Are you like most people who listen to doctors, educators and therapists for health advice? This seems to be the norm in Western society. If the advice these professionals are giving us is correct, then why are we all unhealthy, ill, stressed, overweight, loaded with prescription medications and feeling tired all the time? This is a question we all need to stop and think about.
Take responsibility to take care of your health!
Build your own health. Perhaps the answer is to take more responsibility for your own health – physical, mental and emotional. You know how you feel and what you need to heal; you’ve just forgotten how to listen to your body. Do you really need a nutritionist to tell you not to eat a super-sized fast food meal and a large ice-cream sundae with the works at one sitting, or do you know what to do? Do you really need a personal trainer to design an elaborate fitness plan for you, or do you realize that you just need to get off the couch and get some exercise every day?
Health and Healing. Be an active partner in your own health and healing. Research what’s good for you to eat and start to make changes in your diet. If you’re ill, read about your symptoms and look for the root cause of the problem. Start getting some exercise everyday, even if it’s just a ten minute walk. Start drinking more water and less soda and coffee. Start paying attention to what makes you stressed and look for ways to cope or reduce those stressors like meditation, yoga, and massage therapy. Once you take charge of your health, start to listen to the signals your body is giving you. An example might be to see how you feel after eating a high-fat meal. Do you feel sluggish and miserable? That’s your body telling you that you’ve consumed too much food and the wrong kind of foods. Also, by eating too much fast food and processed foods, you rob your body of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it needs to be healthy and strong so it’s no wonder that people develop diseases.
Another example might be that you have frequent headaches. Did you know that headaches are one sign of dehydration? Drink more water throughout the day and evening and see how much better you feel. As babies we are approximately 75 to 80% water and as we grow older this percentage decreases until the percentage is reduced to approximately 60% as adults. Thus, we need to replenish the water in our bodies daily for good health.
Health and Energy. Feeling drained of energy a lot? When you get up and start moving, you will notice the difference in your energy level. Physical activity can also reduce your risk of disease, help you lose weight and even increase your sense of worth.
Ever notice white spots on your fingernails? This is a condition called Leukonychia. WebMD notes that it might be caused by some kind of trauma to the nail, or by an infection or skin condition, but it can also be caused by poor nutrition. Maybe you are low in a mineral or vitamin, such as calcium. This could be your body’s way of telling you to take your vitamins!
Listen to your body to make an early action on healh issues
Anyone can learn to listen to what their body is telling them if they just take the time and make the effort. Expose yourself to new information and new ways of thinking. Eastern medicine has long known that to be healthy you must consider your whole self – physical, mental and emotional. That means paying attention to our five senses, intuition, knowing, and intellect to recognize what is good for us and what is bad for us. Eastern medicine is based on balance and moderation – nature is based on balance and moderation. Western or Eastern – which do you think is healthier? This is not to say that you should stop going to your doctor, but that you should take part in your own health.
Build self-awareness on your health. If we listen to our instincts, we will know what to do, but very often we work when we need to sleep, we snack when we’re not hungry, smile when we want to cry, and stay angry when we need to forgive and forget. Going against our nature has dire effects on our health. Knowledge is power. When you train yourself to be self-aware, then you have the knowledge to care for yourself in the best possible way.
Other ways to listen to your body.
Tuning into your intuition takes some practice but you can achieve it.
Meditation is a very good way to encourage a strong connection to your inner knowledge. You don’t have to sit in a dark room and chant. All you need to do is get your busy brain to be quiet for a while. An example might be letting your mind relax and let go while you’re doing yard-work, or taking the dog for a walk, doing a craft project or even doing housework. You can also just sit quietly in a comfortable place and let your mind drift. Sitting outside in the sunshine for a while is an excellent way to relax and meditate. Remember that when the outer mind is quiet, the inner mind can be heard, giving us insight into the health of our bodies.
Pay attention to your dreams. When your conscious mind is asleep, the subconscious mind is free to communicate with the conscious mind, without interference, through dreams. Paying attention to your dreams can give you many clues about what is going on with your body. When we sleep, the brain is relaxed and does not block pain impulses as it sometimes does when we’re awake, therefore, even weak pains may come through in our dreams to let us know there is a problem in the developmental stages. “Health” dreams can give you advanced warning of disease or disorder before we are aware of it while awake. Just becoming more self-aware will be beneficial to you in interpreting your dreams.
When you learn to listen to your body on a daily basis and take the good advice it’s giving you, you’re on the road to living a healthy, happy and productive life.
