 Other than that, it’s a dedication… something I do with the long-term goal of a healthy and happy life in mind. It’s definitely not “the easy road”. That said, I’ve become more used to it. It can still take me a long time to dedicate myself and address the issues that come up, but I do know how good I feel when I do listen… and listen deeply. For me, healing is mostly about awareness. It’s about listening to my body, and acting on what I understand.
Listening, it’s the first catch. Almost always. I was taught not to listen to my body, but to push harder, do better, achieve more. And it meant that I was often overriding my body’s messages in order to appear stronger, more flexible, and better at something, than I truly was. I worried about being good enough. A lot. Listening took on a new dimension of resistance as I realized that when I did listen, I often received messages that I had to take care of. You know, the message that you’re really, actually, sick and should stay home and take care of yourself. Or the message that the emotion I’ve been avoiding engaging is still there, settling into my body, making me feel queasy and uncomfortable. Listening is only really easy when I hear what I want to hear.
7 Comments
Jill- I can so relate to this. I know the feeling of pushing past health. Recently, I came to work with the stomach flu because it was only my first week in a new job. They sent me home and said I didn't need to worry so much about taking came of myself. What a relief! Thank you for this. It's a good reminder and so well put.
Jill {Luminous Muse}
5/14/2015 12:10:05 pm
Yes, it's common to feel the obligation not to let our bodies get in the way... but really... in terms of our health, I think our biggest responsibility is to form that relationship with our bodies. It's also tough. So... yeah. Sigh.
Jill {Luminous Muse}
5/14/2015 12:14:52 pm
Yes, Kim... that line seems to be the one that resonates (I've had a couple of people mention that line to me). It's funny... I had that awareness as I was writing. It is my take-away too... Time to make more space for listening. 5/14/2015 02:10:21 pm
This is beautifully written, Jill. Thanks so much for the reminder - it's so easy to forget that all we really need to do is listen.... and then we'll know what is the right thing to do.... :)
Virginia
5/14/2015 03:04:05 pm
Beautifully written. Listening is a forgotten art form. Love the photo. Leave a Reply. |
Jill CliftonI'm an explorer of inner realms, a pattern observer, and an invitation maker. I believe that healing the world starts within. If you organize your blog conversations through Bloglovin' you can follow me there...
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