Listening to your body
How much do you really know about your own body? Do you pay attention to the little signals your body is giving you? The body is an amazing regenerative organism with serious self-healing capabilities when given the right nutrients & environment. But what about when the environment is not quite right and those important nutrients aren’t there? Things like anxiety, panic attacks, poor mood, can be the body’s way of letting us know something is not quite right. Your body is your home, where you live every day, without a doubt you are the best judge of your body, but so often we don’t tune into what it is telling us.
Our health is about so much more than just our physical health; it is also our mental health, spiritual health, but also our emotional health plays a very important role.
Emotional health differs to mental health, in that mental health is to do with the health of our mind, emotional health focuses on things like being in tune with our emotions, vulnerability and authenticity, which of course in turn impacts our mental and physical health. Having good emotional health is a fundamental aspect of fostering resilience, self-awareness and overall contentment. And having good emotional health doesn’t mean you’re happy all the time either or free from negative emotions, it’s about having the skills and resources to manage the ups and downs of day-to-day life. The reality is you can be fit and toned and even ticking all the boxes in terms of meditation and mindfulness and still not be emotionally healthy.
The busy world we live in now doesn’t allow many quiet moments where we can listen to ourselves, get to know ourselves, tune in to our bodies. A favourite quote of mine is ‘if we listen to our body when it whispers, then we won’t have to hear it scream’. This is so true, now more than ever, so many people are living with little niggly symptoms, that have become their norm, but these are the body’s way of telling us something is not right, and more seriously, can be precursors of more serious conditions.
Every time we eat is an opportunity to nourish the body and brain. The food we eat & conditions we are surrounded by on a daily basis literally have the ability to heal or harm us. What about a body being fed poor quality food, in a stressed, toxic environment day after day over years? It is going to be functioning sub-optimally, not a good position to be in if you are hit with a health crisis. We want to be in tip-top condition for those times when we really need it!
The food we eat is so much more than just fuel. The vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids we get from good natural foods, literally support every function & process in the body, counteracting damage & stress, protecting us. So it is not that hard to see if someone is eating a poor quality processed diet every day that they are going to be susceptible to poor digestion, low mood, fatigue, aches & pains etc. And the life force energy of live whole foods like locally grown veg is astounding, like you can literally feel the difference in a couple of days, try it as an experiment, put a big push on some good quality veg for a day or two in smoothie, salads, soups, stir-fries etc. and monitor how you feel.
The rules of health have not changed over the last 50 years, but our environment has changed so dramatically. A personalised approach is really necessary as we are all so biochemically different. We need to be more aware of what works & what doesn’t work for our individual body. If a food appears not to agree with you, try cutting it out, if you feel super stressed, try some relaxation/ mindfulness, but I think the main thing is to allow yourself the luxury of a little time, take five, have a cuppa, go out & enjoy the view, just stopping can be so powerful in terms of caring for ourselves and our emotional and mental health. Its these small changes in lots of areas over time than can add up to huge transformation.
So take a moment, tune in, listen to your body & you’ll reap the rewards!
Kara X
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