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The Busy Body - A Sibling Of Eckhart Tolle's Pain Body

by whpwhp

Have you ever noticed that your mind is chattering constantly? 
Have you ever been able to stop this chatter? Almost everyone
answers, "Yes" to the first question and "No" to the second one.

I call this part of ourselves the busy body. It is like a
restless, frisky kitten, pouncing on anything that draws its
attention and batting it about with no particular purpose other
than to keep itself constantly busy. In most of us, the Busy Body
is utterly unrelenting in its pursuit of items with which it can
play around. Any stimulation of our senses may set it off on a
series of mental associations, one leading endlessly to another
until a new focus catches its attention and then off it goes in
another series of directions.

I woke up one morning to the sound of a construction crew
hammering on the roof of a home across the street. I was tired
and annoyed to have my sleep interrupted, feeling I was being
treated inconsiderately by the universe.

My mind pulled on this thread of feeling inconsiderately
treated, finding that it was also attached to the neighbors who
had been partying the previous night, keeping me awake late;  to
blaming myself for not getting to bed earlier so that I wouldn't
be so tired; to blaming myself for blaming myself rather than
being kind and compassionate with myself.

This started a new series of thoughts about my practice of
meditation, disciplining my mind so that it would not constantly
chase bits of chaff blown in the breezes, winds and storms of my
thoughts and imagination; and then turning a corner to chase
memories and speculations about my uses of WHEE (a self-healing
method) with myself to release bunches of my self-criticisms; and
then off to threads of WHEE that tangled into untidy webs of
memories about clients I was helping with WHEE and some of the
lessons I was learning along with them about my own issues that
needed clearing...

In classical Freudian psychoanalysis this process would be
called "free association," which is presumed to be a completely
normal activity of the mind. In fact, free association can reveal
much about ourselves when we observe the threads of associations
that we weave.

The patterns in the weaving help to uncover ways that we defend
ourselves from anxieties, fears and hurts that were long ago
buried and forgotten by our consciousness - but remain alive and
very active in the depths of our unconscious mind. By practicing
observing these patterns we learn to disengage from them to the
extent that we can catch ourselves chasing about and bring
ourselves back on tracks of our conscious choosing.

I find it more helpful to identify this part of ourselves as
this restless, mischievous kitten I call the busy body. This is
similar to Eckhart Tolle's identification of the pain body, an
inner aspect of ourselves that thrives on pain and seeks
frequently to cause and experience pain.

Tolle notes that when we become aware of the pain body, it is
possible gradually to reduce its intensity by disengaging our
energies from it. Tolle's approach is to constantly bring our
awareness back to the Now, the present moment, the only moment
that actually exists. This, like psychoanalysis, is usually a
process that takes a very long time to learn and master.

Anxieties, worries, fears and pains increase the activity of the
busy body. They also make it more difficult to control the pain
body and to stay in the Now.

Calming the busy body is also very helpful in developing a
practice of meditation. By quieting the mind, we are able to stay
centered and move more deeply into the meditative states we are
pursuing.

WHEE (Whole Health - Easily and Effectively) is a powerful
method for decreasing anxieties and other stress reactions, which
then slows down the busy body. For instance, sorting myself out
at the end of my meanders described above:

I realized my most intense annoyance was with myself. I used
WHEE, tapping on either side of my body while reciting an
affirmation, until I released this irritation. This helped me
settle my mind down to where I could concentrate on what I needed
to do that day.

Working as a wholistic psychotherapist, many of my clients have
reported they also find WHEE helpful with their busy body, their
pain body, and with the stresses that often made it difficult to
deal with these challenging parts of themselves.

More on WHEE in articles detailed on my website.

I'm a wholistic psychiatric psychotherapist, with a passion for
teaching self-healing, bodymind and personal spiritual awareness.
I authored Healing Research, Volumes 1-3 and many articles on
wholistic healing. I am editor of the International Journal of
Healing and Caring http://www.ijhc.org, a Founding Diplomate of
the American Board of Holistic Medicine; and appear
internationally on radio and TV. 
See <a href="http://WholisticHealingResearch.com">More by and
about Daniel Benor, MD<a/>

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