Resilient Reflections: Do You Listen to Your Body or Your Mind?

Do You Listen to Your Body or Your Mind?

Is it possible that after years of running PŪR Yoga/Resilience, I’m finally learning to listen to my body more than my mind?

That’s a difficult answer. After some pretty severe injuries that wouldn’t allow me to exercise or do yoga, I have had to endure a long recovery. My default, which it always has been, is to work. That is what I do. I’ve spent my life defining myself by my work and my job.

But that is finally changing. I have realized that although I can pour my soul into a job or a business, no one is irreplaceable. There is no job that someone else can’t do, no yoga class someone might prefer elsewhere, while I sit by and continue to work. That’s what I do. I’ve spent my life defining myself by my work, my job. Did I say that before? Yes, and it’s worth repeating. 

You are not defined in life by your job and how hard you work. My husband often says, “No one wants their gravestone to say, “They worked hard in life.” Isn’t that the truth?

I wish I could say that when I had to navigate significant health challenges almost 8 years ago, I had listened to myself then. And when I badly wrecked both my shoulders, maybe I was again given an opportunity to listen to the subliminal messages coming at me. But I didn’t.

The reality now is I am being forced to listen to my body and my heart, not my mind, in order to stay on a healthy path. The body I used to count on, without much effort, is no longer capable of doing the same things.  It is frustrating to acknowledge that my body doesn’t want to cooperate with everything I could take advantage of by owning a studio, nor does it want to cooperate with my will and preference for productivity over rest.

I doubt I am alone in this mind and body tension. As women, we can’t ignore our children if we are mothers, or our parents if we are care-takers, or our unpredictable pandemic work environments, or our never ending bills and home responsibilities. But we can ignore ourselves. We do. I did.

The responsibilities of our day will often talk louder than the needs of our bodies, until mother nature decides to have you throw your back out, injure your knee, have a fall, break a shoulder or two…

I feel that there are many women out there knowing that they are not feeling as good as they could, and yet listening to what your body actually needs feels like a luxury or something you don't have time for. Please make the time. You are worth it. I am worth it. 

Sometimes it is important to be reminded to tune into your body and listen and give yourself grace and compassion.

Today, I'm encouraging you (and myself too), to tune back into what our bodies are telling us and to actually listen. And then after listening, respond.

“If you need rest today, please rest.
If you need to seek help today, please make the call.
If you need a good cry today, please let it out.
If you need nourishment, please feed yourself.

Modern day living is not for the faint of heart, but you are not alone.”

Make yourself a priority today.

References

Robin Long, The Balanced Life