Could it be that we have parts of our body that we have not fully claimed or loved? And if so, how does this affect us either consciously or subconsciously? This was something I clearly felt during my routine one morning regarding one of my fingers, whilst feeling what rings to wear and what fingers to put them on: that on some level, energetically, I felt a finger was not mine! Confused? I will explain.
I love wearing rings on my fingers, but it was only the other day that something was revealed to me that I was not fully conscious of.
While putting my rings on in the morning before leaving the house, I had a feeling to put one on a finger I never have rings on, but hesitated and felt I couldn’t. The finger I am talking about is the finger a woman puts a ring on either when engaged or married: on the left hand next to the little finger.
I remember years ago when growing up being told never to put a ring on that finger because that was only for when I was married. I took this belief on and did not question it, although in my teens I remembered rebelling and putting a ring on it a few times, but even when doing this it was not out of love for myself and my body or about my claiming a part of my body, it was about rebelling against what someone had told me not to do, with an undertone of feeling that I had done something naughty … even though it was my finger and my body!!
On this particular morning though, I could feel that no matter how small it was, on some level I had carried this belief right up until now; it wasn’t even to do with putting a ring on my finger, it was bigger than that. It was the fact that on some level one of my fingers felt that it didn’t belong to me, that I could not claim it and it was there for someone else to claim, and this shocked me. It made me wonder what other parts of my body did I not feel belonged to me as being fully claimed and loved. What other comments had I taken on throughout my life on some level, even subliminally, which still to this day affect my relationship with myself, myself as a woman, and my body?!
I could also feel the insidiousness of the belief I had carried since being young that until I met someone, got married and had a ring on that finger, I was not complete! This also made me wonder how many other woman (or men) around the world feel parts of their body do not completely belong to them or that they have truly and fully claimed with love.
How many of us do not like a certain body part – a bottom, knees, elbows etc – and that in doing this, whether subconsciously or consciously, we are dismissing or disowning a part of ourselves? Is it not time we not only honoured, claimed and loved every single inch of our bodies, but also gave all young women and young men the space do to this for themselves as well?
By Vicky Cooke
Further Reading:
Body Image: A New Way to Look at A Growing Issue
Are We Building Our Body Image, or, Is Our Image Building Our Body?
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Connecting to God in every detail including the ring finger opens our heart to greater wisdom.
All our fingers do belong to us, ring finger included, and it is about knowing this and not letting any ideals or beliefs govern how we are with our fingers and the rest of our body for that matter. There are many beliefs in this world and many of them are not based on common sense nor a loving care – it is a particularly interesting area to explore.
Thank you Vicky – I had not stopped to consider what you have presented about the ring finger as ‘needing to be saved’ for only a wedding ring, but now that you mention it, I too recall at a younger age that it was a form of taboo to put a ring on that finger unless one was married. One day in my teens in the privacy of my own room I recall putting a ring on that finger for a short while to feel what that felt like (thinking that it would feel very special to have it there) – of course there was nothing that different of a feeling compared to the other fingers, but there was the symbolism of a wedding ring aspect that I was excited about feeling but I knew to not wear this in the day to not get unnecessary or critical comments from anyone else.
Amazing what one finger can teach us!
When ever we consider a part of us being any lesser than, then are we not indulging in being less than a Son of God? And thus are living in contraction to our divine essences, inner-most heart or Soul (all one and the same), so considering what we are thinking is always important for our evolution.
Thank you Vicky, it’s very supportive to consider our bodies as our own and offer unconditional love to ourselves. There are so many images of bodies and how they’re supposed to look, and beliefs about parts of our bodies, we can let it all go and return to loving ourselves. I’m going to do an inventory of my body because even just checking in on my feet I can feel a belief there that says they’re too big. My feet actually feel beautifully sized for my body.
How gorgeous it feels when we reclaim our bodies, appreciating every part and tenderly loving all of us.
I too have chosen to wear a ring on my “married finger” to remind me that it is about marrying myself first and foremost, that is committing to have a true relationship with myself.
Absolutely Elizabeth, and may I add, that it can also remind us of our marriage to heaven.
