Is Your Engine Knocking & Shaking?

Mercedes Coop 2018

Our bodies are like our automobiles.

Let's say we have a Mercedes, just because it's a fun car to have! This Mercedes gets us from place to place. We drive it to the grocery store, work, out on our dates and family events, to the Crossfit gym or our yoga class, and to the farmer's market. We use it more than we walk. We've learned to count on it to get us around.

So if it's experiencing knocks and shakes, we investigate. Hopefully we'll do this sooner than later, so that we don't end up broken down on the side of the highway.

If we can't figure out what is causing the "symptoms," we take it to the mechanic to look over the whole car and give us a diagnosis and recommendation. They do a once over, typically, and let us know what parts in the system need upgrading, replacing, or fixing.

Suppose they say it's the fuel we're putting in our car that isn't working well enough. If you keep going to the gas station and putting in inappropriate fuel, or watering down the oil, and not giving your car the ingredients it needs, it’s going to keep running poorly even if the mechanic keeps diagnosing the symptoms, taking out and replacing parts, or prescribing additives in the gas and oil. It would be a lot more powerful for that Mercedes engine to have what it needs so it can do a good job and get us where we need to go.

Yet how many of us put inappropriate fuel into our bodies, which are our vehicles in life? We get the knocks and shakes, and have no idea how we created them. 

Here's the rub. We expect our body to function well enough to get to our Mercedes, climb into and out of it, and to get us to the grocery store, work, out on our dates and family events, to the Crossfit gym or our yoga class, and to the farmer's market.

Yet how can that beautiful body of ours carry us from place to place if it's not working well?

If we look at our bodies the same way as that magnificent Mercedes, and we notice that they’re not running well, what do we do? Do we run to the doctors and get a pill to take away the symptom so that we can keep going from place to place, or do we think about what we’re putting into our bodies. What thoughts are we thinking to feed it each day? What kind of food are we are using for fuel? And liquids? What kind of stress are we expecting our bodies to handle? Are we constantly going uphill and stressing our engines without a rest and then wondering why our engine is struggling?

In general, our culture does not respect the human body. We don’t really listen to them. They’re considered to be something we have to deal with, but this very body we're in is the one we chose in this lifetime to transport us until we leave.

Why is there so much fear about our bodies and what they’re saying to us?  We shake when we have a symptom. If we don’t know what to do and what causes it, we try to ignore it until it gets too big to ignore. Then we run to the doctor or the ER or the clinic, and ask them to fix it for us. Many times we get a pill, which can help us feel better. Or we have surgery to remove the "bad" part. 

These are certainly alternatives to be explored. But is it really fixing the root cause of the problem we're experiencing?

I’m here voting for the body. If we want to feel well, look and do our best, and have a nice long ride without breaking down or shaking, we need to do a much bit better job at listening to our bodies and giving them what they need.

And if we happen to be highly sensitive and/or an empath, the listening and responding we're doing must be amplified so we're providing a superstructure of support. We sense and feel more, so we need to ramp up the support.

I’m writing this on a day when I feel pretty crappy. I’m usually pretty good about having whole foods, avoiding grains, taking my supplements, getting enough rest, getting my exercise, taking quiet time, taking a positive approach, and avoiding sugar and flour. This is a plan I've put in place with my health coach and other professionals over the years that works the best for me.

It's no surprise in the last week, as I’ve been feeling more stress and putting things into my body, that I am experiencing some knocks and shakes. I am bloated and feel like I put on 5 pounds, I feel more gaseous, my thyroid seems to be feeling a little tighter right now. I feel more anxious, my mood is lower, I’m not sleeping as well, I’m craving the bad stuff, and this is all because I chose fuel that is not optimal for my body.

I'd say it's time for a change in our culture. How can we begin to truly listen to our bodies, accept what they're saying, develop a personalized plan to amp up the fuel we're providing for ourselves?  Then let's support each other, our differences, to keep choosing the good stuff, so that we keep our vehicle functioning the best it can until our ride is over?

​I'm in.

---