The Body does not Lie - The Mind/Body Connection
Our bodies tell us a lot if we only listen to them. An Everyday Mystic listens to his/her body, respecting it as the temple of the soul during this earth-bound life, attending to the lessons it provides. When the body gets sick or experiences any type of disease, we need to listen to what message it might be sending us.
Louise L. Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life, was a pioneer in showing the connection between emotional or thought patterns and disease. Recent scientific research likewise shows that emotional issues such as repressed anger can lead to heart disease and other serious illnesses.
We easily recognize that when we are embarrassed, our cheeks get red. When we are nervous, our palms sweat. When we are very sad, we cry. Likewise, long-term, repeated emotional or thought patterns can affect our physical body. That’s why Louise Hay has a dictionary of physical illnesses, their causes and affirmations to counter-act them.
What is the message in the illnesses we have? Last week, I caught a cold. What a funny phrase - to "catch" a cold, like I was on the hunt for it. Maybe I was! I started getting a scratchy throat as I was finishing a report for a short consulting gig that I accepted because I needed the cash flow. I had "resigned" from doing that type of work late last fall, but reneged on my resolve last month when I assessed my lack of income. I needn’t be too worried, because I saved a generous amount of money to get me through this transition period. As I write this, I realize that it was ego that motivated me to accept the consulting gig. Ego was telling me to worry about income, to not draw on my savings even though they were set aside for just this situation. I have a lot of ego wrapped around the success of my business and the amount of income I create. I recognize now that my ego needs to step aside.
I got sick last week. Just a cold with a runny nose and one night of fever. A message from my body to my higher self that I’m not making good choices. A warning that I must listen to my body as it tells me what to do. As if to remind me of the importance of this message, I am now experiencing a cough and nasal congestion - post-cold annoyances for certain, but reminders non the less that I need to pay attention.
Ignoring the wisdom of the body is perilous. Sometimes we get sick just because we need the down time, the time to stay at home and rest. Sometimes it is more than that - sometimes it is a wake-up call that we dare not sleep through. I am told that our spirit guides often use our body as a means to communicate with us, which underscores the importance of paying attention to the body’s message.
Eleven years ago I got a bad case of shingles. Usually a disease of the elderly (I was in my early 40’s at the time), shingles is a stress-related illness in which the chicken pox virus, which lies latent in our spinal chords since childhood, resurfaces to work great mischief. In my case, it was the symptom of an exhausted body and stressed out lifestyle. The ultimate outcome of that illness was I resigned from my corporate job and sought a different lifestyle. That was when I started my consulting and training business, KR Consulting. I am certain that if I hadn’t re-structured my life to allow more time for my family, rest for my body and attention to my spiritual life, shingles would have been only the start of a long road of disease that would not have had a pretty ending.
So as I write this, I commit again to following my conviction that I am on a new path and that I needn’t accept work that no longer fulfills me. I know that my body - and my spirit guides - will thank me for listening to its wisdom by staying healthy.
How can you listen to your body? What spiritual wisdom does it send you? Please don’t ignore the messages your physical health sends you. Remember, the body does not lie.
Blessings to you on this journey.
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