“The body is the marker of all Truth.” (Serge Benhayon)
What exactly does that quote mean? What if it was to be put this way? “The body never lies to you.” However, the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being. What I mean by that is, those thoughts and that voice in our head that convince us that something is “alright” “just fine” or “it’ll be okay”, when you absolutely know that it won’t be.
Take food for example, because we all ‘feel’ food and can relate to it on a daily basis. You can feel not to have that extra serving or even a particular food, as your body will tell you by bloating, burping, sometimes hiccups, flatulence and of course, gaining those extra few kilos, to name but a few symptoms a body will present after reacting to eating certain food.
Nonetheless, regardless of our body screaming at us not to go there, we keep going back time and again. No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time – you know, “one last time before I go on my diet,” “weekends are my splurge time,” “we are out to dinner and this is a special time,” or the best excuse/justification of all – “everything in moderation.”
Another example is when you convince yourself that you can stay up that extra half hour to watch your favourite television show, only to end up staying up an extra two hours or so. Then you wake in the morning feeling as if you haven’t had a good night’s sleep and you are without the bounce in your step – the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night.
We could take this awareness deeper and consider all those times when you ignore a feeling from the body that tells you that something isn’t right. When you know without any reasonable explanation not to turn down that street, but rather to take a different direction; not to stick to your regular routine, only to find out later that there was a reason you arrived at a particular place just that little bit earlier or came later.
Or, how about the opposite, when you get a feeling that something is completely right? That you are going to run into someone later that day, or that person you have been meaning to get in contact with suddenly calls you out of the blue. It is the mind that often dismisses these moments of awareness without a hesitation. However, the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true.
Have you ever felt that ‘sting’ that comes when you haven’t listened to what your body is telling you and you regret it later? You know, when you want to kick yourself, repeating the words, “I knew that was going to happen”, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that”, or “I knew that didn’t feel right”. Then this turns into a mess that could have been easily avoided if you had just listened to what your body was telling you and ignored the justification in your head.
What is the alternative? What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life? Coupled with our sensitivity to all things (that is, our ability to truly feel everything from our body), is the navigation system that keeps us solidly on our path to true health and well-being.
What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind? And what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it?
Would Life not then have a more joyful and harmonious flow and ease to it?
By Terri-Anne Connors, aged 40, Melbourne, VIC
Related Reading:
Listening to your Body
The Body Knows
Coming Back to Whole Body Intelligence
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I am certainly enjoying the communications with my body and how when I do listen, the choices that follow feel absolutely right. The simplest of things like drinking when I’m thirsty, going to the loo instead of holding on for another hour, not eating if I don’t feel hungry, resting when I feel tired are making a huge difference to how my days flow.
Our bodies are always communicating with us and I find when I am connected to my breath and how it flows the stillness from my body matches my breath and my awareness of the world around me deepens too. We have much to learn from our bodies and they are filled with intelligence just there waiting to be connected to.
We do promote the mind like it is the marker of our civilisation and yes in truth it often makes the excuses “…the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being.” We play clever games to ignore the obvious beautiful and dignified wisdom the body.
“What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life? Coupled with our sensitivity to all things (that is, our ability to truly feel everything from our body), is the navigation system that keeps us solidly on our path to true health and well-being.”
I really love this analogy Terri-Anne. It brings me back to the unavoidable fact that I am the captain of my own ship and though it might be programmed, especially these days of computerized intelligence (aka the mind), to navigate and move in a certain way, my awareness of the whole ship, and the keeping of it running harmoniously for maximum efficiency and grace in its movement is what makes the journey.
If we just allow it, if we just tune in , there is an extraordinary flow that we can feel , and live in.
We often ignore our bodies convinced of the superiority of our minds and yet our bodies never fail us, no matter what we think they show us ever and always the truth of what we’ve chosen without rancour or blame, and in fact that discomfort is an invitation to go deeper and understand that we are being called to take deeper and more loving care of ourselves. We have our beacon, our bodies.
Food is a great example of how we over-ride what we are feeling…. I ate an extra portion last night that I did not need, which I felt this morning when I slept much later and even then still felt tired when I got up. Totally not worth it!
Thank you Terri- Anne , ” the body never lies to you ” is it not amazing that this is true . Imagine having a friend who can only tell you what is true. Not what you want to hear , not what it thinks is best for you to hear , and there is no method of silencing the truth delivered , we can only brush it under the carpet so to speak. But we have a friend like that ” the marker of all truth ” our body .
My head ruled the roost for a long time, and gosh my body suffered for it – smoking, drinking, drugs, eating foods that bloated me, too hard and driven, work-a-holic etc…. So I can absolutely testify that the mind does not care so much for the body, and makes decisions that best suit it.
I decided to stop that, and started to connect more to my body ,and as I did that I realised that I had very little connection with it. Through the healing modalities of Universal Medicine, especially Esoteric Yoga, I developed a relationship with my body and take great care of it, and through that process, I choose to listen much more to the wisdom that it shares with me.
And I would say hands down, the body encompasses the all, the mind looks after itself.
I find myself back at this blog so often and I never know how! There is a ‘smarts’ the body has which is undeniable, it never lies yet it gives us free choice. It doesn’t say no but it shows us the consequences of our choices so we can choose again. It is a personal relationship from moment to moment with free will and choice.
We only can lie in our minds – hence the lies come from our heads not our hearts. Simple. Easy. True.
More and more I’m aware that the quality of ‘care factor’ of the mind is very different from the ‘qualities of care’ that originate and support our bodies. The mind cares about the effects of external factors and does what it thinks is required to meet the thoughts and actions etc. The mind doesn’t seem to care so much about the cause and effect and impact this may have on the body.
It’s fascinating to observe my choices for how I care for my body. If the signals and communication are really loud and bring me to a stop I’m very responsive. More subtle messages and my mind will push it along and try and find ways around it . . . being a tricky little character. The body doesn’t play games but the mind sure does.
How many times have I heard; ‘everything in moderation’. This is a great trick of the mind which actually we are saying I like my comfort and indulgence ( in whatever: sugar/ alcohol/cigarettes//TV etc) and am not ready to give it up.
The mind certainly does play games with us, as we find ourselves repeating patterns and habits despite our best intentions. Renouncing old and disregarding ways is a daily choice, and until cleared for good, a constant reminder that something remains unresolved within us. With each movement we choose an energy one that is loving or harming. It is as simple as that, why I ask myself, isn’t love my only choice?
It is all about our connection and relationship we have with our body. The stronger our connection and the deeper our relationship with the body, the more permission we give it to be the rudder in our life and from that we will from that inner knowing express and do without questioning that what is needed on that specific moment or occasion in time as it is simply needed to restore some divinity back into our societies..
This is a big one for me through my life – “Have you ever felt that ‘sting’ that comes when you haven’t listened to what your body is telling you and you regret it later? You know, when you want to kick yourself, repeating the words, “I knew that was going to happen”, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that”, or “I knew that didn’t feel right”. For many years I would feel that sting, the regret and then the remorse and self-bashing because I kept doing it. There is always a choice though, how much do we want to change a pattern of behaviour and how dedicated and willing are we prepared to be in order to change it? I found that it was FAR more painful to not address it than to address it. The pain I inflicted on others and on myself was simply irresponsible and self-indulgent and I felt it was about time I stepped up to choose not to dump my unresolved issues on others.
‘And what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it?’ A great question to be asking Terri-Anne, the body holds a wisdom that will guide us every step of the way – listening to the body is simple, it’s when you ignore the messages that you begin to get problems.
When we ignore the messages from our bodies or put another way, when we ignore our bodies full stop and do not consider them at all, we do have to face the consequences at some point when the body says enough and will give a louder message that makes us stop for example in illness and disease.
The mind can be very persuasive and convincing leading us down the garden path and around the houses but the body just shows it as it is… Truth and I have found it wise to listen to it.
Its wierdly fascinating to consider that there are these two perspectives living in the one human being (mind and body), and that they should have such different approaches. Then consider that there are 7 billion of these human beings all playing out one or the other to a greater or lesser extent – we wonder why we are so confused and at odds with each other….
There are also the moments that the mind wants to say something is ‘doom and gloom’. When this happens I find myself scaring the pants of me with thoughts of worry. This started last night and I brought myself back to my body, who isn’t making up scary scenarios, it is steady, solid and loving in every moment, my foundation to choose my next movement that confirms this knowing. The unknown outcome of a situation will be revealed in it’s own time and space and being tense, concerned and trying to work out plans to manage, all take me away from the innate connection, wisdom and intelligence of my body that supports me to be with me, know and respond if and when it is ever required.
It’s true – we can have thoughts that encourage us to do something deep down we know is harming but our body will keep reflecting back to us the consequences of those choices – we can of course choose to bury that communication and push it down and away but eventually it will re-surface for us to be aware of, helping to pull us back to truth…
The body knows truth and can never tell a lie – what a simple guideline for living life – when we listen to our body.