Beautifully said Elizabeth – a confirmation of the sacredness of our relationship with ourselves and our essence and a commitment to life and all that is on offer.
That is very beautiful Elizabeth.
I remember that I always loved the way my body looked but not so much my face. People loved my hair so I was putting my hair hanging around my face.
One day I decided to tye my hair to the back and then a friend said how beautiful my face was. I cried, tears were on my beautiful face.
Yes, actually the resistance to something speaks loudly if we are prepared to listen.
I have loved playing with rings on my fingers but agree, the 3rd finger on my left hand was one I only used to send a very specific message – I was off limits! Interesting for me to consider that now…
It is great to become very aware of every little part of our body. It is in fact very wise to because whilst there are parts we are not aware of in full there are parts that also hold onto energies and ways of being that keep us from being in the full power of who we truly are.
I could feel as I read your blog Vicky that the third finger on the left hand was reserved for either engagement or wedding rings and this belief was passed down to us from relatives, parents and how people generally spoke about this finger. Wearing a ring on that finger is instantly recognisable to show if you were married or engage, or ‘taken’ a word that I also remember being used. I find it fascinating how many ideals and beliefs gets passed down to us that are actually imposing and controlling and we learn from young and we accept them because this is what we are told and never really ever stop to question them.
Spot on Alison – Beliefs are often imposing and controlling, and if we were to stop and question them, we would realise the non-sense that many of them bring.
We accept the beliefs, the imposing and controlling, or we rebel, ‘it was about rebelling against what someone had told me not to do, with an undertone of feeling that I had done something naughty … even though it was my finger and my body!!’
It’s interesting – when everything is passing through us at all times, we somehow let certain things stick to us, as if there’s some kind of attraction there between that thing and ourselves, forming an identification of some sort, making it even more stickier.
We have segmented life so naturally we are the same way with our body. The more we come back to a unified way the healthier and more vibrant we’ll feel.
Beliefs stop us from doing the most natural things, and as we begin to drop those beliefs we start to live a far more natural way of being and expressing ourselves in our fullness.
Reading this blog has stirred something up in me. Currently, my toddler has hidden my wedding rings, and so I don’t have a ring on that finger and it feels naked. But the same thing – I see it as a ‘wedding finger’ and so I don’t wear any other ring on it, and it shows how we certainly have bought into the culture of that finger identifying our relationship status.
A great blog, thank you for sharing Vicky, it makes me realise how I have reclaimed parts of my body now, that I once had so much judgment about, due to the ideals and beliefs around body image. I am learning to love and appreciate every part of my divine self, with much more tender care.
When I am truly taking care of my body and feel amazing there is not one inch of my body that I cannot love. I have taken on beliefs and ideals and know there are areas of my body that I do not love as much as others but I cannot allow these thoughts to faze me or get in the way when I am honouring and respecting me and my body for who I am in essence.
Rings on our fingers are fun and only take on a particular significance when we choose it.
Absolutely, I have been alternating wearing a ring on on my fingers next to my little finger, sometimes wearing it on the right, at other times on the left.
Re-claiming our body, re-claiming life, re-claiming our divinity. It is all one.
I like what you share here Doug as the wedding ring has a very strong consciousness around it. I used to not feel I would want one, or need one, but now I can feel how beautiful and powerful the symbolism of it is.
Thank you Vicky, there is so much here to be considered around which part of my body I may feel is there for others, and that I may not love or claim as my own. In an appearance driven society where a woman’s body is also often sexualised, there are not many reflections of women who love and adore themselves for themselves – Natalie Benhayon is one such role model though. We have body image ideals, beliefs that women or their bodies are property, or even that our breasts as mothers belong to the children when we breastfeed. It’s an enormous topic worthy of deep consideration, thank you, and it’s an inspiring intention to do so to bring more love and care to our lives and to offer a true reflection to others.
It is an inspiring intention to bring more care and love to ourselves knowing this will be reflected to other women.
So great that you challenged these ideals and beliefs Vicki that entrap so many of us and hold us back from who we truly are.
That societal expectations and judgments make anyone feel less or incomplete because they don’t have a ring on their left ring finger is really a sad indictment on us on a society as a whole and really should be eradicated.
