I wrote this piece a number of years ago, before I began studying Somatic Therapy, but it spoke to me again.
I was recently wandering down the beach contemplating “noticing” as I had just read an article on it the day before where the Author, Anne Wilson Schaef, had written “Noticing is our gift as humans. Often we don’t notice that we have it.”
So I was practicing the gift of noticing - noticing how my mind can’t hold its attention very long as it flips between noticing my inner dialogue (not very interesting and somewhat offensive) and noticing the finer details along the sand where the wave meets my feet. This contemplation of noticing on this day led to ALOT of noticing. ( Sorry in advance if you notice how many times I use the word notice).
As I walked past an older fisherman I caught his eye so I could smile at him and I noticed that he took that kindness too far and there was a slight alarm within my body (nervous system preparing to fight or flee), but I dismissed it in this moment. I noticed an older woman on the beach doing yoga and I noticed my body saying “YES let’s do that a bit further down in our spot”. So I walked down to the spot, enjoying the sense of space and freedom to move my body on the beach, looking out to the sea, enjoying my aloneness.
Not long after I started stretching and moving the energy in my body I noticed the fisherman walking past me ( I had walked past him about 1km back) I noticed how he kept looking in my direction and I noticed my body become alert and attentive.
He moved on and I kept doing what I was doing but he came back and this time he wanted more than to look, he wanted to come right in. I noticed how my body’s energy shifted to embody the warrior women pose I had just been shaping and before he could completely walk into my space I stepped forward and walked right into his, grabbed my stuff and said with my warrior women voice
“ I feel really uncomfortable with you watching me like you are and it’s not okay”.
The fisherman told me he was just curious about what I was doing and that he was trying to fish for pipis (bloody hell) the mother in me wondered whether I had over-reacted and he just needed to talk to someone, but the warrior in me said “fuck that, move on, get to a safe spot”. So I said my goodbyes and started jogging down the beach.
About 50 meters down the beach I saw three wise women waiting for me, waiting to catch me. They had seen the whole predatory situation and they had noticed how it didn’t seem right, they were ready to step in had I needed it.
My heart just blew open, I felt so held and noticed by these women. We chatted and I thanked them for noticing me.
Another 20 meters down the beach the older woman I had noticed doing yoga earlier stood in my path, and she too asked if I was alright, the fisherman had done the same thing to her and she had sensed he was subjecting his immoral attentions onto someone else, even though she could not see me down the beach.
All the way down the beach as I made my way back to my car I felt noticed by everyone, in a beautiful kind way, but almost to the point where I wondered if I had something stuck to my face and actually ran my hands over it to check.
I felt life had wrapped me in her hands, that because I had focused on noticing she let me know I was noticed too.
As mentor and as a woman on my own journey, noticing life is a fundamental tool. I encourage my clients to notice how they respond to food, relationships, cravings, stress, joys and challenges.
Our whole being has so much wisdom within that when we begin to notice what our body is saying we can address our health issues in a much faster way, we begin to find our flow, we begin to know ourselves and embody our wisdom.
We need to notice when we are Hungary. Go eat.
We need to notice when we are tired or unwell. It’s time to rest.
We need to notice when we are constantly feeling stressed, or sad or sick and if we are patient, we slow down and become attentive we can allow our body to tell us what we can do.
It does that when we notice.
Anne Wilson Schaef also added “We live in a culture that would prefer we did not notice somethings and we need to notice.”
Be In Flow my loves.