Very deep and good questions : we should ask ourselves ; are we ready to give up all we have defend? And if so , are we willing to stay open without the knowing of what will come next?
Thank you Terri-Anne for showing us what is in our way. Only ourselves.
You have touched on the vulnerability that can come with the realisation that what we have been choosing has hurt others as well as ourselves. It is a humbleness but in my experience definitely pulls up a vulnerability because you have to admit you were wrong, you are responsible and need to consider your accountability for the imposition on others. I have been there so many times and am learning that this vulnerability is my friend as it supports me to honour the feeling that warns me of the imminent choice in the first place.
Life certainly would have a harmonious flow to it if we were to listen to the body over the mind as for a start it feels like we are going with the grain instead of against it therefore not fighting it and exhausting ourselves.
Terri-Anne, I love your blog, I kept saying “yes, yes, yes” while reading through it. Of course, I recognized many situations you describe, but I have become better at listening to what my body tells me, for example to bring gloves when I go for a walk, or bring something to drink, or to say no to something, while my mind tries to convince me, my body knows best. Also, I used to go to the gym regardless of how my body felt, but now I don’t. If my body tells me it needs to regenerate instead, I will do just that. And I won’t even mention how many times I have ignored my body when it comes to relationships. However, I can say now that that’s history. It’s time to stay true to myself and what my body tells me.
The body never lies but the mind does, I might use me as an example , my mind tries to trick me all the time ideas just pop right in there, so I have to ask where did that one come from? It is totally true that we only think we think but our thoughts come in courtesy of the energy we are aligned to so if it’s coming from the wrong energy its bound to be not for the good of the entire body.
Since developing a loving relationship with my body I have discovered the greatest, most transparent, honest, wise, never holding back the truth comrade I could ever ask for, and when we work and move together in unison we are powerful beyond measure through which there is a harmonious flow in life that is naturally present.
I am playing with this at the moment and it is fascinating. Creating the stillness to hear what my body is sharing with me and then observing what happens when I listen to it and when I don’t. And observing more from my body than my head. So not listening to my head as it can trick me a lot, but feeling what happens in my body when I do it (or don’t). I love developing a relationship with my body, it absolutely never lies or judges, it just tells me the truth of what is going on.
It is such truth Terri-anne! Although it may be argued that the body does or can lie it is actually the mind lying, not the body, for the body always communicates the difficulties of certain choices first up, even though those first reactions of the body and what is truly felt may be manipulated or over-ridden… it is only in and following this manipulation/over-riding that we can have those thoughts such as (and just as an example) ‘but I love my glass of wine/coffee/bar of chocolate at the end of the day – it relaxes/invigorates me!’ …it is then that it appears that the body is lying because we then THINK that we can feel this is true!
What do we do when we get stung? When we do something, say something when we know deep down that another way was correct. How do we process that we may have done something that is not correct. I feel it’s easy to recognises when we are on the right track and when we are not but its that next step that is the key to which path we go into. Do we buy into the fact that we have made a mistake and punish ourselves or do we acknowledge that we are human and imperfect and have an opportunity to learn something here about ourselves that will eventually deepen the connection we have with ourselves and with others. It’s not always an easy call for in the later we do need to go deeper and look at our underlying choices, which can produce a sting. But our body will then be communicating something very different that if we feel we need to drown our sorrows in food or drink or whatever it is that we so choose.
It is true we have listened to the mind for so long and look where we are today with illness and disease – this in it’s self is a sure sign that listening to the mind, and the thoughts we are fed will never work. Maybe it is time to give the body a louder voice, after all we have nothing to loose, and there are countless example available from people who have done this for many years and have found their lives are going against the current trend of ill health.
With food it’s not about not eating certain things, sometimes we use this as a coping or healing mechanism – so to cut out foods or stop eating foods is not the answer – it’s like a strict punishing regime – looking at why I am eating them in the first place with understanding and working on that, is a much more loving way to be. We can be so harsh and critical on ourselves and judgemental of others. That doesn’t help or support anybody.
The human race is totally mind driven, and look where that has got us, there is so much wrong in the world that could be so right if we started living from whole body intelligence.
Over the last few years I have been listening to my body more and more and I am so glad I have as my life has transformed enormously, I get to feel joy in my day, most days now. I find this so true that the body never lies, it is just if I am willing to listen every time.. or let my mind have a say.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind? ” Very true Terri-anne, it is super important for us to re-learn how to listen to our bodies, not our minds. We are really great at that when we were kids, but we of course grow up and allow our minds to override many things in life. Then having to feel what is the repercussions of that, which is always felt in the body.
I feel we always know, though we just choose not to know when it suits us.
The messages are very clear from the body though we have to be willing to listen and take heed. Building a loving and honest relationship with the body is ever refining as we are always moving and expanding in our awareness.
A great blog asking us to be honest with ourselves and see the possible lies we have been telling to our body – even though our body will never lie to us, interestingly… We seem to have a behavior as resident in our own body, to do things that actually do not do the body any good. Hence this blog reveals the whole that is missing, that we can bring back straight away : with our honesty and humbleness.
Ahh the everything in moderation argument… How about Cyanide? Arsenic? A poison is a poison irregardless of the quantity in which it is consumed.
It’s interesting as I have often done this with partner relationships – overrode what my body told me or tells me – and try and justify it / go into my head.
The walk of life can be enhanced beyond measure when the intelligence of the body is embraced as an essential part of knowing who we are and what we each bring to the world.
Learning to listen “to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind” is to re-programme one’s whole way of being requiring commitment and focus that is challenging. However, I am finding it is so worthwhile and enhancing.
Since attending presentations by Serge Benhayon, there are ongoing opportunities to be more deeply connected within my body by bringing my mind to be in conscious presence with it which has re-awakened being actually able to feel what is going on, rather than burying reactions (seemingly faster than the speed of light!) to not feel.
Taking the time to feel and listen is key here…..the wisdom of our bodies is ever present and willing to support us in staying vital and vibrant….a much needed reflection in todays world.
The more honest I am about what is going on within and around me, the more willingness there is to stop and really feel how my body actually is, and thus what is needed in it’s self care and true self nurturing.
Everything in moderation?? that is so not true! some things are just deadly in moderation no matter how we try to justify it- no amount of alcohol is healthy or good for us, ever, no matter what the occasion.
If we committed to live by this one simple quote “The body is the marker of all Truth.” (Serge Benhayon) our lives, the world and how we are with each other would change immensely.
What I notice is what was once okay for my body to eat, is no longer working and creates all sorts of issues of bloating and added weight. It shows me how the body is changing constantly, and the only way to know what to eat is to listen to its messages.
Becoming more honouring of our bodies and the signs and symptoms they share with us, is an amazing way to develop wellbeing and understand the responsibility we have to take care of ourselves as part of the big picture of our evolution
Yes, life would certainly be more harmonious and joyful if we listened to our bodies and on some level we all know that. So that leaves the question why do we not only not listen but in many cases actually chose to abuse our bodies. There are many reason for that and by starting to be honest about our choices we can start to deal with and heal them.
Thanks Terri-Anne… its exactly the same for our ability to sing …. Our body knows EXACTLY what to do, how to do it , how to sing in tune effortlessly, and yet most people will emphatically deny this is possible… it is so simple , if we listen to our bodies, so many doors will open and our lives will be so much richer and fuller.
‘What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?’ We rely so much on other people, the professionals, those in authority and forsake our own inner knowing. It may take a while to claim back this connection with our own innate wisdom but every step we take to do so allows this deepening to take place and as our inner presence grows we become steadier and more wholly intelligent.
For some people this takes time, and so called mistakes will be made but that’s okay as we can not make them again and learn.
Stillness in movements allows the quiet space in which the body can communicate without going to extremes, where it can whisper to you and flirt with you. In this quiet, we all have the key to true health.
I love your comment Sarah, it brings the playful joy our soul communicates with.
Yes the body never lies, though for some this can take some time to trust again, as they have spent lifetime of not lifetimes in their head. Thinking this is right. We have all been there.
“…What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind? …” ummm… great question… I would imagine that our global health statistics would reflect a quite a different picture on health.
I have done that in relationships, known they have not been right so to speak from the start – my body has clearly and very loudly told me this – but I chose to ignore it or override it – due to a lack of self love.
I, and no-one, can get away from the truth that the body is the marker of all truth. I can lie to myself but what’s lovely is I’m increasingly choosing to admit when I am, and no amount of justifying things are ok when they are not is working. This doesn’t mean I’m right about things, just that I’m being honest. Without this honesty I can’t heal what there is to heal. Smoothing over reactions only denies the opportunity to address what is there to be looked at. And the universe will seek to address the disharmony and point it out until it can no longer be ignored.
Our body never lies but are we open to hear the truth of what it communicates?
