Do You Listen To Your Body?
I was reading an article the other day which was about staying healthy as you
get older, and one of the interesting points made, was that we tend spend very
little time just listening to our bodies. It included the obvious such as a
grumbling stomach when we’re hungry ..etc, but what I found intriguing was the
notion that we nearly always put off action, in response to our body’s signals,
until it’s too late. For example, if we feel a knot of tightness in our stomachs
in certain situations, we’ll almost certainly tell ourselves that it will wear
off, and go on doing what we were doing, rather than stopping and finding out
exactly why we’re feeling like that.
As I considered that, and recalled examples of when I’d done exactly what I’d
just read about, I thought it’s surprising how much time we spend not listening
to our bodies, just getting on with life. These symptoms can be indicators that
we are living an unhealthy lifestyle, or we are creating an unhealthy environment
for ourselves, and the consequences can be extremely damaging to our long-term
health. There were a few things recommended, such as yoga, meditation, regular
exercise ..etc, but I wondered how many of us, having read the article, would
actually go and do something about it, or change the way we do things?
I hear often about people who have a health or fitness regime and manage to
stick to it religiously, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to
keep it up. I know there are many more people like me, and I often wonder if
it’s something in our genes or are we just lazy? I confess to a certain amount
of laziness, but I think this is more to do with motivation. I find that when
I’m sharing a task with someone else, I’m much more inclined to stick with it.
It’s only when I’m on my own that I seem to lose energy for it. Perhaps that’s
the secret - don’t do it on your own.
