nice. Frankly, that’s the point. We do what we do in the way we do it, mostly because its easy. And that’s the problem. Our bodies and brains are built for “efficiency” (read minimum effort exerted all the time, forever. Ease. Comfort. Convenience).

But is that getting you what you want?

Maybe. Maybe not.

If you’re not happy with what you have, maybe you need to examine your actions on the daily. Those will show you why you don’t have what you want, let alone give examples of what you are currently invested in (“efficiency”) instead of asking what you actually, genuinely, wholeheartedly want.

Be kind, be smart, be your best you. No bar fights.

“It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use” Sam Abell