It is sad yet something many of us do without even thinking about it. I have found doing the Esoteric Yoga hugely supportive feeling each part of my body and bringing awareness to it. Not trying to fix anything and then seeing how the area lights up and warms up which shows I was not fully connecting to it before. It is an amazing feeling when I do this as my whole body then comes alive.
Having recommenced Esoteric Yoga again after a long break, I too am loving re-discovering my body and how I feel to another level. I thought I was aware and could feel my body, but the more I do the esoeteric yoga, the more I get to feel more that I did not even realise was there for me to feel. The moment we feel, then that is the moment we can say that we actually are living in our body (as opposed to thinking we are) in deeper and deeper increments.
Recently I became much more aware of my left side and when I did I had pins and needles running down it and it reminded me of what happens with a reperfusion injury when there has been little blood flow to an organ/limb etc and through surgical intervention the blood flow is restored and initially there can be quite a bit of pain as the person gets used to the increased blood flow. That is how it felt to me to connect with the left side of my body.
Vicky, this is a great blog. It can be a shock to suddenly feel how we neglected or ignored or had an idea about a particular body part and it can be an experience of a tremendous liberation of the new freedom that is available through the newly found awareness.
Our combined set of beliefs and ideals is what identifies us in life and they have become so much part of us that it doesn’t even occur to us to question them. Often those that surround us carry a very similar set of beliefs and ideals and so they are simply passed on from one generation to the next. Not until someone invites us to stop and asks questions that are so simple but we never had the space to think of ourselves can we start to challenge the beliefs we hold. In my case it was Serge Benhayon who asked those questions.
It is amazing how something we are told in our early years becomes a firmly held belief that has an influence on all our every day choices without us realising it.
I agree and over the last 15 years I have found many more of those than I thought could be even possible.
I agree Doug, I feel however that the problem is that parents in this case are entrenched in the ideals and beliefs themselves and so we are passing them on and on, generation after generation, every now and then replacing old ones for new ones, but never free of them. The adult generations hold the task to firstly see the fact that we are held by ideals and beliefs and then start to work on discarding their own so the next generation does not get affected by them.
Our beliefs lock us in to a way of being that does not allow us to see beyond the belief. As a result we end up, not understanding what is going on around us because something may not fit into our belief system or we attempt to control everything so we don’t end up questioning if what we believe is true.
Beautifully Said Jennifer… our beliefs do lock us away. They lock our bodies, our expression, and our ability to live with all we are
It’s like we are blinkered when we have beliefs running us.
“How many of us do not like a certain body part – a bottom, knees, elbows etc – and that in doing this, whether subconsciously or consciously, we are dismissing or disowning a part of ourselves?” – Great question and if we are disowning a part of ourselves is it possible that then another energy takes the opportunity to take up residency there instead… One that undermines us feeling our true essence, until such time as we choose instead to claim back the whole of who we are…
Yes Fiona it is very possible!
This is a brilliant example of how ideals and belief are much like a curse, that hold us suspended in time so to speak, so that we do not evolve and as such we devolve as a consequence. Our every particle, every part, or our body serves to guide us with an intelligence that supports our evolution so that who we are, the light of our Soul, can be lived in full. Through embracing, honouring and developing a loving relationship with our body, we discover how every part reflects the truth of who we are, and that it is our right to live the celebration that we are.
Our body is there to support us to connect to the beauty within, even with all of our bodies imperfections. Our body is not there to be judged, bettered, improved on but to be cared for, nurtured and loved so that allows us to connect more deeply within and who we are. Any self-judgment or criticism takes us off track. Its not surprising that being this way is endemic.
The impact of an ideal or picture is big on so many levels and always designed to keep us small and not the divine being we are by nature. Our body holds all the wisdom and is our marker of truth so any part that is not fully claimed by us leaves a door open for another energy than sacredness. Great to seal all doors so we can claim our authority and live in unity with the universe.
It’s awesome to consider that even the finest features of our bodies can carry a significant belief and or picture and that in claiming back the divinity we are from we can heal so much. We are but vehicles that express and so we have the responsibility to fully claim, cherish and value each divine part of the whole and enjoy the process of undoing the what is not to uncover more of who we already are.