What’s Your Body Telling You?

Do you listen to your body? Because if you do, it will tell you everything you need to know for your present health!

One Mind, One Body

When we ‘feel’ something sad, happy or content, we get that feeling from our thoughts, our cognitions. We might make judgements based on those feelings and emotions:

I feel so good – I’ve been promoted; I’ve met the girl/boy…; I have more in my account than I realised! (My body, if I observe and become aware, is responding accordingly. I might be standing tall, talking faster, moving quicker – and I think that I want for nothing else in this moment. I’m where I want to be.)

I feel so annoyed – I wish the darn computer/network would work faster, c’mon dammit! (Now my body is tense, my respirations are short, my muscles are tight and bunching, my gut is swirling – indigestion might appear. I want things to be different; I’m stressed!)

I feel present – I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing… just being! I’m relaxed and at peace!

When we become more in tune and aware of how we are feeling in our body throughout the day, we can choose to consider what it is that has us experiencing the bodily sensations.

“Oh, that’s easy, you might think. If I’m at work and someone’s giving me a hard time, of course I’ll be upset!”

When was the last time you asked yourself if it was the event or person upsetting you – or your thoughts and reactivity to the event?

Put into context, being objective and leaving aside unhealthy cognitive reference points of the past, we can take any moment in time and respond appropriately, with clarity – and feel less aggrieved or stressed.

When we take back rationale control of our emotions, based on our thoughts to stimuli, we take back healthier bodily functioning – and return once more to healthier thoughts helpfully improving digestion, accessing more positivity and hope, higher efficiency and performance, more creativity, less intolerance, greater appreciation and compassion for self – and others.

Life is then being lived the only place it can be lived – here and now. Our body likes this and our minds appreciate it!

About the author

Bob Brotchie is a counsellor, mindset consultant and creator of "Conscious Living by Design"™. He writes for Anglia Counselling, is featured on various other websites and introduces us to many guest writers all covering topics related to mental health and wellbeing.

Bob provides bespoke counselling services to individuals and couples in the privacy and comfort of a truly welcoming environment at his Anglia Counselling company office, located near Newmarket in Suffolk, England. Bob also provides professional online counselling, for local, national, and international clients. The therapeutic models offered are bespoke to the client’s needs, especially those in receipt of 'childhood emotional neglect' (CEN), whilst integrating a mindful approach to psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) principles. For clients experiencing trauma and/or phobia, Bob offers EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing).