Did you ever get in your car to go somewhere and realize that you do not have what you need? You forgot your wallet, shopping bags or list. You may have already started driving when you realize it. You turn back, go home to get what you forgot and start out again.
I find it stressful to scatter my energy and time in this way. Instead, I prefer to stop before leaving to see if I am ready. Sitting on the bench by the door, I look inside my bag. If something is missing, I get it before leaving the house. Then I feel ready, knowing I have what I need before leaving home.
My thoughts then shift to where I am going, how I will get there and what I am going to do when I get there. I am present and prepared.
Transitions involve leaving one place and going to another. Pausing to ask what I have and what I need builds self-awareness and confidence.
The pandemic was a transition to a new life. In it, we were responsible for making choices of how we would stay informed, healthy and socially responsible.
In the beginning of the pandemic, after an initial sense of feeling scattered, I stopped to take a deep personal inventory of what we had. Knowing what we had made me feel safe, and ready to meet the challenge. Knowing what we needed had the same effect of focusing my energy and grounding me.
When day to day life changes, we can lose the sense of what we need to do. We might find ourselves searching for what we already have, not knowing what we really need. An inventory provides information that can help.
In the inventory, I looked at our resources, not only the ones that nourish the physical body, but also the energetic (etheric body), soul (astral) body and spiritual (ego) bodies or aspects of being human. I considered all four, knowing they impact me and my health.
If it is a stretch for you to imagine the non-physical, then consider love and peace. Can you see them? No, but like the wind, you both see and feel their effects.
While taking an inventory, remember objectivity, stay neutral about what you have or don’t have. When you are out of rice, you are out of rice and need to put it on your shopping list. When you lack a habit of exercise, or reflection, or relaxation, you may choose to get one. No judgment, just information.
When I took an inventory, it strengthened me. You can do it, too. Your list will be different; mine serves only as an example, but I suggest you consider the four areas of our humanity.
Physical Body – Haves and Needs
1. Warmth – We have a home that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We installed a Japanese free-standing soaking tub in our upstairs bathroom for taking hot Epsom salts baths on cold winter nights.
2. Food – We have a food cooperative in our neighborhood where we find healthy food. We cook together daily. We increased the number of fruits and vegetables we eat, to at least ten a day, beginning with the fruit and vegetable blend in the morning.
3. Exercise – We have a morning yoga practice, weekly classes on zoom and a cardio-vascular work-out walk around the lake in the nearby park.
4. Needs – We needed a plan to address illness. We went for covid testing regularly which kept us informed. Our bodies are composed of minerals. I delved into the study of homeopathic cell salts by dusting off a book and the containers we had. I bought more to nourish cells in my body with mineral salts as indicated by symptoms.
Etheric (Energy) Body – Haves and Needs
1. Habits – We maintained our eating, exercising, working and relaxation schedules so everything had its time and place. It remained as the scaffolding for our days.
2. Space – we established our working areas within the open floor plan of our home so we could have the privacy and quiet we needed to focus on our own work.
3. Sharing and Conserving Energy– we needed new rhythms for seeing our children and grandchildren during the time of shifting restrictions. We established taco Tuesdays with our son and started bringing Sunday dinner to our daughter’s house where we visited with our grandchildren. Having rhythms in place reduces the energy needed for a gathering to take place, increasing the benefits.
4. Order – We needed to maintain order in our home while both working there, each cleaning up after ourselves before going on to the next thing. No messes left behind!
Astral (Soul) Body – Haves and Needs
1. Attention – We offer each other the warmth of attention when we wish each other well before parting company whether to sleep, work or go out. When we return, we check in. A simple gesture, like “Sleep well?” builds connection, strengthening the astral body.
2. Humor – We converse about what is happening to acknowledge events and at times, finding humor in the ironies of life. This brings levity to our connection with each other and the outer world.
3. Beauty – Our home is full of art and music which nourish our astral bodies. We took time to enjoy it.
4. Recreation – We needed to listen to the voice of our souls when they are calling for attention. Time in nature, walking, bicycling and kayaking fed this need.
Spiritual Body – Haves and Needs
1. Meditation – Our yoga practice involves meditation which we build on in our group class and practice independently each day.
2. Media – We choose our media intake with care, so to be inspired to love more and fear less. Once informed of events, we refrained from repeated exposure to news and opinions to avoid making situations appear worse than they are.
3. Integration – Our work is based on principles of caring about people and the planet over profit. We bring that philosophy home, supporting companies that share that philosophy, integrating our work and home lives. We shopped locally.
4. Freedom – What we needed in a polarized time is to remember to walk the middle road, to avoid dogmatism and make independent choices. It is the path to freedom.
This is the first time I recorded what we have had and what we needed. Until now, the inventory was a mental list. Having done so, I see that we are rich with assets, most of them habits of behavior that money cannot buy. I have stopped searching for what we already have and started celebrating it.
Looking back, I know this was not always the case. Over three decades of shared values and striving with a partner bore fruit.
Together, we have compiled resources that allow us to live our best lives no matter what
I know what I have and what I need. Our cupboards are full. We have enough.