Brilliant comment Adam. What you’ve shared is very much needed to understand our relationship with our body. It is constantly communicating to us in relation to our choices but if we choose to overload it and numb it in any way, these messages gets blocked. Even though we may not register these messages we can feel the tension of not responding to them hence why we tend to continue to numb our body more and more. But no matter how much we choose to numb our body the tension is always there until we start to listen to our body, clear away the thick coat of disregard and heal our body.
Yes indeed, Terri-Anne. Life has greater simplicity and ease when we are governed by our bodies and not our minds.
Great understanding Alex – it is ok to learn, sometimes it takes the lesson to get the learning. When we accept this process and appreciate it without the pressure of right or wrong, we know next time what choice to make because we have our own lived experience in our bodies to call upon for the truth and wisdom that has been established.
Having our sensitivity appreciated and honoured is a true blessing. If for any reason this is being over ridden by ourselves or another then this is when alarm bells should start ringing. Time to pause and consider what the next movement truly is from our bodies.
“What is the alternative? What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?”. This is a great analogy and having begun to do this it certainly has been an awesome rudder in my life.
The body only lies when we let the mind bury or rationalise what it is that the body tells us.
When we actually accept that ‘the body will never tell you a lie’ we are in a position to work with a wise and loyal sage, every moment of every day… this is something I am willing to honour and appreciate.
Our bodies are in constant communication – we are choosing whether to listen, ignore or override the messages we receive.
Absolutely, the body never lies, however the mind can make up many excuses, stories and complications.
I’d not considered weight gain as a symptom…but of course it is our body saying that what is going in (what we eat and drink) is more than what we need, or not the right foods for us. It is a subtle shift in the way we look at what is happening in our body.
So many symptoms in our bodies go ignored and written off as an annoyance, something that just happens or to be expected. What if our car coughed and spluttered after filling it with the wrong fuel or oil? Wouldn’t we be sure to not do that again?
We have spent so much money and time on accruing ways that give us ‘knowledge’. We spend every day (well I do) tracking through results from Google, to tell us what is true. Yet what you present here Terri-Anne is so different: we do know everything and the answers to all the big questions in life, but we don’t access them in a book, lecture or web browser but through getting to know the vibration of our body. It’s all there, and the fact is we actually have to work incredibly hard to block it all out and ‘not know’ it is there – how crazy is that?
You’ve raised an interesting point Terri-Anne, that as much as we ignore the feelings that something is very wrong, abusive or unsupportive, we almost never appreciate and act when something feels TRUE. Learning to see the potential for growth in relationships, business, family, friendships and appreciate when things are spot on is the only way for true evolution to occur. We may have impressive technologies, incredible medical advancements and high functioning businesses but without this level of appreciation, our interactions, relationships and the way we LIVE has not evolved to be globally more loving and respectful because we do not see the growth available.
I have finally come to realise that the whole raft of ‘I wish I hadn’t’ moments that I can look back on were simply a result of championing my mind as it who knows all. I also realise that at the time of making these decisions which I later wished I hadn’t made, that there was another feeling coming from my body which I almost would listen to but then I would eventually ignore. I know now, without one iota of doubt, that it is my body that carries the wisdom and that my mind is simply the trickster continually trying to lead me into another ‘I wish I hadn’t’ moment.
The more I build my relationship with and respect for my body, actually listening to and responding to its signals, the less grip my mind and its careering ramblings has. This morning I am rattled by something and probably thinking too much, but what is amazing to observe is that this feels superficial rather than the all encompassing it would have been in the past. And my body has a steadiness to it that is unshakeable and very reassuring, actually supporting me to explore deeper and be open to feeling more.
I know I have often given into foods of convenience rather than having what I truly enjoy from my body point of view. It does catch up with me and I find that the longer term effects on my body are simply not worth the short term splurge. I am so glad I know what to trust, I may not always choose it, but I have a cleaer guide post now.
Brilliant blog Terri-Anne. Decisions made from my mind are always complicated, require justification etc. My body just says yes or no and my mind gets in the way when I resist hearing the answer.
True – simplicity is found in the body and complexity within the mind.
We need to be honest that relying on the mind has been the pitfall of our health and wellbeing as it is only through the connection to our bodies that we can once again live life through sensing what is needed at any given moment honoring the true quality of beingness within that enriches life in every way possible.
‘And what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it?’ Such a powerful question to be asking ourselves, how often do we override the body’s wisdom and ignore the truth and then have to live with the consequences of this poor choice.
Absolutely we are tricked into thinking so much of life is good for us. When we live in a field of energy and we are either impulse by one of two energies one of these energies shares the truth about energy and the other keeps us in the dark and belief that things are getting better, so this second energy is the lie and is tricking the body. The manipulation of the body shows the total lie when we look at what is happening in the world today and then more specifically with one product such as coffee, which is just one of a myriad of products that keep the mind thinking it has a good relationship with coffee because of a taste and or falsely heightened energy levels. Thank you Adam, agreed psychology and the honest relationship with the body has to come from a Livingness and thus a ‘true relationship with our bodies’ otherwise the lies get there way.
For more on psychology go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=PSYCHOLOGY
Maybe we keep numbing and harming our bodies in different ways because we don’t want to hear the truth.
Thank God we have a body that cannot lie and shows us how we seek to deceive ourselves, override, deny and attack our very vehicle of support.
Our body is wise and a dedicated servant – never ceasing to support us to live, serve and bring our all
Yup. I love the understanding of this and when I live this truth I know the unwavering support my body offers – signalling, guiding and always inspiring me to ‘what next?’
Such a big question as to why we keep repeating behaviours that leave us less well than we could be. It is like we have a block on accepting this isn’t intelligent, and that with further consideration we might see it is a force that is creating these choices, unseen but at the same time very real.
Growing up, when it came to presents we would often joke about which ones would go in the sucky-pile. The fact that the body never lies and that is communicates everything is one of our greatest gifts, but one that commonly gets put in the sucky-pile.
If we look at the science of what makes up the body, all the cells and particles making up our body mass. Then we have to look at something that is not in keeping and harmonious of what the original cells and particles are. It makes complete and utter sense that the body will over time reject what has come in that is not of its true origins. Hence ill-ness and dis-ease or a simple cold sore is a message that is being shared that some thing is not true. To listen to this and make changes can only ever come from us.
‘Have you ever felt that ‘sting’ that comes when you haven’t listened to what your body is telling you and you regret it later?’ I have recently had the experience of being caught up in what is happening around me for some time and then when some time came for me to check in with where I have been my body told me loud and clear that I had not been listening earlier but also that through doing this it would support greatly in clearing the energetic manifestation of these choices from it.
I chose to ignore what my body was telling me the other day and chose instead to listen to my mind which said it would be okay … big mistake. Because as you say Terri-Anne I know it’s not going to be okay at some deep level and I know my body is going to ‘cop’ my irresponsibility, but I chose to over ride everything I knew to be true. It feels like a huge lesson and one that I needed to fully understand the consequences of such ill choices. What I have been lovingly shown is that I need to stop and consider the out play of the choices I make because there is a ripple effect with everything I do and say and it starts with my body.
It’s true that no-one really likes the discomfort and tension in the body, but we also have a mind that knows how to avoid our body. It knows which foods best dull our awareness and numb, albeit momentarily, the tension that is there. We can repeat these choices over and over again, until the body finds another way of revealing the truth.
Our body absolutely never lies, but we lie to our body when we manipulate and misrepresent the messages it is diligently and lovingly sending us.
If we listened to our body we wouldn’t consider let alone allow abuse in any arena of life.
If our bodies never lie it would seem that we do not want it exposed that we are the creators of own suffering and issues.
Why do we measure the abuse to our bodys as a measure of how good of a time we had? Even the old gym motto ‘no pain no gain’ how nuts is that! We can enjoy the river of life and its flow or fight the rapids and take our chances.
I would appreciate the safety lights available in my car and would feel quite unsafe if they were not working. How silly is it that we are in a body that offers us much more precise and specific signals about life, yet we choose to numb or distract ourselves and override the insights, then we act surprised and indignant when things start to fall apart.
The mind indeed can rationalise, justify and defend a myriad of self-destructive behaviours without a thought that it goes against our very nature to harm ourselves and others.
No matter how loud or even deafening that chatter in our heads is, our body is offering us a constant flow of wisdom that will never let us down.
We do know , and we can feel, and this is there for us all the time… its hard to imagine when we look around but it really is so, and we can all , if we choose, start to refine and define our choices.
Today I am humbled once again by my body telling me that my mind has taken me on a jaunt which now has consequences. As I read you blog I could feel the ache in my body, I could feel how I have pushed myself, eaten food I know does not agree with me. Yes, I feel frustrated with myself, but the greater feeling is appreciation to my body that, no matter what I chose, will always be a marker of truth.
