How do embodiment and sovereignty relate to each other? Why is agency so important? Where does connection, collaboration, and interdependence figure into things?

The New Year is up and running and blessing us with plenty of food for thought. Embodiment relates to everything, as your locus of control is centered within your own seat of consciousness, which you could think of as the steering wheel for your physical presence.

You have sovereignty over that which you embody. It’s the one place where you entirely call the shots. You have a great deal of agency when it comes to your own flesh and blood, the body you use to walk, dance, or create.

You get to decide how much you dance or move or sink into your sofa. You have a choice when you walk into the grocery store — do you head for the produce section or the frozen TV dinners? You can choose to do your own research and dismiss public health measures — or you can put your faith in credible experts and follow the statistically sound path.

Like so many things regarding agency, sovereignty, and independence, there’s a wide range of difference between the things you can control and things that are largely outside of your influence. Knowing where you can move the needle is key.

Several years ago the Covid pandemic showed us the value of interdependence and collaboration. By being forced to isolate, we gained new respect for the value of connection.

The independent, self-sufficient iconoclast is a mythic figure in the West. Nature, however, brings us back down to earth by consistently demonstrating the value of connection, collaboration, and cooperation. No man or woman is an island, least of all you.

Within that natural field of influence that you have some degree of sovereignty over, you get to choose how to behave. When you seek win-win relationships and contribute energetically to those you interact with, you gain trust and opportunities for collaboration and mutual enhancement. It’s a positive form of power.

Should your actions be deleterious to those around you or interfere with another beings experience, your options shrink. Fewer folks will be willing to cooperate and you’ll find resistance at every turn. Force is fragile.

Understanding the difference between power and force sets you up for being comfortable in your own skin. Dr. David Hawkins mapped force to contracted states of consciousness such as fear, shame or guilt. Power accrues when consciousness expands into gratitude, acceptance, and love. It all comes back to our agency and what we choose to embody.

Anna Halprin liked to point out that the body is a microcosm of the universe. When it comes to personal sovereignty and your relationship with the world you live in, it helps to know where to start.

Wishing you all the best and more as the New Year takes shape! Much love till next Monday!

Merci et à bientôt!

M+

ML #661

Mark Metz
Monday Love Movement Calendar