One of the first paid gigs I had as a young therapist was working in a biofeedback lab. Among the many lessons I learned was the importance of listening to bodily sensations. This was very different from the habit of ignoring what’s going on or putting it behind me.
In fact, I was surprised at how much I listened to my foot tapping when it was quiet. Sure enough, when I stopped listening to pointless noise from the environment, something much more interesting came up: physical sensations that signaled emotional arousal.
From those experiences, I learned about the brain and body connection and its importance.
Over the years, I’ve learned what each sensation is telling me. Whenever my lips starts twitching, it’s telling me that my anger is getting the best of me. At those moments, a flashing yellow caution light goes off in my head.
It’s a signal that I need to consider what’s going on before I lose it and do something out of anger rather than out of wisdom.
Other sensations such as sweaty palms, a pounding heart or heavy head can be signs that I am under stress, whether from the environment or from within my own mind. If it’s too much in either place, I need to take action: remove myself for a few minutes and do something else so I can calm down and regain emotional balance.
There are also signals letting me know when to stop eating, when to shut up and when to push fears aside. Learning what my body signals are telling me has helped in handling many sensitive situations.
How about you? Do you listen when your body is telling you things?
When your neck muscles tighten up along with your heart racing and stomach knots, do you know what to do? Those are signs that should alert you that something’s going on needing attention.
Perhaps you took advil or tylenol when your body sent you those messages. Pain relievers deaden the aches and pains but do nothing about the source of the problem. It removes the symptom, but not the problem.
When you deaden your symptoms, it makes listening to what they’re telling you more difficult than it needs to be. You may be one of those who make life more complicated than it needs to be.
Although pain relief sounds good, in reality, it keeps you from identifying some important information. Your pain is telling you something. It’s alerting you to issues needing attention.
The brain and body connection exists for a reason. One of those consists of letting you know when you’re stressed out by traumas. You may not think of yourself as being traumatized, yet your body is telling you otherwise.
You may even think that what your body’s telling you is about some illness or seasonal ailment. In that case, you have missed the message it’s communicating to you entirely.
Trauma is treatable when you take care of it early. The longer you stay in it, while ignoring the symptoms, the greater your struggle will be in moving past it.
Pain is a protection of life. When your body is hurting, it’s telling you something. When you listen to what it’s telling you, it protects you. Rather than considering your hurts as something that’s getting in the way of your day, consider that it’s a message.
When your body is alerting you to trauma reactions, it’s telling you that you need help. You can find help in the video “Overcoming Affair Trauma“. When you know the way out of the trauma, it improves your quality of life.
Your thinking and health don’t have to stay impaired due to the trauma. You can move past it and enjoy life once again.
Keeping It Real,
Jeff
