Feeling our thoughts -- body tells and microexpressions

**AlanFromWichita** · #1 Jul 22, '12, 12:45 pm

Sometimes we say, "that sends shivers down my spine," or "that makes my skin crawl."

Here we actually are having physical sensory experiences because of the way we think.

How far can we take that? Can we learn to control it?

We hear something upsetting and feel tightness in our neck. Or maybe our chest. Our pulse and blood rate change depending on our feelings which depend on both our thoughts and our senses. Sometimes thoughts can give us an immediate headache. Why?

I've just been thinking about this a lot lately, after watching some videos about body language and microexpressions.

In myself, I've noticed great changes in my sensitivity, especially in the last few days which is what prompted me to post. Even the most nuanced of thoughts I can feel in muscles, and this happens routinely like all the time. Like while I'm typing this sentence I felt just a very tiny "pressure changes" in my right eyelid and I feel very very slight motion in my brow. When I'm really quiet (as in contemplative prayer) as I quiet down I just become more sensitive to smaller ones.

Anyone else feel like talking about feelings v thoughts v physical reactions? Does anybody but me even think about this stuff?

Here's a more nerdy aspect of it: are the reactions a result of the thoughts, or are they instrumental in helping the brain and nervous system process a thought? So do our muscles actually help us think? We know the muscles actually move, so how does any given thought decide which muscles it will influence?

Alan

Rejoice Always · #2 Jul 22, '12, 1:59 pm

Do you think that something like John leaping in the Elizabeth's womb be similar?

Or, as in today's Gospel, Jesus feels pity (Mark 6:34). I heard a priest give a homily on this word pity in Greek (and saw a forumite with it as a handle), splagchnizomai. The priest said it means pity and compassion, but that they were too limited, that it was more like something felt in your guts, a visceral reaction.

And now I'm recalling Jesus sweating blood while praying at Gethsemane.

**AlanFromWichita** · #3 Jul 22, '12, 2:10 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rejoice Always

Do you think that something like John leaping in the Elizabeth's womb be similar?

Or, as in today's Gospel, Jesus feels pity (Mark 6:34). I heard a priest give a homily on this word pity in Greek (and saw a forumite with it as a handle), splagchnizomai. The priest said it means pity and compassion, but that they were too limited, that it was more like something felt in your guts, a visceral reaction.

And now I'm recalling Jesus sweating blood while praying at Gethsemane.

Wow. Those are wonderful and extreme examples! Thank you for posting this.

Maybe it's a sort of mind/body harmony, where anytime something changes there is a response!

Alan

**GEddie** · #4 Jul 22, '12, 2:10 pm

Our human body is a rational mind piggybacked onto an animal being. Our senses, limbs, and nervous reactions were developed through ages of biological development.

As such, our body reacts to a thought in our head the same way as to a reality out in the world. The system is older than conscious thought; it's function is to keep body alive. It trusts the mind to do the thought and judgement.

ICXC NIKA

**AlanFromWichita** · #5 Jul 22, '12, 2:13 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by GEddie

Our human body is a rational mind piggybacked onto an animal being. Our senses, limbs, and nervous reactions were developed through ages of biological development.

As such, our body reacts to a thought in our head the same way as to a reality out in the world. The system is older than conscious thought; it's function is to keep body alive. It trusts the mind to do the thought and judgement.

ICXC NIKA

Thank you. I really like the way you've described it. I just watched a video about a comparison between the "dream" and "awake" state. The guy pointed out that when you're in a dream, you have real sensory experiences, real thoughts, real fears. And you don't think that it's your dream and the others are imaginary.

Seems to me that a lot of what Jesus teaches is aimed toward getting all of this equipment to work in sync. That would explain why a mental sin and a physical sin are similar. I think it's partly a matter of getting our worlds to have nothing to hide from each other, so as to drop the shields. I think of dreamland as my soul's "practice matrix,' though while in a dream I don't remember ever thinking, "I'm in a dream. This is not real."

Alan

Rejoice Always · #6 Jul 22, '12, 2:25 pm

How about the Body of Chirst, the Church? Are each of us a body tell and a microexpression of the Church?

AbideWithMe · #7 Jul 22, '12, 2:30 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanFromWichita

Sometimes we say, "that sends shivers down my spine," or "that makes my skin crawl."

Here we actually are having physical sensory experiences because of the way we think.

How far can we take that? Can we learn to control it?

We hear something upsetting and feel tightness in our neck. Or maybe our chest. Our pulse and blood rate change depending on our feelings which depend on both our thoughts and our senses. Sometimes thoughts can give us an immediate headache. Why?

I've just been thinking about this a lot lately, after watching some videos about body language and microexpressions.

In myself, I've noticed great changes in my sensitivity, especially in the last few days which is what prompted me to post. Even the most nuanced of thoughts I can feel in muscles, and this happens routinely like all the time. Like while I'm typing this sentence I felt just a very tiny "pressure changes" in my right eyelid and I feel very very slight motion in my brow. When I'm really quiet (as in contemplative prayer) as I quiet down I just become more sensitive to smaller ones.

Anyone else feel like talking about feelings v thoughts v physical reactions? Does anybody but me even think about this stuff?

Here's a more nerdy aspect of it: are the reactions a result of the thoughts, or are they instrumental in helping the brain and nervous system process a thought? So do our muscles actually help us think? We know the muscles actually move, so how does any given thought decide which muscles it will influence?

