In the pursuit of health, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing your body as working against you or failing you.
If our bodies would only just cooperate so we can overcome autoimmune, improve our blood sugar, or lose weight!
Why isn’t it happening faster? Why is it so hard?
Some clients of mine have even expressed that they wish they could surgically fix a problem just to get it over with.
The mental and emotional toll of dealing with a health issue understandably causes this impatience and intolerance of our own bodies.
I’m writing this because I was inspired by a Facebook post a few weeks ago that called on us to remember all of the wonderful gifts we get from our bodies.
Our eyes allow us to see our family and friends as well as so many, many beautiful things on this earth.
Our ears give us the gift of music, the sound of waves crashing at the beach, and the sweetness of hearing a baby giggling.
Our mouths (and the olfactory nerves in our noses), oh man, the joy of all the wonderful food we get to eat. We just have to be paying attention while we’re eating so we can truly savor the experience.
Our minds allow us to create, to be passionate, to express ourselves, to ponder, to solve problems, to develop relationships, and even to berate our bodies for failing us. And yet, we should appreciate all of it.
Our bodies are capable of incredible feats. We can recover from severe injury and trauma. We can swim in the ocean and lift heavy things. We can climb mountains and ski down them. The list is endless.
And what about cool little things like knitting, typing, playing cards, and tickling someone?
I think it’s important for all of us to take a moment every single day to stop being so demanding on our bodies. Right now I’m talking about something different from sleeping more, drinking less alcohol, eating better and that sort of thing (although that is important too).
What I mean is that we should lay off the mental pressure a little. Our bodies are doing SO MUCH!
Imagine if you treated any other human being with the high expectations you put on your own body?
You probably wouldn’t have much of a relationship with that person. They would run away and hide.
And yet we expect our bodies to put up with all the abuse and still function in tip-top shape.
And when our bodies break down we want it to be better. NOW!
When if you think about it, most illnesses took years if not decades to create. How do we expect our bodies to fix it all so quickly? Especially when we’re yelling at it and not appreciating all the wonders that we do still get to experience?
So, maybe today, try saying thank you to your body with all of its beautiful imperfections. Go easy on it by eating well, taking a nap, laughing with someone, having some fun, and just taking enjoying the health you do have.
Who knows? This may be the true path to healing all ills.
