Mary chose our instructors with such wisdom, and we are so blessed to have access to their thoughts. Each one is happy to share their journey with us so that we may KNOW MYSELF BE IT IS, IS.

Anita Willoughby shares part of her awareness and understanding with us in the Spring 2009, issue Number 64, of The Main Central Jin Shin Jyutsu Newsletter. You may obtain your own personal copy at http://www.jsjinc.net.

PHYSIO-PHILOSOPHY (Nature-Effortless Reality), Part 2

There is an even deeper reality to this thing about what to call oneself, or what is one’s profession. When I was in 7th grade in a large public school, having recently graduated from a small Quaker school in New Jersey, I was asked to fill out a form. On that form was the question, “What is your father’s profession?” Well now, I knew what my father did. I had been to his office many times and spent long weekend days stuffing envelopes and helping out with fund drives. He didn’t really have a profession, he had a passion. As a matter of fact, both my parents have been passionate peace activists since the 1950s in the U.S.A. All I could come up with for profession was maybe peace promoter or even promoter of peace. (There go those Ps again.) Nothing sounded quite right, so I think I left it blank, and promptly forgot about it. After all, in 7th grade in a new overwhelming school, an almost totally new universe, did it really matter what my father did? I couldn’t even figure out what I was doing. So, a few days later, I was called down to the main office in the middle of the day. Vaguely wondering what transgression I had committed in this strange new universe, the secretary merely said, “You forgot to fill in your father’s profession.” I mumbled something about not knowing exactly what he did, but would go home and find out. At home, my father came up with “Executive Secretary,” which I clarified the next day. Thankfully, no one bothered to ask, “Executive secretary of what?”…saving me from acute embarrassment. It wasn’t very popular during that time in the U.S.A. to be pro-peace. In actuality, in addition to promoting peace around the world, he counseled people on the draft, including conscientious objectors, draft dodgers and, later, those having gone A.W.O.L. during the Vietnam War. At that time, he was Executive Secretary of C.C.C.O., which stands for Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.

So, one can see I have always had an issue with how to fill in the blank for profession, and what to call oneself. My life work has been to answer the questions, “Who am I””…and “What am I here for?” While filling out information forms, there is usually only enough space for one word; doctor, lawyer, nurse, judge, artist and teacher. Really Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner rarely fits. My whole life I have had this issue: How do I sum up my life’s work with one word? It was only relatively recently that I began using physio-philosopher. So now we have one word with a combining form and it is all encompassing…

To be continued…