We can suppress what our bodies communicate to us, but they will keep on trying to get through to us – which is absolute magic. I know that when I respond to my body rather than ignore it, he symptoms or message stops. It is as simple as that. I can try to tell myself otherwise, but the truth is our bodies are designed to have an ever evolving relationship with our souls.
If we are to truly arrest the loveless momentum that we as a humanity have been so caught up in for centuries upon centuries, then we need to admit that not only will the body never lie to us but also that there is a part of us that WILL lie to us and that will make sure that we live life at such a breakneck speed, we will not have time to pause, draw breath and reconnect to the physical form that contains the wisdom of the Universe in its every cell. Quite a clever set up that we would let our ship be steered on such an unsteady course away from the love and truth of who we are when at any given moment we each have the choice to change captains. It is as if we create the storm and then completely identify with the drama involved in having to then sail upon it.
Thank you for that reminder Liane, no surprise I read it after posting my comment. Admitting that there is a part of us that will lie to ourselves but equally that we have to choose to identify with the drama of our own self-created mess is very pertinent and timely insight.
I love the way you write, Liane, totally inspiring, far reaching and accessible. As I deepen my respect and honour for my body I know its unwavering alignment to the ‘wisdom of the Universe’ and its complete support as I make my way back.
The body speaks by feeling either contraction or expansion regarding any situation or thing. Our biggest habit is to pretend we do not know what is being communicated and make a decision from our head instead. It is this that gets us into trouble.
Yes, …”The body will never tell you a lie…” is a spot on statement. Paying attention to it and its responses is like having a close confidant that supports ones choices. You also get to see how the head may say one thing but the body says another!
I love the honesty the body talks with…it can’t lie. Those aches and pains show exactly what our choices have been and the body is a remarkable communicator in this regard.
I recently had a meal and knew that I was overeating…but I did it anyway. The consequences were immediate and dramatic to say the least. It’s a shame something awful has to happen for me to take notice of the communication from my body, but it certainly got my attention this time!
We fight against the honesty of our body and bring all sorts of justifications into the equation. How wonderful to surrender to the intelligence of the body and feel the harmony and flow that creates in life.
In many ways we should not even have the expression “I knew I should have done that!” because it highlights how much we fight the very knowing we already have in our bodies. Which seems silly and in truth very very exhausting!
I am learning to love the messages from my body rather than block them out because I don’t want to feel what was really going on and it’s changing everything.
My mind can be full of excuses and justifications for things being a certain way even when my body is suffering so it is time to feel more intently to what the vibrations of my body is telling me. For more on vibration go to: http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=VIBRATION
There is something very magical about how events unfold when we listen to our bodies. It can be something that happens the same day, the next day, a week or even a month later, but a series of events that very harmoniously fall into place are always the result of listening to what feels true in our bodies and not from listening to what our mind is telling us to do.
The mind is a great genius for complication. Now I know this and something isn’t flowing, it is a sign to myself that the mind is having a game and playing tricks with me. Feeling the flow in the body is a sign we are on track.
Our minds can trick us, and we can try to defend or justify our actions, but our body speaks loudly and can show us the error of our ways. The thing is, do we listen accordingly or try to dismiss it’s important messages? Who would ever continue to smoke, for example, if we truly listened to our body’s initial reaction in coughing and spluttering on that first inhalation of smoke into the lungs?
So true Sue and drinking comes in the same boat I remember being violently ill after drinking and I would often take days to recover so maybe I was a slow learner. Even when I did give up all drugs and related substances it was not until I discovered the truth about addictions that I eliminated the substitutes and this is thanks to The Way of The Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon.
For more on addictions go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=ADDICTIONS
This quote from Serge Benhayon is a one-liner that I come back to every single day of my life, as a constant reminder of the all-encompassing knowing that I and we all have access to.
Totally agree Janet, there is no quote more mighty in its lived embodiment.
It is interesting what you are sharing here Terri Ann as I observed that the spirit loves to take the distraction or the offers from outside in order not to need to feel the consequences of its behaviours by going deeper and connecting more with the body. This seems to bring a short relief, but forgets that in truth it leads to an imprisonement.
It is true, the mind can convince us against our better judgment to do some crazy things, such as extreme sports, getting into situations which could be potentially dangerous, smoking, eating and drinking things that are poisonous to our bodies – the list is endless. The body then cops all of our decisions and has to do it’s best to rectify our recklessness – is it any wonder that it has to give us a stop moment in the form of illness and disease, in order to clear itself from our unloving choices.
The hold sports used to have over my body was intense I could even feel how emotionally heavy a game felt while watching them on TV, so maybe poisons come from many areas in our life? So true Julie the list is never ending and so this opens us up to healing by re-choosing love.
For more about emotions go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=EMOTIONS
It’s hard to miss the all knowing body and it’s daily conversations. If we ignore its sharing’s it will try and try again until it has to speak so loud you are stopped in your tracks. Listening to its daily whispers supports us to work in unison and ignite our full expression to the world .
I heard that there are diets now where you have one ‘sin day’ that you can eat what you want and go crazy so to speak. The thing is that we can justify that in our minds but the body cannot lie about the effect the foods we eat on the sin day have on it. We need to change the way we see food and why we eat to a way that is constantly honouring the body – this will naturally be the perfect diet for us.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” If we were to collectively listen to our bodies then the world would not be in the mess it currently is, when we truly come from the heart it is impossible to harm or abuse another. Just as the mind is clever in convincing us we need alcohol, sugar, drugs extra so can it convince us that another is less then us.
The world would look very different if we were all to trust and listen to our bodies. Our minds can convince us to do so many things that we later regret which our hearts would never allow.
Recently I invited my self to dinner with friends of mine even though at the time I had heaps going on. A week later my friend rang me and shared what had occurred for her since my visit and how the timing and content of what we discussed was super important to what she needed to learn now. This was a great confirmation of the importance of listening and acting on my impulse to visit them both.
The fact that our bodies never lie is something I am simply having to practise in my life, building a solidness in my response to my body rather than the habit of my mind running ahead, in disconnect from body.
Free will allows us to deny the wisdom of Universal Intelligence offered through a deep connection with our bodies.
Indeed, it is quite simple to see how one has been with themselves by just observing their body.
Very true and it is the same with our cars. You can tell the degree to which we have cared for them or not by how smoothly, or not smoothly they run. Both are vehicles we need to get from A to B in this plane of life.
True Liane, and I guess the same question applies to both – do we proactively tend only to the parts and aspects that can be seen? Or do we truly nurture every part regardless of the labelled importance or function…
If we lived our lives always listening to our bodies rather than our minds, we would never have dilemmas or doubts, but instead would always know what was true and what needed to be done. We would live in a very different world.
This line about the body deeply resonating with its own knowing is very special because it touches on something great – the great that we are when we are connected and present with our bodies, so our bodies which are physical flesh and bone are actually the sources for which universal light and order can be manifest on this planet, in this plane of life.
The amount of times I have let my mind talk me into doing something that is so disregarding to the rest of my body are uncountable and I would probably still have no control whatsoever, having been the master at overriding what the body actually is trying to tell me. Thanks to Serge Benhayon for pointing out that the body is the marker of all truth as when we know this, there is no turning back as everything becomes a choice and that choice either harms or heals us.
I realize more and more how many ideals and beliefs I am still holding and therefore imprisoned in. To listen to the body is a great tool to get aware of them and step by step be free of them.
Oh to have grown up knowing that my mind is a trickster determined to lead me astray at every possible opportunity and that my body is actually my true “rudder through life”. If I had understood this I know without doubt that the life that I lived for many years would have been so very different from the one I actually did; one that had my mind in the driver’s seat with my body suffering dreadfully as the back seat passenger. Thankfully the positions have been reversed and as a result the quality of my life has improved out of sight.
This is a strong analogy that exposes the madness of having only part of us in the driving seat – spliced from the whole we are never wholly intelligent.
Our bodies naturally and innately know harmony, and if we listen to that wisdom coming from our body, life has a way of flowing that supports not only ourselves but everyone around us.
If we ignore our body’s messages and live life from our minds, there is a constant tension and a complication that creates further disharmony within ourselves and with others.
Listening to the intelligence of the body and learning to really hear and honour what it tells us is such a valuable lesson and a shame its not on the school curriculum. If as children we were taught how to listen to these messages it feels like there would be fewer adults overriding them with food or other substances and we would all be living in healthier bodies.
Our bodies hold the key to accessing the wisdom of the Soul and the intelligence of the Universe – so it is crazy that so much of our life is dedicated to separating ourselves from the body – through extreme mental pursuits at university, numbing, distracting activitites, and even extreme physical endurance sports and activity that hammers us. The result is a world that is seeking something more, something greater, knowing there is a quality that is missing from our lives but have lost the one sure way of being able reconnect and restore that quality.
