How well do you listen to your body?
What does listening to your body even mean?
You’ve heard the expression “trust your gut”.
This basically means trusting your intuition.
Intuition is a deep, direct, immediate knowing without the need for conscious reasoning.
The Latin root intuit means to look at, comprehend or contemplate.
So, when you use your intuition to comprehend or contemplate what is going on in your body what do you notice?
How does intuition show up for you?
Do you have a hunch or a sensation? Maybe you visualize a picture or an image.
My intuition shows up first in bodily sensations.
We have so many bodily sensations with fibromyalgia don’t we?! LOL!
What to do?
Sadly, I might find myself speaking very harshly to my body:
“Get over yourself already for heaven’s sake. Hurry up. Let’s get going! We have things to do, people to see!”
Ouch!
Can you relate?
I think all of us who are dealing with fibromyalgia get frustrated with our body’s limitations from time to time.
Do you ever get caught in a difficult, downward spiral of resisting the pain and discomfort that comes with chronic illness?
It’s easy to forget that the mindset we take regarding our illness has a huge effect on our quality of life.
It helps to remember that Pain x Resistance = Increased Suffering.
I often use with my coaching clients this Self-Compassion Break Exercise from the Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer:
- “This is a moment of suffering.” That’s mindfulness.
I allowed myself to feel my exhaustion and anxiety about upcoming travel.
I acknowledged that I was increasing my suffering by the harsh and impatient attitude I was taking towards myself.
I recognized that:
- “Suffering is a part of life.” That’s common humanity. A lot of people struggle with chronic illness. I’m not alone in this.
- “May I accept myself as I am.” That’s self -compassion.
I committed all over again to be kind to myself and breathed a sigh of acceptance and relief.
Does this exercise speak to you?
My clients have found cultivating self-compassion to be such a valuable tool in their toolbox.
So, back to the question I asked at the beginning:
How well do you listen to your body?
Do you feel overwhelmed trying to sort out all the aches and pains and sensations in your body?
Could it be helpful to you to have someone like me come alongside and assist you in making sense of what is happening to your body?
Would it be useful to have support and accountability as you implement the recommendations of your health care providers so you have less pain and suffering?
