007—Change of Perspective
Firstly, I’d like to wish my best friend Itzamme a happy happy birthday! She turned 34 on Friday. She hates when I point out that we’ve been friends for over 20 years because it reminds her of the passage of time, but I love it! It’s no easy feat to stay friends for that long. And we’ve been through it all, together, with a shared sense of humor and our mirroring introverted extrovertedness. <3
The other day on my daily walk, I saw two young girls, around 9 or 10. They were doing handstands and cartwheels in the rain on the beach, not a care in the world, just happy flipping around. It reminded me of little Jessica! I used to love tumbling around doing handstands, cartwheels, backbends, backflips on trampolines. And even just tilting my head back at the edge of my bed. I loved the change of perspective, flipping my view upside down and discovering a whole new world. The ceiling was now the floor and doorframes now had high thresholds. A ceiling fan whirred counterclockwise on the floor, which held up gravity-defying furniture. And I imagined myself walking around in this inverted world, wondering what it would feel like and how it would be different from the world I knew.
I do still tumble around during my yoga practice, though admittedly not as often as I’d like, and certainly not as often as when I was 9 or 10. I was in gymnastics as a kid, after all! My dad even built me a wooden, carpeted balance beam that I would casually play and flip around on every night in the garage before or after dinner. I loved that so much. And I still sometimes lay my head and shoulders back on the edge of my bed—and with the added benefit of it helping my back pain (LOL).
Lately the added change of perspective has made its way into my life in a number of other ways. Firstly, my best friend Megan, who I’ve known since we were 19 and 20, just had her first baby, Luca. When I found out she was pregnant, I cried from sheer emotion—joy, of course, and disorientation. Here is my friend who I’ve known since we were practically children, for 15 years, and now she is having a child of her own. Often in my mind, we are still those young college students, and it’s moments like these that create a total shift in perception. A change that, once you settle in it, it makes total sense. It’s just life, now from a different perspective.
Secondly, another reminder to intentionally shift my own perspective about the world came from reading Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack. In pages 272-273, she gives a nice description of quantum theory and how randomness at the quantum level translates into probabilities of positions of the atoms and subatomic particles, which ultimately creates the perception of solid, liquid or gaseous matter.
Pollack writes:
“Modern quantum theory suggests that on the most basic level existence does not follow any rules or determined laws. Particles interact at random, and what we observe as natural laws are actually aggregates of probability giving the appearance of determinism.”
She writes, it’s like how a coin tossed enough times will eventually come out to an even number of heads and tails, but you cannot predict what any one specific toss will be.
At the subatomic particle level, Pollack continues, “it is at this most basic level that we can see the most important implication of synchronicity, that existence does not follow rigid determinist laws in which all events arise from fixed causes. And yet at the same time, events have meaning. From all the random darting and spinning of particles emerges solid matter.”
So it’s all about perception and perspective. Love me some synchronicity and quantum theory.
Another perspective change for me recently has been in learning Reiki and becoming a certified Reiki practitioner. Reiki is a Japanese energy healing technique for relaxation and stress reduction. The practitioner places their hands lightly, or hovering just above, designated areas of the client’s body to channel Ki—or Chi, or Prana, or life force energy that animates everything in the Universe—to wherever needs healing in the body. I loved the training and being with a group of 10 women who all felt on the same wavelength, the same vibe. We each made comments about different spiritual or metaphysical or intuitive or clairvoyant experiences and everyone knew what the other was talking about. No one looked at you like you had three heads. You didn’t feel crazy. You didn’t hold back on any comments thinking no one would understand. You’re not crazy and they did understand. You could feel all the love and trust and good energy, good vibes in the room throughout those two days.
As we practiced various Reiki techniques and performing full sessions on each other, however, this is where I had the biggest shift in perspective: switching from thinking to feeling. There is a ‘map’ that we learned for where to place our hands; that is followed using the mind, yes, but this is more as a foundation from which to let universal intuition and your own inner knowing guide you to where you in the person’s body you can (physically) feel needs more energy healing. You’ll feel it as cold, heat, tingling, sweatiness, pulsating, or other ways that are totally specific to the healer, and typically only in the hands but it could be all over your body. The person receiving the energy healing will feel their own particular feelings. The sensations are very subtle. And it takes practice—extra if you’re still working on feeling more versus thinking—but feel it you will, as long as you stay open. <3
This week I’ve been:
Preparing for an upcoming trip to California, including getting some work done for Jackrabbit Studios, and spending time with friends who were in town visiting.
Reading: Nearly done with Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack. Still reading Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway. Reading the Reiki Level I and Level II manual I received during the Reiki certification training last weekend. And these articles:
Rich Latin Americans Transform Laid-Back Madrid into a New Miami from CityLab
Robert Hanssen, F.B.I. Agent Exposed as Spy for Moscow, Dies at 79 from The New York Times
The Blue-Strawberry Problem from The Atlantic
The Aspects of Manifestation We Shouldn’t Discount from The Atlantic
How Do Actors Find Housing When They Get Gigs Out of Town? Well, It Depends. From The New York Times
Advice on Life and Creative Integrity from Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson from The Marginalian
Writing: This week has been mostly reviewing notes and feedback from my trusted readers on Julia’s Orchids (thanks again!!), and still writing my morning pages (day 94!). A lot of my morning pages are recalling my dreams, which are always vivid, rich, detailed, and complex, and have lately transitioned fully to taking place on land. For several months earlier this year, my dreams were mostly in, on, above, or around some body of water, and on a boat or ship or other vessel of some kind. I’m interpreting that to mean I’ve landed from the heavy emotional journey through the sea of consciousness.
Photographing/Photo Editing: I’ve been taking photos of whatever catches my eye this week, and of friends and baby Luca.
Watching: The NBA Finals. It’s not looking too good for the Heat in Game 5 in Denver. The Nuggets are winning the series 3-1 :(. But I’m still happy and proud for Miami (an eighth seed!) getting to the finals.
Listening to: The Dreamcatcher playlist on Spotify. And Wim Hof’s YouTube channel, specifically his Guided Wim Hof Breathing Video. Wow. I did this a few times last week but I want to try to do this every day. Breathing—an odd thing to have to remind yourself to do, huh? I’ve tried Holotropic Breathing before, in a guided session with a group, and it was incredible. From what I’ve read online so far though, it’s not recommended to do Holotropic alone, so bring on the Iceman!
Happy breathing and perspective-shifting y’all! <3
Xo,
Jessica♾️