You’ve touched on something really important in this blog, that our weight and body shape is purely a reflection for how we live, so instead of fighting this message we can appreciate the reminder and use it as an opportunity to live even greater, grander and more loving than we did before. Reacting to it because we don’t look like this model, that shape or are a certain number on the scales is doing the opposite of what this reflection is designed to do.
Literally ‘the opposite’ and this makes it so clear about where to place our attention and focus.
The fashion mags, the fad diets, numbers on the scales that fit the picture, are these not the ultimate distraction from not to having to claim responsibility for our choices?
Wow my life would be so different if I listened to my body and really appreciate what is true really does resonate deeply.
We are all deeply sensitive beings so we can feel and can read the energetic outplay of everything, so we are deeply aware of everything in life. The only way we can cut off from that awareness and allow our thoughts and beliefs to steer us away from truth is by dulling our connection with our body. And boy are we mastered at that: eating the wrong thing or too much, getting emotional, busying ourselves with tasks and missions, obsessing about the future or the past as some clever ways, and let’s not forget the old favourite poisons to the body, drugs and alcohol! Worth asking what awareness are we running away from?
“No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time” Could it be that living from the wisdom of the body could be so complete and enriching that we are resistant to the what we can feel is a mighty simple choice?
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” If we just achieved this one thing in our lifetime, our lives would TOTALLY transform. Just pondering on these changes I can feel a greater opening in my body.
This is definitely a ‘what if’ question that is well worth exploring – simply out of curiosity – ourselves as science experiments! It is interesting, and as you say transformative, to explore different angles and approaches.
Since bringing a deeper level of listening to my body, there has been an amazing discovery – I am walking around in my own personal, living-science-laboratory. And more surprising was to discover that this is a very natural way to be. The intelligence in my body is vaster than anything my mind can offer on its own.
The body can never lie and holds Universal Intelligence – but we can choose to so resolutely deny its wisdom and let our mind run the show.
Once my body has given me a very clear message about something, I find it is easier to then say no to whatever it was I needed to change. Sometimes I go back and retest it and if it is true, my body tells me instantly with a symptom or reaction. With food, sometimes I only have to pick up the item and my nose will run instantly.
I love it when you have listened to and acted on an impulse from your body, then later that day or week or even month something confirms how necessary it was that you trusted and followed through with what you felt to do.
Yes Mary-Louise, I love this too. I used to see things that happened in this way as a coincidence. But I now know that everything happens for a reason, and we have a choice as to whether or not we act on an impulse. The result of our action is then shown to us by whether we acted in truth to what we felt in our body, or from what our mind wanted us to do.
When something doesn’t go right, we know, we know it because of the feeling we have in our bodies. When we learn to trust these feelings and trust what our body is telling us life has far fewer disappointments.
Perfect point Fiona. And sometimes we may not be able to understand or rationalise the why or what of these feelings but it is important to build the trust of them and then go from there. Often I trust these feelings and then it’s not till much later do I understand why I felt them and am thankful I acted on them.
It is sad and yet obvious by the current state of health and awareness of our bodies that we do everything to numb and not feel all our body is telling us and the truth and honesty it shows us. The joyful harmonious ease you share here we could all have is beautiful and a choice and living way for us all.
Nonetheless, regardless of our body screaming at us not to go there, we keep going back time and again. No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time – you know, “one last time before I go on my diet,” “weekends are my splurge time,” “we are out to dinner and this is a special time,” or the best excuse/justification of all – “everything in moderation.” This conscious and the games within it can be so ingrained. And often the beating ourselves up for not staying with it is far worse than just accepting the ‘whoops’. I know for me especially in the past and at times now if I put something in my body that is not supportive it was because I didn’t want to feel something unpleasant or I have an issue with feeling my fullness and power from the soul that can work through my clearer body – really the issue is then about holding responsibility for what I am reflecting. So in these little whoops moments I can either choose to see them as that and be honest for them then rechoose and rebuild the quality of energy I know is true to move in, to nurture myself with. I’ve also discovered that the more I deepen my self love and accept/embody/cherish my preciousness then there becomes no room for the sabotage or not wanting to deal with things. Treating myself as the who I know I am is key. And sometimes I’ve learned things the hard way by redoing the very behaviours that my body continues to scream out that are not good for me. Life is our biggest education and our body is our teacher.
“….the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being.” How true this is, and how much do we let our minds convince us that it knows what is best rather than giving our bodies the respect they deserve by listening to the messages that they are sending us. In the same way that when nature is abused in some way, it will continually do its utmost to correct any imbalance and bring back order and harmony, our bodies will continually work away to do the same regardelss of what we do to them. And maybe one day we will do the same because we will have all got the message and work consistantly with them instead of against them.
I have never felt to consider this so deeply before how ideals and beliefs sit in our body as energy directing and shaping our lives from within.
“No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time.” There is an arrogance we need to address here about how we take our bodies for granted and we need to learn to love and appreciate them more deeply.
The communication of the body is the most loving and gorgeous thing…Except that it is quite common to pretend there is no communication for a long time and then we get whacked with the loud and clear communication which is usually in the form of things being negative. No matter how much we ignore what the body communicates, it never gives up and it will ceaselessly work to restore us to harmony.
Once you start taking heed of the body’s messages, prompts, or cues, from trusting that feeling not to do something, or take a certain travel route, or avoid certain foods because past experience of a bloated belly, gradually, this becomes stronger and the most reliable ‘Go-To’ friend for making decisions.
It seems so easy for the mind to override the natural wisdom and harmony of the body. What if we were to connect first with the body and use our whole body intelligence, perhaps we would not so easily dismiss its constant communication?
We have to work very hard to ignore this constant communication from our body/soul.
I have said these statements many times “I knew that was going to happen”, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that”, or “I knew that didn’t feel right” especially when driving and choosing a route to get home, if I listen to reason in my head over what feels right in my body things usually go a bit wrong.
I know this one ‘I knew that didn’t feel right’ what I have realised is that I did already know I just didn’t listen to how it felt in my body. Although I listen alot to my body I still over ride my own knowing and feeling about something. I very much appreciate how listening to my body has greatly changed my life and how I am with others, it is a continuing deepening relationship and one I am very much enjoying.
We can listen to all the lies the mind feeds us but the body will always hold us to account for our lack of self-love and nurturing of it.
Yes it’s either the overriding mind or the barometer of the body we choose to listen to. It’s our choice ultimately. And each choice has its consequences.
Yes, and how much does the body suffer when we let the mind take control!
My body is becoming my most reliable, loyal, wise and consistent ally, and all of this simply because I have started to listen to and respect what it has always been showing me.
Do we not think we are our minds?
Isn’t this what we are identified by?
And increasingly become a slave to?
Yet there beside us is a dear friend with no agenda, ready to communicate a vitality and steadiness that is the glorious homeostasis we are here to live and breathe.
“No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time” and over time this daily discomfort becomes our normal, we loose touch with the lightness & vitality we experienced in our bodies as a child and replace this with a dullness that many perceive as par for the course.
Have you ever fallen out with your best friend? Refused to talk or listen to them and it has always in the end been over nothing! Don’t we do the same with our body? Is our body, not the best friend we will ever have! Who else will stick with us no matter what the world throws at us every time, will wait till the end of time for you and never hold any judgment when you fall out… your body!
“the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night.” It would be an interesting experiment to observe how many times our mind overrides our body just in one day. We are a long way off, truly appreciating the magnificence and multi-dimensionality of our bodies. Worth pondering.
“…What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?…” This is very true, and something that we take for granted at just how much we naturally tune into our body to make choices.
Listening to the body really does allow for us to feel far more at ease. I have found that what I get a message from my body (it could be as simple as get a sweater on as I am cold, or have drink as I am thirsty), then if I don’t heed this message then there is an agitation or an irritation or a tension that mounts in me until I actually stop to listen AND act on what I have felt. It is such a simple yet powerful tool in working with ourselves and developing a deeper relationship with self, and with the body.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind? And what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it?” – A revelation posed as a question Terri-Anne – thank you!
I love a juicy ‘What if’ question like this one… it is an invitation to consider things in a way that maybe, out of habit, I simply hadn’t before.
Something that occurred to me all day today was if we have something which we are really dedicated to and love doing but the rest of the time spend our time not enjoying the things we are doing.. what is the point of that? We are going to have to do the things like necessities, work, travelling, walking, cleaning and cooking etc… we may as well do them in joy as well rather than reserving ‘fun; for certain activities which is then not fun it is the body in relief away from the stressors of life, and escaping tension it otherwise feels.
The best and most truthful friend we will ever have – our very own body.
‘The body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true.’ Often when I have honoured my body’s messages, but don’t know the reason why, I later find out it was the exact thing needed for the situation. Our bodies are far wiser than the mind.
