Cold Water Bathing?

I’ve been alive long enough to know that equilibrium is rarely found on the opposite end of balance.

We are inundated by images, testimonials and practices that encourage us to do more. That longer, harder or faster is the ultimate human directive.

Take for instance cold water bathing.

Celebrities post photos of themselves immersed in cattle troughs filled with ice. Glamorous white women post photos on Instagram getting into icy oceans.

I know all about Wm Hoff. I understand there is supporting scientific evidence that shows cold immersion does good things for our immune system, not to mention our resilience.

But I’d like to pose a question. Why are we all so out of balance in the first place? Why do we need to do extreme things?

Do we need them to feel alive in a culture that feeds us a steady diet of distraction?

Are we so out of touch with our bodies that only a jolt of shock registers on our sensory dashboard?

If you hang out on social media, you’ll see that the world is competing for attention. Women have bigger lips, bigger bottoms, and bigger breasts.

Men have embraced their inner Neanderthal.

Everybody is pumped up.

If some muscle is good, then more muscle must be better.

See where I’m headed with this? How things look is a viral pandemic of a different type.

Instead of…

Attending to the stuff inside of ourselves that needs attunement and human connection, we’re gauging our self-worth on the idealized images and activities of others.

Maybe not you?

On the other hand, I read a great tweet this morning ( yes that’s what I do now instead of reading the paper) by Jonathan Torrens about losing his dad at eight. How the other fathers in his hockey team stepped up to help lace up his skates.

There was such perfect vulnerability in this post. The very opposite of the posing that exists on social media.

The good thing I see happening on social media is the discussion of trauma and difficult emotional states. People like Brené Brown have become beacons of explanation for why our human hearts hurt.

And more importantly what we can do about it.

And someplace between where we are competing for attention and soothing our hearts lays balance.

That’s where I want to rest my head.

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