WISDOM of the Body!

It is amazing what hitting the PAUSE button in our lives can do to change our prospective. Not very long ago we got into December enjoying all of the holiday gatherings, programs, practices, shopping trips, wrapping, and decorating. We felt exhausted just thinking about all we still had to do before the holidays could arrive! We struggled to get the exercise our bodies needed, the time to cook nutritious meals, sleep cut short, and our much needed meditation times were shortened. Our lives were way too busy and, we were always “dreaming” about the next time we could just “get away from it all” with some beautiful down time for ourselves.  I would read through my magazines or my email and think, wow…I’d sure love to join that retreat!  If we just had a little more time, a little more money, a little more ambition…you name it we dream up countless scenarios. Those thoughts of retreat were coming from our body’s wisdom that told us what we REALLY needed!

Let’s look at the balance of what our bodies were trying to tell us back in those busy days.

• My body needs exercise ~ Movement is Medicine!
• My body needs adequate sleep ~ Healing takes place!
• My body needs nutritious food ~ Food is Medicine!
• My body needs less stress ~ Meditation and mindful living feed my soul and my body!

Here we ARE…we have more time. We might even be craving those busy holiday celebrations. Our body in fact needs this same balance even more now than during those really busy days!

It’s not easy. Every family has a new normal they are trying to balance. BUT…reality says we ALL have more time. When we look back someday, what will we remember? I’m hoping I will have memories of my very own personal retreat. But…my poor husband is trapped in this house with me..hmm, maybe family retreat sounds more appropriate.

Our bodies are always craving what we need most. Sometimes we listen, other times when life is out of sorts, we give into cravings of the past. Today…let’s hit the PAUSE button because we can. Let’s listen to the wisdom that tells us to take care of our inner world and our body together!

There are multiple reasons why our inner world needs our attention even more right now. Each of us has a unique set of needs. While I am sharing some basic needs of all people, when you go within and ask, “What do I need?” You will get answers that are just right for you. Remember that answers come in very creative ways. It can be a thought that surfaces, an unwanted body ache, an email that arrives, a phone call from a friend, a zoom conversation or information gained during a webinar. There is free wisdom from just about every spiritually centered person I know!

When we use energy to produce fear, worry, anxiety, anger, and frustration we are draining our natural immune system by thought alone! We can’t help but react in some way because we are grieving the loss of our familiar life. So, what are we doing to make sure we don’t ROB our immune system to the point where our body is weakened? We can easily pick up any virus or infection when we are weakened.  When our immune system dials down and we get tired; aches and pains become our companions. Our mind tells us we haven’t been that busy, so why? We think we need some “chemical” to fix this.  There are pills that can help me. Yes, that is true and there are times when we need just that. But, let’s add what our body’s wisdom is trying to tell us if we just listen! Let’s remember there is another type of medicine that our bodies are VERY familiar with and crave.

• Movement is medicine.
• Sleep is vital and our natural medicine.
• We ARE what we eat ~ food is medicine.
• Meditation can dial DOWN stress and anxiety…no matter what kind or how long! A retreat within is medicine.
• Self care includes finding joy in all you do. Joy is medicine.
• Helping others is the love medicine our hearts (soul) crave.
• Surrender the OUTCOME. Relax and let GOD’s love take over. Is letting go medicine? Yes.
• Our body reacts in such great ways when we listen!

People keep saying,  “we can’t wait to get back to normal”. That won’t happen. Change has happened, and our new normal will be different. That’s the way our universe evolves. But we should think of that change as a very good thing! We CAN come out stronger than ever! We can make change happen for the better, for both ourselves and others in our own communities. We WILL have stronger communities because we now realize we have always craved stronger bonds between caring people. Our world can change for the better…with a great boost from YOU! You are a magnificent being and you have the ability to spread your amazing caring self with so many others around you. Just by being YOU.

If you are experiencing boredom during your inner retreats, it might be due to the fact that you keep doing the same thing every day. Your body and brain love the familiar, but they THRIVE on change. It’s just like your life right now, you crave the familiar and yet the change has likely brought some beautiful new things into your life!

A SIMPLE different meditation came to me this week and I want to share it with you. It came from Dr. Joe Dispensa. It is so simple. He tells us that during these difficult times, we all need to catch the LOVE BUG instead of any nasty bug. Here’s what you do:

1. Choose a person ( or more) that needs some love for any reason.
2. Write down what you love about them. Send it TO THEM one way or another. It can be through an email,  text,  card, or a thought sent through the air waves through your heart center.
3. Then meditate for 20 minutes – Be at ONE with your heart…feel it! Feel that ONENESS  exists naturally through your heart connection. It’s the emotion that makes it all work. Oh God was so clever in creating our bodies!
4. No expectations…Go about your day and fill it with JOY!
5. Find another person you’d like to send love to tomorrow!

Here is a link that Dr. Joe put up to share one way to do this LOVE BUG meditation.  It’s called GO LOVE 20 Meditation. You can access it here via YouTube.

This may not at all be your style, his voice is rather loud in it for me. But, the concept is so good and it’s worth listening to his words all the way through! Then you can either use it again…or move the concept to your own style. Either way…we can all catch the LOVE BUG together and bring JOY into our lives!