Could it be that a lot of the tension and headaches we feel are markers of the disconnection or ‘fight’ we’re having between listening to our mind and our body, and that it’s this disjointedness that makes us tired and ill…
Absolutely Susie, that really makes sense. The body is registering disharmonious energy within us.
Yes, I reckon you are onto something here, Susie W.
It’s true, our body never lies to us but we are often very dishonest – we defend our behaviours and ingrained patterns, put changes off for another day or the new year even, we say that everything in moderation is okay; when it is clearly not. Some of what is called food today is not fit for consumption and many so-called ‘normal’ activities aren’t either; they are aberrations.
‘What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life? Coupled with our sensitivity to all things (that is, our ability to truly feel everything from our body), is the navigation system that keeps us solidly on our path to true health and well-being’ Beautifully said Terri-Anne
We do feel everything and when we shirk that, we deny the most amazing relationship we have.
Not listening to our body brings a tension that is being justified by eating certain foods or taking on other activities than we know we need to do. It is our body that guides us through life, when we choose to let this guide be in the main sail we will get to where we need to be, when we don’t let it guide our path we will be feeling pretty exhausted after a short amount of time. Which so many of humanity is covered up by the enormous use and abuse of sugar and coffee.
When we do go there one more time, and eat something we know will up set us in some way, our mind is very cleaver at convincing us that this time will be different, and yes we fall for it again.
The more I spend time with my body with what I am doing, the more I feel how precious it is and how tirelessly it works to keep me as harmonious and in flow as it can, and also feeling that my body is so divinely guided when I am fully with me.
Indeed our bodies are our greatest ally, the vessel of infinite wisdom if we connect and listen.
Recently I’ve been enjoying back to committing to listening to my body a whole lot more. I’ve been focusing on food. I’ve promised myself that I will not eat until my stomach rumbles and actually asks for food. The first time I did this I had to wait for 24 hours! I have been keeping my meals simple and light so as not to overeat. It’s amazing how different I feel by listening to my body in this way. I’ve been feeling lighter and clearer, more joyful and with more vitality. Yesterday I ate when I wasn’t hungry and I ate too much. I felt terrible. This morning I feel sleepy and heavy and quite negative about myself. The only difference was that I had not listened to my body. Definitely not worth it!
“The body never tells us a lie” How great it is to have a body and connecting to it , listening to it and being in concsious presence with it is rewarding as it always tells us truth and never lies. What a loving friend do we have here?
Our body does hold a natural navigation system, and this comes from the whole body. When it is the head doing the so called navigation, more often than not this involves just the head directing and controlling what needs to happen, and this can be at the expense of a part of or the whole body. Such as ‘I just need to finish this paragraph before I go to the toilet’- why make the body wait? Why allow the discomfort? We can think that we are strong or infallible when we are able to over-ride the messages of the body, and I certainly grew up thinking that a ‘strong’ person was one who could totally shut down their body in order to do things that most people could not do and I used to think I was the greatest coward or was super ‘weak’ because I had trouble overriding my body signals…However, today I am grateful for any signals my body gives me that I have stepped out of line to my natural way of being. For my body is my navigation system that keeps me on track, that shows me the way to a stronger and deeper care of myself and hence of all life around me too. In fact for me this is my way of re-connecting and re-establishing my relationship with the deepest part of myself, the Soul, and learning to live each and everyday in line with this.
The way the mind can convince us so adamantly why something is good even though deep down we know it is not just goes to show the power of our thoughts. Flip that and if we chose to listen to our thoughts that honour what our bodies are telling us then imagine the harmony we would be living in.
I am very sure that when we choose to listen to our body life will flow much more beautifully, giving us the time to truly enjoy it in full.
Surely this has tone the true education of the future.
When we override our bodies we are asking for trouble.
Many of the worlds issues could be solved if we listened to the well of wisdom inside instead of constantly ignoring it.
I often try to work things out from my head and it doesn’t work.
Our bodies will never tell us a lie but sometimes we cannot hear what it is saying because the mind chatter or dullness in our body means we’re not aware of what our body is telling us, or we right off a symptom as just something we get now and then rather than being inquisitive and making the connection between something we’ve eaten or an emotion we’ve had prior to the symptom.
I deeply get how our body intelligence is super important to us feeling what is truly happening in our life and I am very much working on listening consistently without being distracted by the thoughts that come from outside of me that the way-ward spirit likes to think it is being so cleaver or smart. Clever and smart are at best a disconnection from my essence that is a feeling or actually a memory of an emotional high that has never been the true me just another distraction that is full of emotions which will always seek more of the same. Emotions simply disconnect me from my essence so enthusiasm for anything is a disconnection for me where the true love of a situation brings joy and harmony so I am very much working with my body to feel my essence in all I do.
For more on CONNECTION go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=CONNECTION
Our mind does a great job of over riding our body. We need to say ‘down boy’ to our mind chatter and turn the volume up and listen more intently when our body speaks.
It’s true, the body can never tell us a lie, we can only chose to ignore it or rationalise what is going on to suit our own needs, but the body never lies, it shows us everything, every single one of our choices.
It is so simple when we listen to our bodies. My experience is only when I listen to my body I feel well, if I end up in a state of feeling unease listening to my body is the most important medicine in order to return to a state of wellbeing.
Terri-Anne, great questions, ‘what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it? Would Life not then have a more joyful and harmonious flow and ease to it?’ From my experience I would say YES, if I listen to my body I know how much and what to eat; I know what feels true and what does not and life flows, if I listen to my head I have found that I overeat; I don’t express what I feel to and i can react to what people are saying and so more and more I am staying present in my body and this feel great – much less tiring and much more enjoyable.
Listening to our heads is so deeply ingrained into our way of being that it can feel like a huge challenge to only take instruction from our body – we can always justify in our minds why we are ignoring what we feel in our body. The more we listen, the easier it gets, because the truth of what our body is telling us becomes more and more obvious.
“The Body Will Never Tell You A Lie” – as i have experienced, the body tells you the livingness of all the accumulated lies you have lived and the body has gone through, and thus the truth of how (my) life has been lived.
I like the example you shared about food. When we ignore our body’s messages, i.e over eat or eat foods that are not supportive it makes us feel dull, heavy and disconnected. Our body will always tell us what is going on in relation to our choices but it is up to us to listen with love and care, and allow our body to guide us.
Whole body intelligence … now this makes to the mega phone I hear coming from my body when the mind takes over and leaves right at the point, I’m thinking bugger not again!!
Who said the mind was intelligent or smart, has the intelligence to set us up to continue a cycle that’s not smart or in our best interest
The body doesn’t lie… the trick is listening to it. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what it has to say, but it is always there for us, telling us the truth, showing us the way.
There is something we rarely acknowledge and that is our relationship with life and how we are actually handling it, are we handling all of its movements well and all that comes that day? We so often live in patterns of seeking certain food, perhaps feeling the consequences and thinking “I wish I didn’t do that” but during the day don’t give ourselves the space to understand all that is going on for us and what is going on during our day, which had a lot to do with energetic awareness that we are trying to avoid.
A great blog, it’s clear that the body has a message for all of our indulgences and that is that they make it heavy, unable to function properly, but there is also an arrogance that knows that it will only last for a certain time and the symptoms be gone again tomorrow, so justification to have that “treat”.
Particles can not lie, they can only vibrate!
I am coming to understand and really appreciate the fact that there is a wisdom in my body that guides and supports me endlessly. I have ignored and overridden this artfully and often, but my body never stops putting up the sign posts. This is an awesome, loyal, unwavering and inspiring ally to have.
As powerful as the body is we will do our darnedest not to listen to it and ignore every signal and communication that it offers us. Bring more awareness into listening to my body and then honouring what it is telling me is an ever deepening relationship with myself.
The body will never lie and so to thwart such absolute knowing we learn to bludgeon it to such a great degree with our unloving ways, we render ourselves deaf to the truth that it speaks.
When our mind is connected to our body, listening and honouring its messages there is a sense if harmony within, but when our mind is totally working against our body we can feel disharmony and tension, like an internal battle is at play. From observing the current state of our world, my guess is a majority of humanity are living with this internal battle because what I can see is that there is much disharmony in our world around us. It makes sense to me that the only way to bring harmony to our world starts from us all, one by one choosing harmony within our own body first. So collectively if there is no internal battles going on, then naturally there will be no external battles either, which leaves us with harmony world wide. It sounds easy and it is, but it requires us all to work together as one.
This blog is awesome, I relate to it heaps, you completely nail it! The ouch moments, the way we allow our mind to justify our actions, this is a universal expression that will touch all that read it, what a great reminder to check in with your body more and stop the mind from running the the show all the time.
The example of food, eating something that we know our body reacts to, is a huge example of the power we give to the mind and its many stories and justifications. But where do these thoughts actually come from? When we know something is not good for the body and will make us, effectually, feel horrible, why would we override that with thoughts? There is so much more at play when we look at the energy behind our choices.
