“RIP THE LABEL OFF.”

WHAT IS THE LEFTOVER TRUTH WHEN SUBJECTIVE LABELS ARE REMOVED?

“Good,” “bad,” “pretty,” “ugly,” “smart,” “easy,” “hard,” “failure,” “success.” Just 9 adjectives from the endless index of words that we use on a daily basis to describe what we think something is. But if we take away the label we so quickly give to that specific something… what is Leftover?

You see, experiences and events — they are not tied to a specific connotation; They are not entitled to being “good” or “bad,” They just exist. They provide you, (you thinking and feeling human you!) the opportunity to notice, to respond, and in many cases, to label how you see fit.

and Because these experiences don’t have a designated word that describes them that is factually correct above all others, this means that how we choose to see them, and for the sake of this letter, label them, is entirely subjective. Every single human existing right now would have a slightly, if not majorly, different perception of the same event, So… doesn’t this mean that all things actually just are what they are… and how it is interpreted is actually completely dependent on who the interpreter is?

The witnessing of other humans reacting to and labeling these instances highly influences the words we choose to label with on our own as well. it may not be obvious, but When we witness enough people name something as “positive,” it makes sense that we will then also find the same thing to be positive. but, just because the majority uses the word “positive” as their descriptor, this does not mean that this word is the correct one. In fact, the specific word one chooses as their situation-label is actually just a peek into what they’ve experienced in their own life that made their brain ‘label’ this way.

so again, we arrive at the idea that experiences simply occur, without a rulebook for how they must be perceived, leaving the experiencer themselves To decide what they think.

labeling is derived from what we think about what we see. but what would it feel like to reclaim the power usually held by the words we label with? as if “bad” and “good” did not exist. Would we be able to act more objectively? say, what if instead of thinking about each occurrence in our life obsessively, going around in circles, we take a step out of our mind and feel the feelings that arise in our bodies?

Now, i say with deep meaning, this is not a permission slip to take acts of evil wrongfully committed on other humans and water them down them to the very people they hurt. neither can you dismiss The existence of these acts. this approach is not a practice of ignorance, it is a practice of awareness. it simply means that you are in charge of your use of your mind, and everyone else is in charge of how they use theirs. please, use your compassionate human heart and utilize discernment, with everything you hear and read, including this letter.

back to it.

Thoughts come from lived experiences, opinions of others, and more broadly – the outside world. You were not born with these thoughts and ideas, were you? you actually learned how to formulate them over time.

but feelings, these are indigenous to you. the physical sensations, the energies shifting, the “vibes” you feel in your body that you cannot always explain. They feel real, because they are. they are not something correct or incorrect, valid or invalid, they are just there.

so from this, could we also say that feeling exhibits more of our authentic personal truth than thought does?

imagine living life, deciding, choosing… not based off of the thousands of thoughts in your brain that cloud your idea of what you actually want, but rather what it physically feels like in your body at each step? perhaps your own true presence and peace with the world exist beyond what words can accomplish.

in yoga, there is what is described as “The eight-limbed path,” noted in The Sutras of Patanjali, that is essentially a step by step guide on the journey to true self-discovery and spiritual growth. The fifth limb of this path is called “Pratyahara,” which we can translate to mean this: withdrawing yourself from external senses in order to have the capacity to go deeper inward, with the purpose of finding contentment, bliss, and true self-knowing within.

consider the “external senses” in this case to be labels and thoughts. when we step away from these things, we are left able to go inward and experience pure, native feeling in our bodies – this is our truth, as described in most spiritual observances.

see, When the labels and thought spirals get quieter, we can hear feeling and presence get louder. if this is a muscle that, from here on out, you decide to train, then overtime, you will be less reactive to and unsettled by experience, and you’ll be able to simply observe it as it is, moving forward more calm, cool, and compassionate, because you chose to witness the thoughts existence instead of identify with them.

and now, to reference a tiktok video in the same article that i referenced an ancient gold mine of Yogic wisdom… “you cannot lose when the only goal you have in life is to experience.” – unknown.

the goal of this approach to life, ripping off the labels that is, is to: calm your mind when those things you would’ve formerly labeled as “bad” occur, act from a place of truth about how you feel instead of what you’re just presently thinking, and finally, to become the observer.

intrigued? practice ripping the labels off in your own life:

• notice the physical objects in front of you without naming what they are – simply be aware of their existence and the space they take up (you can do this right now, wherever you are)
• When you notice yourself starting to judge a circumstance or event with certain language, take a breath and see the reality for what it is: the fact that this is just another experience that you can choose to spend energy on, or not
• when thoughts of “this is so [insert adjective here]” inevitably occur (because we’re human and they will indeed occur), place a hand on your heart and say the mantra “This is neither good nor bad, it is just another experience. i allow myself to feel what comes up for me now in this moment,” and then move forward based on how you feel, and how you want to feel

peace is a feeling, after all, not a series of thoughts or scenarios that have nice labels on them and that go just right together. And in a society where it seems ‘Protecting your peace’ has been the theme of the decade, maybe its time we try creating the peace from within, rather than try to protect what we don’t even truly know yet.

food for thought. Thanks for hearing this.

with love,

madeleine

Zoom In To You. letters to better ourselves and to help us travel inward.