Body
I listened to my body and magic happened.
Our ears are alert all the time when we are conscious. Even in a subconscious state, we sometimes pick up on things. We listen to our best friends on the phone for hours and hours on end, talking about THAT issue (no need for further elaboration here). We listen to our parents telling us something for the billionth time because one time just isn’t enough. We listen to gems being dropped and foolishness being spread. We listen to the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we react and sometimes we don’t.
There’s something that we ignore a lot of the time, something that we own and that is with us 24/7. Can you guess?
It’s our bodies.
For me, it started with a numbing feeling in my feet and ignoring it for weeks, when I say weeks I mean almost two months. I only reacted to it when I fainted face forward in a public space and regained consciousness with paramedics hovering all around me and me not knowing what the f just happened. Yes, it got that bad.
Did I not know what common sense was? Had I not been taught that when I was not well I should go and see the doctor ? I had. And grew up in a household where we took quarterly check ups very seriously. I just didn’t take my own check ups seriously enough. I didn’t take myself seriously enough. My body had been talking to me through multiple channels and I had just chosen to ignore it because I simply didn’t have the time to deal with it. I’m still in awe at the self neglect I put myself through…one thing about not having the time is life will make time for it if you don’t. And not in a very pleasant way but in a staying in the hospital for a couple of weeks , going through multiple tests having needles poking you, sensors sticking in and out of you, and having to stay at home for a couple of months type of way.
Busy is the word that we decorate our lives with; willingly and unwillingly. It is the B word that has dominated our lives for the longest time. Busy bodies moving up and down and round and round, going back and forth and not stopping to catch a proper break. But maybe we should take a step or two back and take a long moment to listen to our bodies. Because our body speaks. It speaks when we get tired really quickly. It speaks when we get one cold after the other. It speaks when we start losing weight or gaining weight drastically. It speaks with aches and pains, hair falling out, skin looking dull; it speaks.
It’s okay to slow down even when the world around you is bolting.
Have a body party tonight - not that kind or yes that kind, whatever you’re in the mood for really- and take a minute or twenty or an hour or two to really look and listen to your body. It will thank you.
Love
Maame