the wisdom is within
Sometimes it takes reaching a crisis point to make some big changes in our lives, the kind of change that moves us in a sustainable way towards the life that we want to live or towards the physical condition that we want to live in. Lately I’ve had many clients tell me that they gave my business card to a friend and asked if they’ve called yet. I jokingly say that they’ll give me a call when they have decided they can’t live like this anymore! It is unfortunate that we often wait until we reach this place to commit to making changes, but it is a strong motivator to make changes from.
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I think that a lot of us live such busy and high paced lives that we really neglect ourselves. We push down and ignore all the messages from our body. The messages grow louder, so our numbing tactics get stronger. I know that this was true in my life, and still is in some ways. I am always discovering new messages and seeing my escapist tendencies from new vantage points. In fact I think that part of the journey for me is just getting still and quiet enough to get real with the ways that I am trying to escape my reality of physical or emotional pain, spiritual longing or bypassing, living out of alignment with our truth, or any of the other vehicles for misattunement. So the call and the practice is to learn to listen, and to seek out the support and guidance of those who have walked a similar path before us, so that we don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel.
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Take physical pain for instance. The body might be sending a message through shoulder pain that something is wrong. It hurts, everyday the pain is there, nagging for attention, demanding your awareness of the situation. You take some pain relievers to pacify the pain, but alas it continues to speak its truth. You go get a massage or see a chiropractor and feel better for a few days or weeks but eventually it creeps back in. Underneath the pain could be a myriad of things happening. It could be your posture or repetitive movements at work that are exacerbating the issue. It could be something in your diet, like sugar or caffeine that is causing a stress hormone spike, or a particular food allergy that you are unaware of like to gluten or dairy. Or it could be the stress you are under with your financial situation that is at the root of your neck pain, or a situation with a coworker, etc! The point I am trying to make is that our bodies are highly intelligent, full of innate wisdom, and we hardly pay any attention to our intuition or learn to listen to the messages of the many types of pain.
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Each and every one of us was born with a doctor inside ourselves. We are the healers, our bodies have all the knowing and understanding they need to heal, repair, and find balance. Again, throughout our health journeys, it will serve us to seek out counsel from others who have more experience and can guide us on our journey, but ultimately the wisdom is within. The trick is to learn to listen. So I’d like to encourage you the same way I like to encourage myself…go take a walk in nature. Get away from your phone, your work, your worries, your distractions, go somewhere quiet, ideally under some big old trees, and tune in to yourself. Listen to your breath, feel your body, and ask yourself, “what is the message that this pain is here to show me?” Ask as if you believe that you will actually get an answer, as if your intuition is real and alive and something that you actually want to develop a relationship with. Ask and see what comes up for you. This is learning to listen. This is taking your health into your own hands and learning to trust yourself. Even if you don’t hear anything, that is okay. What is really important is that you believe that you can develop this kind of relationship with yourself…and you might just surprise yourself to learn that the answers you seek have been within you all along!