Regularly scheduled maintenance.
I own a car, and cars must be taken care of. They need love and attention. Sure, you can drive a car and do nothing for it, and one day when you need it most the car will "suddenly" start making weird noises or shuddering and blumbering.
Sitting on the side of the road with your head in your hands, you say to yourself, "Next time I'll be better at taking care of things I own."
Just like you said the last time something bad happened.
When my car starts making a strange noise, I have two choices: It's just a noise and there is nothing to worry about, or something may be wrong and I should have a closer look, just to make sure. If you are anything like me you don't want to take your car in for service every time you hear a noise or feel a rumble or wobble, but if we had the means; the time and the money, wouldn't we always have our cars maintained, no matter what?
OF COURSE we would, and it's the same thing with our bodies.
We have bodies, and those bodies need maintenance. They need rest, good clean foods, lots of water and perhaps the most overlooked detail is a regular affirmative dialogue. Without these things, it's easy to perpetuate the habit of overlooking something we want to believe is small and insignificant until it grows into an out-of-control problem.
We often feel physical discomforts in the form of little pains or subtle sensations, signaling something is out of alignment, or not quite right. Usually, the feeling is just tension or tightness from holding ourselves in poor posture or sitting too long in a bad chair; staring down at the phone or computer, standing too long in shoes with poor support, etc.
Like vehicle maintenance, we have a choice with our bodies:
Do I just keep going and ignore the sensation, or can I take a few moments and look deeper to examine the nature of the sensation?
Unlike vehicle maintenance, we don't need to take our body to a doctor (the human dealership) every time we feel discomfort. Most of the aches and pains we feel can be confronted and better understood by following a few simple steps:
1. What do you feel and where?
2. How long have you been feeling what you feel? A minute, a day, a week?
3. What do you notice activates the feeling or sensation you are experiencing? What softens or alleviates the sensation, if it can be softened?
This last step is probably the most important, and can take a bit more time and focused effort:
4. Close your eyes, take a couple deep breaths and look inward (meaning connect with your muscles, bones, your nerves and your emotions). Then ask yourself, what is the root cause or core issue? Look plainly and without judgement for the choices you have made that got you to feeling the way you do.
This can be an emotionally painful process. It's never fun to admit when you are wrong about something or could have made a better choice, but thankfully the simple realization of this can point you in the direction of a different choice you can make.
If your back hurts every time you stand up from your favorite old chair, maybe it's time for a chair upgrade. If your stomach hurts every time you eat tomatoes, perhaps lessen the amount of pasta sauce and pizza you are eating.
With people, this is a bit more challenging. You may discover the pain in your chest occurs every time you are around a certain person, or every time you think of a particular situation going on in your life. In that case, you must be extra gentle and super sensitive to every nuance of the dynamic. The checklist still applies to your emotions, and often times creating a journal or a running tab of what you notice and when/why, can really help put things in perspective over time.
No matter what you feel, physically or emotionally, the solution or insight you seek may take a while to discover - and that's okay. It's totally normal not to have an answer for how you feel. Things like that take time and patience and compassion, so don't add the stress of "needing an answer" onto your discomfort. Take your time, move slow and continue your inward journey until the answer you feel is most true appears in your awareness.
This way, you move and act from a place of certainty and stability rather than rushing to simply cover or escape what you do not understand. This is where the regular affirmative dialogue comes into play.
Tell yourself often that you DO deserve love and attention, at least from yourself even if you don't always feel it from others. You ARE worthy of regularly scheduled physical and emotional maintenance. Take a hot bath, grab your mat and go to yoga or go for a long walk with your dog or partner on the beach. Do something great for yourself every day and allow yourself to feel good about it. Say thank you for the things you have and stop dwelling on the things you lack. Tell yourself that you matter, and you are here for a reason.
Focus on your strengths and the attributes you have worked hard to embody and achieve. The elements of an affirmative dialogue are asking questions that are easy to say "Yes" to, and help yourself feel bigger, stronger and worth the attention your body and mind are asking for.
Hopefully this blog reaches you in exactly the right time, and encourages you to take action and look deeper. Let us know if you have any questions. We are here to help and nothing is too small.
Thank you VW dealership. Thank you Body. Thank you Consciousness. Thank you Internet!!! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment