Last week I journeyed to get insight around why it is so difficult to consistently make choices that are kind to my body (one of my healing intentions for 2022). The helping spirits brought my awareness to a piece of core programming from childhood.
My father was a farmer with a strong Midwestern work ethic and a lot of determination. He tried to bend everything around him to his will, including his physical body. He believed the body was merely a tool to perform work under the control of his mind. Because it was just a tool, it didn’t need attention, care, or love. It could be ignored and it would continue functioning. He never said this in so many words, but the energy was there in everything he did. It permeated my upbringing.
This is an example of a limiting agreement – an unhealthy belief that holds us back from living in balance and greater connection with our soul.
The energy of limiting agreements is heavy and solid. When we catch ourself saying them out loud, they have a ring of finality around them, as though nothing else could ever be true. Even though the people around us might notice the negative energy and raise an eyebrow, we may be unaware because it’s so ingrained.
When we do an art project for integration in my classes, almost immediately someone in the group says, “Oh, I’m not creative.” The vibe in the room plummets, and usually at least one other person chimes in with their agreement. Compare this to what happens with art projects in the classes I teach for kids. When the box of art supplies gets brought out, it’s a free-for-all as they dive in and joyfully begin creating.
Because limiting agreements are so locked in, we find it difficult to behave in any other way. They trip us up, and we may (consciously or unconsciously) find ways to sabotage ourself. This explains why I have a hard time consistently being kind to my body. Deep within, I still hold the belief that the body is a tool that doesn’t need attention.
Part of our healing path is listening for these limiting agreements and then breaking them so they no longer have power over us. This results in greater freedom, such as with the kids and their art.
Any place in our life where we suffer or feel stuck is likely being affected by a limiting agreement. When we track underneath, we can begin the process of unraveling them. Some agreements can be released purely by choosing to do so. Some common examples of this are children or young adults who make different choices about religion, politics, or livelihood than their parents.
For other limiting agreements, there is an energetic component that needs to be shifted before the agreement can be broken. With the healing intention I have right now to make choices that are kind to my body, I can feel the heavy familial energy of the unspoken limiting agreement permeating my energy field. This is a core belief carried for most of my life, and so I am also working with the energy of it.
When I first started on the shamanic path, I thought that breaking an agreement meant that situation would no longer arise. That is not true. The situations that cause a limiting agreement to arise will still happen, but now we are free to make different, healthier choices than in the past.
A shamanic healing technique called agreement unraveling helps us track back to the origin of the agreement, release the heavy energy, and set a new, healthier agreement. The energy healing provides momentum to move forward in greater alignment.
This work is real, and it matters.
January 22, 2022