Alan

Hi Alan--

I also pay attention to these kinds of small physical changes...not in an effort to be self-focused (I do that too much already without trying

) but because my physical reactions often seem to be in some sense "more true" than my mental thoughts.

**AlanFromWichita** · #8 Jul 22, '12, 2:46 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rejoice Always

How about the Body of Chirst, the Church? Are each of us a body tell and a microexpression of the Church?

Of course! I think that's an excellent way to look at it!

Alan

**AlanFromWichita** · #9 Jul 22, '12, 2:52 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbideWithMe

Hi Alan--

I also pay attention to these kinds of small physical changes...not in an effort to be self-focused (I do that too much already without trying

) but because my physical reactions often seem to be in some sense "more true" than my mental thoughts.

This stuff is all like brand new to me. No wonder I didn't win at poker; I had no idea of all what was going on.

Alan

Lady Love · #10 Jul 22, '12, 3:57 pm

Alan,

I like your post. Feelings are such an important part of being human. I listen to people talk and I barely ever hear the words they say as "how" they say them. I hear voice changes, I hear attitudes, underlying sadness or bitterness, genuine peace, concern etc. I can hear whether someone is sincerely speaking from their heart or if they are faking and putting on a facade. Individuals truly do have vibrations, not just in their voice, but their general presence. I can usually feel the vibrations. I can sit next to an anxious person and FEEL their anxiety. I have found this confusing sometimes because I start to think that "I" am anxious.

I imagine the soul like a body of water and a person's spirit "moves" over the water sending waves or vibrations. A person who is still and calm inside can often bring me to be still and calm. If I am still and calm I can perceive the tiniest of movements. I try not to interpret every movement because that could get me into trouble but I listen with as little judgement as possible.

I speculate sometimes and wonder if being united to the body of Christ -the church, if I pick up on a troubled soul and I am called to pray. It has been said that the union of Jesus and Mary was of such that they knew every movement of the other's heart.

Often, I wake from sleep, disturbed, and I pray and then peace eventually comes over me. For example, the night of the shooting in Colorado, I was woke around midnight by an awful sick feeling coming from my heart (not my gut). I felt panicked and prayed 'Hail Mary's" over and over until my heart was made calm.

Just think about how we can FEEL when someone loves us or is angry with us. They don't even have to speak a word. I think feelings are such an important tool for learning about ourselves and our surroundings.

tektonik · #11 Jul 22, '12, 7:10 pm

Thoughts, consciousness, emotions, feelings, mind.. this is all the soul. We're the smartest animals and the dumbest spirits.

Sometimes when just listening to people talk I get a shortness of breath and automatically either feel anger or like about to fight, or very very dark feelings towards that person, and I just realize that their soul is in a way bigger mess than I can probably imagine. Other times when I hear people talk, I am filled with an overwhelming love that just radiates from every direction and I just want to smile and be exuberant. You can say, "oh that person has a really good vibe about them" well yes, but that vibe you're feeling is their soul! The western world really wants to deny the existence of a soul and places importance on the mind and intellect. Sure we have mind and knowledge, but we are souls. We feel other people, not in a weird way, but we feel their hearts, their souls, their energy.

**AlanFromWichita** · #12 Jul 22, '12, 7:43 pm

Thank you for the posts. I knew I wasn't the only one -- my "calculations" showed it, so I asked. This is clearly the start of an improving life!

The thing best about my own situation, is that through a tumultuous Dark Night of nearly 11 years associated with "permanent and total" disability due to severe mental illness, ending only recently, I've been blessed to have experienced a very wide range of emotions, feelings, and thoughts -- from obvious to bizarre -- and at this point I feel mortified by them -- like been there, done that, got me to this point. But now gravity is reversed because I'm not running from sin, evil, fear, anger etc. as much as running toward Love in all forms, which all around me for me to experience to the point I can open my eyes, heart, and mind to share it. Therefore now when I'm encountering newness, complexity, surprise, or other things that cause these twitches, I still get the physical feelings but each time it's like a massage now, and I feel like the muscle that gently twitched is actually self-mortifying by virtue of having accepted the twitch in response to that feeling/thought running around in the nervous system. It's like if you push the sustain pedal on a piano and sing a note toward it, those strings whose frequencies had energy from your voice, will vibrate and those strings will hold the note after you stop. Try that on any acoustic piano. The strings are like the muscles or nerves that each dance to their own particular tune(s).

The end result is that each time I feel these muscles move, it is like a massage to the soul. Sometimes it even makes me feel "detached" from things around me, but at the same time be able to perceive better. Often I get a refreshed wave of feelings of connection.

Another way I can say it, is I feel like after all this spiritual seeking, my "focused thoughts" and my "peripheral consciousness" can now work in harmony, as synergistic "opposites." I think that's important because most of us can only really focus on maybe 2 or 3 things at a time, tops. The subconscious has to process and regulate thousands of things continuously to keep everything running. Would the subconscious be all the processes of our nervous systems that we're not immediately focused on? Another thing I've done is learn effective self-talk by which I have trained my subconscious to look out for the things I think are important. That is a big burden off my mind, because as life unfolds it activates these instructions I've planted, and gives me a strange, serene feeling of everything is both 1) as good as it's ever been, and 2) getting better every second, because I've set my goal toward things that brought me that unexpected but very welcome sensation of spiritual consolations and progress. I'd even say ecstatic at times, and not necessarily in any sort of loud or showy way.

Peace and joy,
Alan