I get it, you desire to live at your most optimal level. It’s just that work demands, family commitments, travel, must do’s and have to do’s seem to sabotage your ability to really focus on your own self-care. I get it…I really do. I remember the days of a high demand career, young children, a too-big home to maintain and night school. During that time I sucked at caring for myself and certainly wasn’t living at my most optimal level. What happened taught me (the hard way) how imperative engaging my body was for having a great life. I burned out and when I hit the ground I landed hard.
It was in the picking-myself-back-up that I really learned how to care for myself and find my own personal optimal best. I talk my walk and share with you what I learned in the hope that it will save you the knock upside the head that got my attention.
#1. Learn the language of your body and listening.
Our bodies actually speak to us all the time. I marvel at how we breathe without even thinking of it. How our bodies self-regulate to heat, stress, joy, food, danger etc. It also speaks to us to guide us in a very sacred way. Literally helping us identify through pain and pleasure, dis-ease and health what is limiting our joy…our freedom. The problem is that in our over stimulated world we don’t stop long enough to really listen to what our body is trying to say. We’ve also never been taught how to decipher the language it speaks.
Years ago I was suffering from massive back pain. I was underweight, stressed to the max and was proudly suffering as a work-a-holic (yes, I did say proudly – it was the addiction talking). During this time I realized that the pain was keeping me from doing what I identified with…working. I needed a solution to get back to work. What I found was quite a surprise. I found a book called You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay that changed the game of my life and started the destruction of my work-a-holic tendencies. In a nutshell I learned that my body was trying to speak to me…to lovingly guide me back to health and a higher quality life. I learned how to listen and identify what was happening in my thoughts and beliefs that directly affected my ability to be the best-version-of-myself.
My advice is to get the book. It will change your life. Period.
#2. Connect to your body
As energetic Beings, we radiate energy and we also magnetically attract other energy. Everything is energy. Everything that is energy vibrates. That means you vibrate. There are vibrations we like and ones we are repulsed by…they just don’t jive or aren’t in sync with our own vibration.
You’ve probably heard the term “grounded”. That is referring to a state-of-Being where your energy is firmly connected to your body and living in the present moment. Stop right now and just notice how your body FEELS. Notice the feeling of air on your skin. You may have never noticed the air on your skin. In order to fully engage with your life you want to be fully in your body. Experiencing life Radically Engaged means your performance at work will be better, your relationships improve and deepen and your level of interacting with the world around you will be greatly enhanced. Pssst! Even your sexual experiences will be up-leveled.
#3. Feel into it! Energy up . . . Energy down:
We all have the ability to know whether something feels good or bad. I gave up the idea of good and bad years ago and instead apply the terms “it works for me” or “it doesn’t work for me” which allows me to feel into the current situation rather than fall back on social norms of good or bad. Try it on for yourself. It gives you the freedom to re-think moments that may have become automatically patterned from years of following social norms. We are looking for YOUR optimal best and that requires rethinking and doing things differently. So instead of already knowing if you like something or dislike it, allow yourself to feel into how your body feels about it. Your body will tell you if a certain food is what it needs, if a commitment is in your best interest or if agreeing to take on that next project is a Yes or a No. Applying this powerful tool called your body, will really change the game. Masters of life play with a different set of tools and connecting to their bodies is just one of them.
#4. Care for your body.
Ideally energy moves through our body. You know when you have great energy and feel full of life? Well, that is when energy is freely moving through you, literally fueling you with life-force-energy. This energy is the force of life, that which enlivens everything. Your choices either open the pathways for it to flow to you and through you or can shut that radiant powerful energy off.
One easy way to open to more life-force-energy is to move your body. However you choose, playing sports, walking, briskly cleaning the house, taking the stairs, playing with the kids or just hustling consciously (present in your body) through the airport. When we move our body energy moves through us. Stressed at work? Take a brisk walk and feel the movement of energy start to shift the stress.
Another way is to feed your body with foods that will fuel it, ones that are full of life-force-energy themselves. Fresh veggies and fruit, clean fresh water, vibrant and juicy things are all full of life-force-energy. Make sure you are feeling and not just thinking about what you want to eat. LISTEN. Your body does know what it needs from you to get into optimal health and stay there.
Find the courage to honor your body by surrounding yourself with foods that fuel you. Fill your pantry and refrigerator with options that are vibrantly colored, alive with nutrients and clean fuel to support your amazing life desires.
#5. Find your Optimal Personal Best (OPB)
Your OPB will be uniquely your own. Like your fingerprint, signature and journey of life, your optimal best won’t necessarily be like anyone else. When you connect to your body, your ability to navigate the latest trends will be easy-peasy. You are a breathing changing and evolving person and your body, mind & soul’s needs will change regularly. By strengthening your ability to listen to your body you will be able to navigate the needs more effectively.
Today you may only require 6 hours sleep to be at your optimal personal best even though the latest research tells you that 8 hours are best. YOU are the most skilled expert of yourself. Trust in yourself and your body’s ability to guide you.
Are you ready and willing to live a Radically Engaged Life™? Write down 3 things now that you will implement today.
