I gained 4lbs in the last week and I'm so freaking proud of my body for it! You're probably thinking "Wait, what?!?! Why would you be happy about that?" Let me explain.
My body is responding to what I put in it. I consumed a couple of things that I don't normally eat. They tasted good going down, but they weren’t what my body wanted. So, in the last few days my body has responded to the stimulus I gave it by way of a little discomfort and weight. Makes sense, right?
So, why am I happy about this? It means that my body is working! And we want our bodies to work, right? I think our bodies are actually working way better than we know, we just don’t understand or like the language it uses. If there was any other thing or topic responding to a stimulus, we would be excited or have a different level of understanding, compassion even. So, why not with our bodies?
We’re conditioned to think that there’s something wrong with our bodies when something “goes wrong.” We make them wrong and then blame them for making us miserable because of the pain, inflammation or discomfort, but what if THIS is the language of the body? What if we can learn to interpret this language just like we learn German, French, or Spanish? Fully appreciating what our bodies do for us daily without us even having to ask.
For most of my life, I was completely disconnected from my body. I wouldn't know an emotion or how to express it if it knocked me over the head. I ate what I wanted and didn't worry because I was an athlete and I needed fuel. Sometimes frivolous, mindless eating lead to discomfort and imbalance in many different ways.
Mood. Weight. Hormones. Disease. You name it, my body did it.
I didn't know that my body was miserable and completely unhappy with me. I was numb. I didn't know that sickness, fatigue, inflammation, and pain were it's way of communicating with me. I couldn't hear it. Many of us walk around like this without any awareness that this is happening. Does this sound familiar?
Would you do that to a friend? How about a little child? If a child is crying, you try different things to understand why there are tears, right? Is it hungry, cold, tired, in pain, have to potty?
We’re taught that we are supposed to control our bodies, but what would happen if we shifted our mindset to that of a partnership and we dance with our body? There is 2-way communication, but it takes the lead to guide the way. What if this entire time, there’s been a 1-way communication from your body that you didn’t know existed? You couldn’t know how to interpret it because you didn’t know it existed. And if you don’t know something exists, then you can’t really be faulted.
But think about it, if you could have a constant line open between you and your body, how would that feel? No judgement, anger, resentment, just understanding, gratitude and compassion. Flow. How would that shift our days, our lives? If we’re really looking for the communion, harmony, and flow in our lives, it starts with us. The way we talk to ourselves, our bodies, matters.
So back to the example of the little child crying, we want to find out why it's crying. We give it things to see if that will change the child’s response. With each thing we try, we have more information, until finally we have our solution. We can treat our bodies the same way. It may not have the language or vocabulary for us to easily understand, but we can find a way to develop a relationship with it so we understand how it wants to communicate.
Our bodies want to support us. Inherently, they don’t attack us, they protect us. They want us well and have systems and mechanisms in place to act when there’s a perceived threat. Once I learned that my body always wants to support me, I realized that I was making it wrong for simply doing it's thing. I had to be the one to change if I wanted my body to react differently. So, I changed...and boy did that help!
I released layers, shifted my mindset, improved my environment, changed my diet, began to feel, and got connected. From this, I started to listen and be able to interpret my body’s language. It had been trying to get my attention for so long! Now I see how my body communicates and responds to what I put in it. And it ALWAYS responds! How amazing is that?!?!?
Am I worried about the weight? Nope! It'll be gone with a couple of shifts over the week. So, what's it gonna take for you to understand what your body is telling you? What would it feel like to have a relationship with your body knowing that you’re on the same page? I invite you to consider that and I’d love to help you get to that point! Shoot me an email at hello@shannonnsmith.com or click here to schedule a Discovery call to learn more on getting more connected with your body.