“Listen to your body.”
“Eat intuitively.”
“Learn how to rest.”
We hear these things a lot nowadays don’t we? But what does it all really mean? We couldn’t possibly have a conversation with our bodies… could we?
Our bodies send us signals every minute to indicate how it’s functioning (or not functioning). Unfortunately in today’s world of constant stimulation, and this pressure to be productive 24/7, we’ve become so desensitised and out of touch to the ways our bodies speak to us.
We are told to “go hard or go home”, “sleep when you’re dead”, and when things get a little painful then we “take the edge off” with a drink or a harmless pill.
We take pride in pushing through the pain- dampening or ignoring our bodies’ cries for help along the way. And when we do ultimately get truly sick, we relinquish the power of understanding our bodies to doctors and health professionals, because we genuinely believe that their pinion is the only one that matters or because we simply don’t want to take responsibility of your own health.
“Don’t want to” is a harsh accusation, so I’m going to give you the Benin of the doubt and assume you simply don’t know how to.
Let me tell you a little secret… those little niggly ailments you’ve learned to ignore everyday are not normal. Daily headaches, feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck when you wake up, not going to the bathroom everyday – that’s NOT normal!
Trust me, I’ve gone through the same thing. I used to think that being bloated and belching after every meal, having a runny nose when I woke up each morning, and frequent bouts of lightheadedness was just a daily affair I had to live with.
Here’s a thought: you DON’T have to live with all these symptoms.
These are all signs that something’s not functioning well in your body. It could be something you ate, something in your environment, or even a toxic relationship that’s messing with your emotions. The point is, all these factors affect your body in some way, and when it gets too much, your body WILL tell you.
So the next time you get a headache or you’re feeling a little bloated, take a second to think about WHY. What did you eat last? where are you right now? How much water have you had today? Are you stressed?
The point is not necessarily to know how to treat every single symptom you feel (although I hope to help you figure it out), but to acknowledge that you don’t need to feel like crap every day, and be conscious about the things (or people) that make you feel that way.
Trusting that your bodies is an intelligent machine whose job is to keep you in balance, is a big enough step that can lead you on your journey to optimal wellness.
The Nourished Co. 