Very well said Rachael. It is difficult to understand why we would knowingly make unloving choices but when we understand how energy works and what energy is behind our choices, then everything makes so much sense.
Truly listening to my body is the most amazing education ever. We never stop learning from this wise teacher.
Our body is our compass through life, not our mind.
And it is through listening to our body that will restore harmony to our lives and to humanity.
We so know, and yet we can try and fool ourselves but we don’t really … we just hide from ourselves the knowing of what we do know. I’ve often played this game, or just this one, or well I need to check this out again, as you offer here Terri-Anne, our minds are the masters of justification but our bodies tell us the truth no matter how much our minds try to hide and justify. And it’s our bodies that forever lovingly bring us back, and as I learn to listen to my body more, my life become simpler and you remind me today that no matter how many stories I tell myself I come back to the truth of my body and it’s forever refinement and care.
And that could be true for everyone – moving physically more and eating more suitably would reduce the risk of many illnesses by half or more.
This experience from the body can be surprisingly complete – that slight feeling that what you are doing now isn’t quite right and an hour or two later you are suddenly stressed and very late, which would have been avoided if you followed that slight feeling earlier. It takes some time to understand the depth and thoroughness of the messages of the body.
It never ceases to amaze me how intelligent the body is, and yet we can still allow the head to take over and rule sometimes, it is such a conundrum that happens. I love the feeling of the rudder steering us with the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening in life, the direction is our choice.
Our body really is the marker of our truth and everything it shares with us is our leading impulse and guide through our lives. If only we were all taught this from young and not gave our power to our mind in disconnection to the wisdom we all have absolute access to. A beautiful sharing of the joyfulness and flow we really come from.
How many debates, how many arguments and problems would be resolved and would not exist if we listend to our bodies first. The justification of why we do x or y would be gone and we would be left with the truth, a truth that can be applied with all of life.
As I sit with the discomfort of eating something that I knew was not right – I can categorically state that I know this to be true about the mind tricking the body into eating – “no one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body”. I don’t enjoy it, but do find myself (like now) overeating and this discomfort is not pleasant at all.
If the body will never lie to us, which it will not, then why do we not listen to what it has to say? The answer to this reveals the relationship we have with truth and our willingness to either live it or ignore it.
And our bodies’ consistency and unwavering support and guidance is an inspiration in itself as to the quality that it is possible to live.
‘She will be right mate’ and ‘not to bad’ are two that come immediately to mind and as a divine Son of God I am learning that these type of ill sayings, behaviours or beliefs serve only the wayward spirit and not my essence so that for a starters I overeat and not have a sleeping rhythm that is to support my divinity. In every way this is so much still a work in progress to the best of my ability. If this is how I live on a daily basis maybe every other area of my life could also step into a different vibration so I can bring more loving responsibility to who I am in essence I will bring a greater consistency to everything I do which shall allow me to feel what my body is sharing.
Holding onto ideals and bottling things up and not expressing is also something that I have holds me back from my full expression so this also contributes to the wayward spirit and does naught for my divinity.
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=EXPRESSION
Sometimes with modern technology, it can feel to me, that we long so desperately for one true source of facts. Take Google for example, we love to resort to that, to be able to type words in and to know ‘the truth’ of the matter within seconds. But this process as many of us know is corrupted and not accurate in the way we would like to think. But what if it replicates a TRUE process that we actually already have? What if we all naturally own a search engine of our own? This is what I feel you beautifully show Terri-Anne, we all have 24/7 access to ‘the answers’ about life, if we just connect and listen to our body, and not our head. If we did and trusted this, we would never again say ‘we don’t know’ or feel that we are alone.
“The body is the marker of all Truth” is a fact that can be change everything once taken seriously and lived.
I can say that for a long time I fought with my body – eating things my body didn’t need but my head thought I did and I felt pretty rubbish. But each time I’d go back just because I could. So my mind was not hungry – it was just a power game that I was indulging in. And in this I had the choice to stop and listen to my body and honor it and that feels better than any food.
I often find I tense up in my body, become hard or go into my head when I don’t want to feel my body.
Great example Gyl as I also feel the tension arise in my body through my denials of not wanting to been open to truly feel what is happen in my body and so much of this comes from my ill behaviours of the past!
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” I am sure if we did do this then our world would be an entirely different place, we would be more healthy more vital and more alive that’s for sure. Ignore the bodies messages and we have a society lost in its own illusion.
“Coupled with our sensitivity to all things (that is, our ability to truly feel everything from our body)”. Understanding our relationship with the meaning and reality of sensitivity is worth exploring. It is one of those words I found to be missed used. In the past if I felt something wasn’t ok and mentioned it the reply back could be “your just too sensitive”. I’m now re-connecting to my innate sensitivity as the true guide it is, that my body has direct information on what is happening if I choose to listen.
‘the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being. What I mean by that is, those thoughts and that voice in our head that convince us that something is “alright” “just fine” or “it’ll be okay”, when you absolutely know that it won’t be.’ Great point Terri Anne, the mind often looks for an out – when the truth of the body is obvious.
Isn’t this totally wonderful. If we are ever stuck for what to do we only ever need to ask our body. It always knows. So simple.
It’s very easy to override and ignore the body, even when we know what is true by its messages. Our own little will can be very strong, and we can be very stubborn. The importance of willingness is key here. Are we willing to listen or not? Are we willing to grow or not? Are we willing to be truly loving or not? he choice is ours.
I love your description of tuning into our body being our rudder through life Terri-Anne. Our body offers a steady, consistently true and loving support for us when we are willing to listen.
It is relatively easy to just override what the body is showing us but this honeymoon doesn’t last forever, in my experience. And we miss out on a level of vitality and joy that is just not available when living in separation to our body.
I so relate to what you have shared Gabriele with the grace of God Serge Benhayon has presented how the movements I enter into can change my experience which it has and my vitality and joy-full-ness has increased and this is so much a work in progress to the best of my ability for my body still tells me I can re-connect to even greater levels of joy and vitality.
We have come accustomed to being more like a ‘head on legs’, as the demands and distractions we place on ourselves in life have become far more obvious than a simpler way of life. And this ‘head on legs’ is a great analogy or image that describes how we dismiss any connection we could have with our body, which has a magnificent internal ‘radar’ that gives us a point of reference on how accurately we are going. Self Care are the tools to re-connect the head, the body and the legs that walk everywhere to support one to feel wholesome again.
it’s such an interesting exploration to consider why and how it can be that our mind would so willingly act against the best interest of its own body.
Exactly Joel – a fascinating study indeed. Why, when we need to live with the body and the body needs to live with every choice we make.
Life would definitely have a total different flow if we were to use our body intelligence where we live/eat moment to moment feeling what is actually needed according to our evolution and not stay stuck in old habits because it feels safe and offers us a level of comfort, listening to our bodies is the best marker for us to develop a true and evolutionary relationship with life.
Very true Francisco. In most cases though it is the body that makes it listen to it and this is where the same learning can occur but in a far more uncomfortable way. Learning to listen to my body has been the greatest gift I have and continue to give to myself. And one that is always deepening. The more I allow my quality to be there the more I can hear what does and doesn’t belong with it.
To listen to our bodies is just so not encouraged in our society we now have. People who ‘push through’, don’t take time off when they are sick are seen as heroes as committed and diligent. What if we actually listened to when the body gives us symptoms, small symptoms and started to respond, asking, what is my body showing me here? Mostly we wait until it’s a big scream from the body, like a cancer or a heart attack, when we might start to consider, maybe I have to change the way I live, but only until the threat is gone, then we want to go back to the ‘usual’ way of living, and said honestly, abusing our bodies. Listening sooner to what our bodies share, would be a very wise choice indeed, followed by actually responding and making lifestyle choice adjustments, like what to eat, how to eat, who to be with, how to stay with ourselves all day, not checking out, and so on; this would help significantly in reducing the alarming health statistics of major health issues all around the globe.
I have had an up and down relationship with weight gain and loss in my life. With a recent episode of weight gain happening again. I was finding it very hard to accept that this was occurring and was ignoring the tightening clothes and sneaking out of photographs and so much more anything but stop and feel what it was that I was trying not feel. My body has been showing me that there are things that I am hiding from, that are uncomfortable for me to face,
Also a reflection of how beautifully sensitive you are Nicole. Some people may use alcohol, others use raciness, others use drive at work, others use drugs, others use shutting down and isolating. The beautiful thing is you’re aware and being honest and willing to look at these things, which in itself is an awesome insight to hear and feel for many in today’s society.
It is interesting how our bodies show us with excess weight that something needs our attention, and since allowing myself to feel this it puts everything regards to diet and weight loss into perspective and why it never used to work for me.
Also when we look around and look at the increase of the obesity rates, we get a clearer picture of what is really going on with people, and that dieting and will power are not the answers.
