Your Body is Always giving you Signs. Do you Listen?
Your body is always giving you signs. Do you listen? Our bodies are really amazing. They are always supporting us and letting us know if something needs attention or isn’t quite right. The problem is, we usually ignore the signs.
How many of us have a cold or sore throat and ignore the symptoms. ‘It’s just a sniffle’, we tell ourselves. ‘It will go away.’ We push through hoping for the best, until that cold or sore throat goes on to our chest and we start to cough and feel a lot worse. Now we have a more serious condition to deal with. If we had listened to our body and rested when we needed to, we would probably have avoided a longer lasting illness.
Most doctors compartmentalise our symptoms. We have a problem with our digestive system, or our lungs or maybe our heart. They rarely look at the body as a whole. Yet no single part of our body functions independently. Every single action within our body impacts on another part. Our body is giving us signs that usually indicate that there is something else going on. Maybe we just aren’t paying attention to them.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the physical is tied in with the emotional. Each meridian or energy pathway is connected to an emotion. In Facial Reflexology, I look at the meridian most out of balance in the body, for this is where the original disease process began, and then begin to explore the underlying emotions.
Our lungs are where we hold grief and indicate how easily we ‘breathe’ through life. With their partner meridian, the large intestine, they also represent control. Whether we feel we have to control everything in our life or feel we have no control, or are controlled by others. Are we always striving for perfectionism?
Our Stomach and Spleen meridians hold stress and our immune response. Medical research has shown that 80-90% of all illness and disease is related to stress. So if you are always getting colds and flus, perhaps you need to address the stress in your life. How is it impacting you? Our Kidneys and Bladder are said to hold fear. Are we always fearful of what may or may not happen? Can we let go of that fear? Why do we not feel safe?
The signs our bodies give us are not there to judge us or assign blame. We hold on to emotions and behaviours from our childhoods and life experiences. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s how we navigate life to get through and survive. However it’s important to remember that we do have choices and if a particular sign becomes more persistent, perhaps it’s time that we paid attention to it.
Your body is always giving you signs. Do you listen? Perhaps next time a health issue presents, do some journalling and explore what may lie behind it. Are you not giving yourself the time and space you need in your life? Is your life centred wholly around work? Are you including some fun and play? Are you trying to control the actions of your family members? You may not agree with their life choices but if they are adults, it’s really their own choice.
If you have a dispute with someone, instead of being confrontational, can you gently express how their actions make you feel? Bottling up our emotions only suppresses them for a period of time. They will eventually surface and very often they do, as a disease process.
So listen to the signs your body is giving you. It is always there to support you and show you that something may need attention. Discuss your fears and emotions and get help if you need to. There is no shame in it.
We are all amazing human beings with all our gifts, talents and imperfections. Our bodies are part of that amazingness and wonder and they have a unique way of showing us if they need just a little bit more loving. Don’t ignore their gentle hints.
With warmest wishes,
Judy xxx
Disclaimer: Please note that all information in this article is the opinion of the author and obtained through her research and knowledge and the above references. It is not meant to replace medical advice and a medical opinion should always be obtained for any health condition.
References: Facial Reflexology by Lone Sorensen.
https://nasdonline.org/1445/d001245/stress-management-for-the-health-of it.html#:~:text=You%20can%20become%20negatively%20influenced,and%20disease%20is%20stress%2Drelated.
