Standing Tall

About ten years ago my father in law introduced me to golf. I took a few practice lessons and had the most amazing insight, my posture was off. Before I could hit the ball the way I was supposed to, I first had to practice how to stand straight! Well, while my golf game had to wait just because our two boys were born shortly afterwards and there hasn't been much time to play afterwards, I have managed to work on my posture and can finally report that I managed to straighten my spine.Yes, there was some back muscle building involved and I also lost some weight which helped with the posture; and then there were many, many hours of walking and standing upright despite the fact that this posture felt artificial. Perhaps most important of all, I changed my frame of mind. For me a hunched over posture is a symbol of having the world on one's shoulders. The Tao now shoulders a lot of my weight, I just show up for work, day in, day out.

Have you ever noticed how straight children walk? It indeed would be sad to see children who already feel the weight of the world on their shoulders. Your body reflects your state of mind. As you change your state of mind, so does your body change with it. Do you know that within every seven years your body completely replaces itself? Just imagine the possibility to sculpture your body! Erich Fromm once said that after 40 you are responsible for your face. I would add that just as you managed to pick some psychological baggage up, you always have the option to throw it overboard. Change your mind, change your body with it.