6 Ways to ♥ your Body: Part 2

We decided yesterday that our relationship with our body is one of the most important relationships we'll ever, EVER have. We can't have a healthy mind and soul without a healthy body and vice-versa... It's imperative that this is a good relationship.

Knowing that, let's take a look at what makes for a successful relationship. I'm gonna vote for respect, good communication, appreciation.... this is a good start, yes?

We covered some respect issues yesterday when we realized that the way we were talking to ourselves about our bodies was unkind and disrespectful. We apologized and promised to do better. Our bodies forgave us, because they love us. We seem to be heading in the right direction.

Now, let's get some communication rolling... As we know, there are two parts to communicating; listening and talking.

"You have two ears and one mouth for a reason."

-Some Wise Dude (Most Likely)

As I'm sure you're aware, our bodies don't speak English. They do not speak Japanese, or French, or Spanish, or Klingon either. 

Which means, if we're going to communicate effectively, we're gonna have to learn the language of the body. 

Lucky for us, this is a language we already know, but most of the time just forget to pay attention to... our bodies communicate with us through a series of feelings. These feelings fall into two categories, and two categories only. I will call them Yummy and Yucky.

Yummy/Good Feelings

Love

joy

Passion

Compassion

Understanding

Peacefulness

Excitement

Yucky/Bad Feelings

Jealousy
Hate

Helplessness

Depression

Anger

Despair

Those are just a few, but I'm sure you get the jist. 

 When we have yummy feelings, this is our body saying to us, way to go partner! This is what's best for us. When we are having yucky feelings, it's our body telling us that we're heading in the wrong direction. When we follow the yummy feelings, we are rewarded with favorable results. When we follow yucky feelings, we are given unfavorable results.

Our bodies want whats best for us, so when we ignore the yucky feelings and continue doing what we're doing, it starts taking more drastic measures. It speaks to us with physical manifestations. For me in the past this has been weight gain, depression, constipation, acne, and low energy just to name a few. What has this looked like for you?

So, the next thing I did on my journey to loving my body, after throwing my scale away, was to stop bossing it around and listen. I was REALLY tired of feeling bad all the time.  So decided that maybe it would be a good idea to start paying attention to what resonated with me, what made me feel yummy, and what made me feel yucky. When I started paying attention to what my body was telling me, and began moving towards that which made me feel yummy all of my symptoms began to disappear... without forcefulness or domination.

So in order for us to begin reversing these unfavorable things, we havta, HAVTA to start listening to our bodies. It is THE single most loving thing we can do for ourselves.

2nd way to love your body:

Listen to it. 

Yup. That's it. Spend some time paying attention to what your body is trying to tell you. Trust that it knows what's best for you. It does.

Action steps:
Build on the list that I started above, including all of the feelings that are common to you. Then, as you move throughout your day, pay attention to how you are feeling. You will start noticing which which things you do that make you feel yummy and which ones make you feel yucky.

This might take a conscious effort on your part. I know it did for me.

We do what we do because it is our habit to do so. The goal here is to break the habit of not listening. This may require you to leave notes to yourself around your apartment, set an alarm on your phone to remind you to listen, tattoo your forehead... Yes, this is THAT important. Not only does your relationship with your body depend on this, your happiness does too.

We will talk later this week about what to do once you have acquired the habit of listening to your body. 

But for now... sssshhhhhhhhh..... just listen.

 Being happy is the cornerstone of all that you are! Nothing is more important than that you feel good! And you have absolute and utter control about that because you can choose the thought that makes you worry or the thought that makes you happy; the things that thrill you, or the things that worry you. You have the choice in every moment.

~ Abraham Hicks

Tweet