Listening to the messages from the body...
"The body is a reflection of your thoughts. If you change your thoughts, you change your body." - Deepak Chopra
I see this a lot. Instagram, just do it quotes. But is it always that easy?
Yes and no.
What do I mean? Well, we can only change our thoughts if we understand where they are coming from and how they are driving us. Our thoughts also stem from our emotions and all we experienced through life.
Emotions guide our lives in so many ways. We may have been taught to repress, avoid or hide them or we may have healthier ways to express them. Most of us don’t realise how they drive our behaviour and thought processes.
Exploring and expressing my own emotions has been quite a journey but it has supported me back to health and wellness in the long term.
Addressing the root causes of my autoimmune disease was a fundamental part of my personal growth and healing. Since working this way I have been able to pursue more of the things that bring me joy, face my fears more rationally, bring in a more stable sense of self and build healthier relationships.
Our emotions give us clues to who we are and how our personal history has affected us.
"We need to live in mindful harmony with our feelings, not attempt to control them.” - Dr. Les Greenberg, the primary originator of Emotion-Focused Therapy
But living in harmony with them means having a level of understanding and awareness. This can take time, patience and some deep self-compassion is needed.
Emotions are felt in the body and I find we forget this. Anxiety, aches and pains, constant coughs and colds, infections, headaches, exhaustion, brain fog, sleep problems, autoimmune disease, depression and anxiety are all issues with a root cause. It doesn't matter how many times we try to heal it all with pills, potions, food, diet or exercise the symptoms persist. And this was true for me.
I tried every protocol known to man but until I addressed my emotional world and the disharmony within it I got so far and then slipped back.
Our symptoms are messages calling us to slow down and listen, to reconnect to what lies underneath. Our emotions need to be felt, listened to, expressed and processed. When we force them down they express themselves, if we keep then repressed then often we receive a full blown diagnosis.
When issues with autoimmune disease started to filter into my life I discovered Louise Hay and this began a deep journey with Reiki and a rediscovery of myself. You Can Heal Your Life was a new concept to me at the time but it all made sense. It helped me to take control of my life and my illness.
Many of us don't listen, are unable to hear or understand what our physical issues are trying to say. The system, such as it is, even tells us “it's normal at your age” or “this is just how your body is now.” As a society we've been taught to take the tablets and keep going.
The world conditions us to be stressed out, disconnected from nature and permanently connected to a box. Our food is unnatural and processed, we are tired and wired. This keeps us in a state of constant survival where even trying to process our emotions feels impossible.
Being in tune with our emotions, having healthy ways to express and release can support the body back into this state of harmony. We have to be willing and ready to hear. In my own case I spent time expecting others to fix me. Dealing with the underlying reasons for this, empowered me to take more control and make better and more aligned decisions for my health.
My core beliefs that conflict, drama and fighting were a normal part of life. A feeling that I had to control everything to help me to feel safe were playing out and creating chronic inflammation in my body.
My nervous system was always on high alert. I struggled to rest or sleep from an early age and was always on the go. I had no boundaries and learned to hold my own feelings and repress my own needs. Everything about my life was suppression and repression.
Illness is multi-layered. Understanding and listening to your body, understanding it needs nourishment of all kinds to bring into harmony takes time and patience. But most of all courage.
If you feel your body is calling you, then listen.