The body keeps score, and it always wins!” – Brene Brown
This must be one of my most favourite quotes from one of my most favourite women! I make no secret of the fact that I have a HUGE girl crush on Brene Brown!
If you haven’t listened to her speak on vulnerability, shame and empathy, then go to You Tube now and do it! You won’t regret it!
So why do I love this quote! Well it pretty much sums up why I do what I do!
Just over 9 years ago, I was suffering with a stress related condition called ‘Chronic Urticaria’ and my GP told me that it could be with me for a few weeks, months or even years, there was no cure and I had to just treat with daily doses of antihistamine. It would show up in my body by making my eyes, lips and tongue swell. It was painful, massively inconvenient and caused me much anxiety because I would never know when the next flare up would occur!
A very long story short, I worked out that my internal trauma from past experiences and me not facing them, was pretty much the cause of this, the irony of not speaking and my tongue swelling up, was not lost on me! My body was basically telling me to use my voice.
But at that time, life was hectic, I was parenting my sons, and wasn’t making my own emotional wellbeing a priority. I had become so good at suppressing my emotions and words, that my body had become unwell! It had simply had enough of the pressure I was putting it under. I was so busy making sure that everyone around me was fine, that I hadn’t stopped to think of the immense stress I was causing on a cellular level throughout my body, until the time I was forced to stop and listen!
How many of you reading this suffer from;
- persistent headaches,
- reoccurring ulcers in your mouth
- low energy and fatigue
- Upset stomach, including diarrhoea, constipation and nausea,
- Aches, pains, and tense muscles,
- Chest pain and rapid heartbeat,
- Insomnia,
- Frequent colds and infections.
All the above, can be symptoms of stress!
The body literally shouting at you to please stop and listen!
It took me a while to finally start to listen! But when I did, the symptoms were so much easier to manage and became a useful tool for me. When I would feel it coming on, I would take a step back and reflect on why it was happening, and today (as I type) I haven’t had a flare up in at least two years and no longer take daily antihistamines.
Chronic Urticaria was a signal from my body that it desperately needed help, and now I am tuned in to that frequency.
I say frequently that the Mind-Body connection is completely underestimated (and has been by myself in the past), and we often turn to medicine for the cure, when there are so many other paths we can walk either alongside the tablets or in place of them.
If we are just always looking for the quick fix to ease the symptoms, we aren’t necessarily looking at the cause. It is the same as pulling the leaves from a weed and not getting the roots of that out, over time the weeds will return.
Therapy has, without a shadow of a doubt, helped me to heal the internal wounds of years of not supporting my mind/body.
EFT (emotional freedom technique) NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and/or Hypnotherapy, are the tools that helped me to heel from the inside out, and are the main reasons that I now these amazing tools in my toolkit
I am always listening to what my body is telling me, because I know that one way or another it will communicate with me and I would rather not get to the point of dis-ease before I take note.
“The body keeps score, and it always wins!”
How is your body talking to you at the moment, and are you ready to start listening?
Are ready to deal with the stresses in your life, or maybe even discover what it could be that is causing it!
Drop me an email!
Steph xx