Listen to Your Body
I feel now is as apt a time as ever to get in tune with our bodies and take the time to truly listen to the messages they’re sending us on a daily basis. Healthy living has taken front and center stage in the globe, and I’m here for it. Our bodies can no longer take the beating we put on them and looked away to for so many years.
Speaking from personal experience, I know how self-sabotaging we all can be when it comes to taking care of our bodies physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. There’s the notion of pragmatism coupled with the age-old tale of working your hands down to the bone in order to achieve true success that colors and aids to this vicious cycle. The easiest, and most difficult to come to terms with, thing to do in these circumstances is to:
Slow down..
Slowing down is often thought of as the sure-fire way to lose your edge in the hyper-competitive world that we live in today. But did you know that, and excuse my lack of breadth in terms of interests here, the greatest athletes in the world all discipline themselves to rest and recover just as much as they train? How about the case with looking at the quality of life and its material effects with those who carve out time to unwind and tune into themselves on a daily basis? It’s no secret that time will catch up with you if you leave your body untreated for months and years on end.
The body and the mind are meant to be a whole and not contradict one another. Feedback loops are the primary drivers of our existence, and awareness is the key link in the midst of it all. As discussed in previous posts, awareness stems from being able to truly let down your guards and biases and just listen to everything from within and around you.
When it comes to your body, listening to it doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, it’s as easy as the following:
1. Feel Everything - Emotionally and Physically
2. Be Open and Accepting of your Body
3. Trust your Body’s Likes and Dislikes
These guiding principles can yield tremendous benefits for your body. I’ll share with you all how I’ve personally confronted each of the three principles.
When it comes to feeling in general, I grew up in a culture and societal structure that taught me to shove aside any emotional trauma and to suffer through the pain. I even grew up romanticizing these very thoughts and ideas because that’s what stories and figures I looked up to would convey to me as the true way to greatness. Little did I know that the world and those very same figures that I looked up to with such respect would let their guards down and finally shed light on the very dark feelings and physical ailments that they no longer wanted to withstand. The funniest thing in it all is the fact that we all think the world will shut you out and show no pity at all for you for sharing your darkest moments when in reality, that’s when it comes and rallies around you even stronger. It took a while for me to understand that finally, but now I can fully feel everything and actually feel much fuller with regards to life now!
In terms of being open and accepting of my body, this one is somewhat of a struggle to this very day, but I choose to not let it get to me as much anymore. I grew up, as most guys do during their late teens to early young adult years, obsessed with the fitness and health world with the idea of simply trying to lift more weight and achieve a certain aesthetic look. I’ll admit - it does have its momentary perk and shining light, but it’s fleeting at best. You realize how much you give up for something you truly don’t care all that much about. Since my college days, I’ve tried my best to reshape my ideas and philosophy around health and fitness, now enjoying the struggle of trying to get back into shape and having to climb that mountain again every couple of months. The challenge, more so than the end-goal, excites me more than ever now.
Last, but not least, learning to trust what my body does and doesn’t like at any given moment was, and continues to still be, a struggle. Sometimes it likes to sleep less whereas other days it likes more, or sometimes my body will say I can’t stretch any further or risk tearing a muscle or cartilage whereas other days it feels like no stretch is too much to handle. Regardless, learning to trust what my body needs at any given moment has helped me feel better all around and have a greater sense of longevity.
As a result, I’ve taken choices and steps lately to maximize the potential for my life by listening to my body. Your body will tell you if you’re dead weigh walking. The weight from carrying emotional baggage or physical, niggling injuries will in fact leave you in a state of paralyzing inertia. Our bodies are meant to move, feel, express, etc. and will reap the joy from freely doing so if we allow ourselves to tune into it more deeply.
I’d urge you all to take simply 10 minutes a week to check in with your body and feed it whatever it needs in that moment. They say it’s the little things that matter, but when you stack up 10 minutes every week for months and years on end, your body will greatly thank you for it. Who knows.. you might even find those forced 10 minutes turning into a couple of desirable hours as soon as you begin feeling like a new person once again.
You can make the defining change for yourself.. your body is here for you and ready to take the journey with you if you’re willing to tune in and listen.
“Your body is your best guide. It constantly tells you, in the form of pain or sensations, what’s working for you and what’s not.” - Hina Hashmi
