All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are. Pema Chödrön

Recently, I joined (well rejoined) a gym. Which is not noteworthy in itself but it’s kind of unnecessary as I’m already a member of a fitness studio where I regularly do four or five classes a week. By most people’s standards, that is a decent amount of exercise. 

But I wasn’t getting the results (read: high expectations) that I wanted and things weren’t panning out as I expected. So, the ego goes:

‘Things aren’t working out, push harder.’

As such, I upped my workouts to eight a week. 

And immediately got sick. So, the body (one of our best and most accurate oracles) goes…

‘I’m physically stopping you right now.’

I didn’t have it in me to workout for more than a week. I was physically stopped from old patterns and easy to grab “go to” situations and firmly placed right in front of my soul (or Id), unable to escape.

So, the soul goes…

‘Try something else. As long as you are free.’

Which is counter intuitive. Which is counter society. Which is counter logic. Because rarely, if ever, do you hear or absorb the message that working out is not a good thing. And the more you do, the better you feel, right? 

Where am I at now? I’m experimenting. I’m experimenting with resting more (perhaps temporarily until the ego kicks back in).

What I’m not saying is…

…that I am giving up working out, or even aiming to work out less. What I am saying is that I’m willing to experiment with sitting with the soul (the greater/deeper part of me, whatever you/we want to call it) and seeing what resides there. What wisdom exists that counterbalances ‘things aren’t working out, push harder.’

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