Should I Abandon, Divorce, or Something Else?
Confession: I have a big pain body (as Eckhart Tolle calls it) and it’s triggered by lots of stuff.
Especially the New York Giants. When the Giants lose my muscles tense. I feel heavy. Angry.
The Giants have won zero games so far this year and lost three. In past years when this has happened, I’ve temporarily abandoned them to stop the pain. I’ve even contemplated divorcing the Giants and hooking up with another team (which would somewhat resemble serial monogamy).
Big reminder: The Giants are not causing my pain, rather triggering pain I’ve already stored.
A Giants winning streak would not get rid of the pain I’ve stored, only stop triggering it. I want the Giants to win for the same reason I want to become famous, amass wealth, or fall in love — to soothe the pain body. Even if I won on all these fronts it would not mitigate the pain I have stored, only temporarily mask it.
So what’s a guy to do?
First, I’ve got to decide what I want more — a Giants win (which would mask my pain body and give me a temporary shot of adrenaline) or rather, to meet my pain body with consciousness as the Giants do whatever they do.
Second, If I decide the latter (and stick to it) I’ll watch the game knowing that my first priority is awareness of what the action on the field is triggering in me. That is how I bring consciousness to my pain body.
I’m going to give this a try next game, but I don’t think I’ll raise this issue on sports talk radio.
I wish I could fully share the feeling of freedom when Sunday afternoon rolls around and I don't even know who, when and where the Giants )or any other football team) is playing. Ahhhh... what a relief.
Now, if only I could accomplish the same with my other loser teams, the Mets and the Rangers. ^&%&^(U*T& it!
I think there are two bodies in watching sports: the pain body and the pleasure body. The pain body is triggered when your team is losing (lost) and the pleasure body is triggered when your team is winning (won). It is one of the primary reason we watch sports. That and the tension generated between them. If I succeeded in just observing these reactions, rather than actually feeling them, I would lose the primary reason I watch sports, and probably just quit watching. Question? When one taps into the "stored pain" and experiences, say a tantrum over a fumble, is some of that stored pain released?