Entanglement, like other kinds of overwhelm, brings a need to simplify.
Entanglement often brings feelings of overwhelm. Trying to think our way out limits us, because our knowing runs so much deeper than thought. Instead, we can engage in non-linear movement in order to find shift.
Like a tree that is entangled in the vines that surround it, we too can become combined with our surroundings. As Bayo Akomolafe says, the furniture that surrounds us shapes us. In other words, the function of our bodies is shaped by what is around us.
And so it can be that the shape, the way that our tree grows, will be informed by the vines that pull or wrap themselves around our limbs. The furniture that we live with will inform the way that we place our bodies on them, in them, and around them. Our surroundings change how we interface and interact, and we have a direct relationship with them.
When we feel entangled, it is a particular kind of relationship. It gives us the feeling of being enmeshed. Wrapped up in. We lose our sense of self and our sense of choice. Our senses can become entangled by sights and smells. Our idea about who we are can become entangled by labels, social expectations, and even diagnoses.
Entanglement leaves us feeling overwhelmed.
Often it is a feeling of being overtaken by outside influences. It gives us the sense or idea that we do not have full agency. We do not feel like we get a choice or do not have the ability to give consent.
What do we do when we don’t have a choice? What can we do when we are entangled by powers that be that are bigger than we are? We find possibilities to compost the things that do not give us joy. We work deep within ourselves to traverse the dark spaces.
We can be entangled, and we can be overwhelmed, but it is not sustainable. Forging our way through it becomes a process of being in a process. There is no linear path here because it is a deeply creative path. Finding our path to incorporate our body and brain as co-authors helps us find embodied awareness.
Entanglement, like other kinds of overwhelm, brings a need to simplify. Try taking a pause. Consider, what are we giving up by staying entangled and overwhelmed? What can we release? Pausing and being mindful allows us to regenerate and evaluate. It creates space to sense, feel, and see. And that inner knowing allows us to keep moving toward balance.