Feels very innocent, freeing and natural to live from our bodies and not our minds, yet for most this is not their reality. Shows that making our education all about the mind and not about the body is not so smart after all.
Thanks, Terri-Anne. Every day I would say I have examples of ‘I knew that was going to turn out like that’ when something occurs or someone behaves in a certain way. Your blog really highlights the importance of the ever-deepening development of our relationship with our bodies and what we feel and read all the time.
The more I let myself feel, read what is happening and listen to my body then the more I understand that there is to read, feel and listen to. I guess a bit like the old saying of the more I know the more I realise I don’t know. So the more I take responsibility then the more I realise that there is more to take responsibility for.
I too have heard it said thousands of time ” everything in moderation”, and I can see that it doesn’t hold true, I know that we are aware of how things simply don’t suit our body and their is no room for any middle ground when that is fully appreciated.
Our minds will tell us to eat, drink and do all kinds of things that hurt our body until such time we say ‘no more’ and look at why we are making these choices.
What came to me here whilst reading this was the word override. If we overrode these thing less i.e truly listened and responded to our body and what is asks instead of not then everything else .. all that is not true or not right for us would start to fall away.
And to add – the more we treat ourselves in a nurturing way and honouring the preciousness of ourself and body then slowly slowly the sabotaging behaviours will have no space to be as the body will feel so yummy that it will not seek something or some food to mask emptyness or lack of self worth. Building the love in the body and for the body makes us want to continue to support that tangible beauty we feel from within.
I have experienced many times as a health practitioner that what someone says about their life and how their body actually feels when they get on the treatment couch can be very different things. This has shown me many times how much we actually lie to ourselves about what is really going on and thank goodness our bodies hold us to account.
This is also evident in everyday life too Brendan and the greatest example of this is how people automatically ask ‘how are you?’ And people’s automatic reply is ‘good’ when often this is not the truth and the body is reflecting something different.
That’s very interesting Andrew, there is so much we don’t want to actually see and therefore we can’t see it because we have spent so long making up reasons to justify our actions. Yet every single choice is held in our body and sooner or later there’s choices manifest themselves as illness and disease.
I can often ‘think’ I am not feeling great, yes I might be tired, but when I actual just feel my body I feel amazing. Which goes to show there are two very clearly different energies at play. Sadly the one many of us often listen to is our heads, apart from a few adults and young children that is .
It is interesting all of the different ways the body talks to us. Foods that don’t agree with us can let us know immediately by exiting from the nearest exit or both. Or, they can provide olfactory challenges! On the flip side if we hold on to everything in life it becomes non excusive also for the body to hang on to all kinds of… stuff. If we eat lots of things the body can deal with small amounts, it presents itself as clear as the zit on the end of your nose! What a waste of time that we spend fixing the affects of not listening to our body’s!
When we realize we cannot blame our body for letting us down, we have to take the responsibility for our choices.
What is highlighted here is that the body does indeed have a deep knowing, which if listened to and confirmed can be built upon and lived by. Yet the mind seems to want to be the solo driver of the body even at its expense.
‘…..the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true.’ this is a very true statement in my experience. We do not give the body’s communication the same respect, care and importance as we do to our ‘fickle’ mind’ that is often found to be misleading and so forth.
The body does speak to us constantly – the question is do we keep overriding it with our mind or do we heed the messages from the body, the ones that are so often simple and straightforwards such as ‘don’t over eat, don’t drink that stuff, don’t smoke that stuff, or just be gentle in how you do things…’ The simplicity in itself is revelatory. Thankfully even if we override these simple messages that are presented non-stop, whilst we turn a deaf ear to these messages, the body is able to communicate louder with us, only to get our attention, this time the message is more extreme such as the development of an illness or a condition or a disease. The beauty is that our body never ever gives up on us! What a blessing we are constantly walking around with!
Listening to our bodies intelligence really is beautiful and changes our lives to one of love and harmony from within and it is deeply beautiful to feel this. The body really is our marker of truth and honouring this is true healing and responsibility.
We can often use food we know isn’t right for us to dull a tension we feel in our body.
This is so true “the body will never lie” all too often I shut my body down to listened to the manipulation of the mind particularly in regards to the effects foods are having on my body. Eventually the messages of the body become so intense I re-connect and feel the true impact of my arrogant choices.
I could say my body is becoming more and more truthful, the more I listen to it, but actually its always been truthful, now it is just louder, so I can hear it more easily.
Haha, these words came to me last night when I was hovering over the left over dinner I wanted to eat – “No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time”. When I asked my body if it really wanted more, it was a clear ‘no thank you’, and it felt great to listen.
‘The body is the marker of truth’ Serge Benhayon has been presenting this from day dot. How many of us really live this principle?
I am certainly coming to know my body as a much wiser support and guide than the chaotic, fickle wanderings of my mind. In a developing and respectful relationship with my body, my mind becomes a useful tool rather than a wayward controller.
Whole body intelligence is one that I have been able to understand and feel since attending Serge Benhayon’s presentations, workshops and courses. Re-connecting to my inner being, my Soul and listening to what this is communicating, is learning to live with Divine design that I am innately born with. For so long I have been disconnected to this and it feels amazing to re-awaken what I knew all along.
I am experience it more and more that my body just knows and in me allowing that relationship to flourish and grow saves me from a lot of tension that was raised in my body because of the separative way between the mind and the body I used to live in.
There is a liar that lies within us all (yes, pun intended) and the only way to ‘out’ this liar is to hold steady to the Truth that burns beneath it, imbued in our every cell.
I am inspired deeply so by the fact that my every cell knows the absolute order of everything and in honouring my body I am party to the wisest ally and guide.
If we ignore our own body and the messages it is sending us we have forsaken ourselves in favour of another energy coming through us therefore we are with our self and we are not our self.
I enjoyed returning to this article and find myself pondering on the education we have around putting the mind first, with absolutely no consideration for our bodies. As a humanity many have lost their ability to be with and understand the messages that the body is delivering. One of the practices that has greatly supported me to remember how to connect to my body has been the “Gentle Breath Meditation” as presented by Serge Benhayon. This meditation is available free through the Unimed Living web site.
The body gives very clear signs or signals like the ones you described in this blog and yet we can still over-ride the messages from the body and carry on eating that food product that no longer holds true for the body….
Absolutely! When you write it like that it is a ‘no-brainer’! A perfect expression that shows we actually don’t need our brain to make good decisions!!
This is a great reminder that we are influenced all the time by an unseen world of energetic forces, and it is simply up to us which kind of energy we choose to let run us.
Building deeper relationship with body and being more honest about what I feel has transformed my life. It is something we all could be learning to honour from a young age, children do it naturally, but are told to think form their head not live from their heart. I am returning to whole body awareness and I support my children to live from this also.
The choice is always ours whether we choose to listen to our body or not. Something I have found is the more I am open to listening to it the more obvious and quick the signs seemingly are. So the question here is have they always been there and I just have not chosen to be open and aware to them or not? The more I look back I see all the signs along the way before a big calamity has occurred and so, from my experience, the signs have always been there and are always there I just have not chosen to see them. Essentially the body knows love and truth and so anything less is an abuse to it and so it gives us reminders until it eventually has to say enough is enough and then we get illness and disease.
If I was too choose a friend between my body and my mind, someone whom I could trust would love me and never lie to me, it would be a no brainer (excuse the pun), my body and its true wisdom would win out every time.
Even though at times I may feel tired, exhausted or achy, I still feel love when I feel my body.
We are very good at using our minds to convince us that what we are doing is OK but wen we truly listen to our bodies then we can hear truth.
“… the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night.” This is paramount to ‘shooting ourselves in the foot’. Learning to pay attention to how my body feels has been the most incredible lesson in life. The feeling of health and vitality is awesome and constantly encourages me to steadily regain control of my very arrogant and obstinate mind.
To feel the body can be sometimes very uncomfortable, because it does not stop reflecting our choices back to us.
Our bodies do communicate to us all the time and it is up to us if we are going to listen to them or not. Our inner being knows as you say Terri-Anne exactly what is needed for any given moment, we simply need to trust and let go of what we have conditioned ourselves to be to fit into the world around us.
I wanted to share an experience I felt yesterday that confirms how much the body never lies at all time. I had received a very abusive email and thought I did not react “as much” as normal. But in my body I was already hard, protected and walking around to avoid feeling the same attack again. I spoke with my partner about this and instantly she pointed out how I had changed, as I felt my body it confirmed I had changed and so by choosing to be fragile, to feel what had gone on I gradually came back to me. That shows how quickly our body speaks but how we often don’t listen. However when we do we can heal before we need to really heal.
“What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life? Coupled with our sensitivity to all things (that is, our ability to truly feel everything from our body), is the navigation system that keeps us solidly on our path to true health and well-being.”- Terri-Anne you have nailed what I feel life is all about. A great reminder that whole body intelligence is our true navigator in life.
Our bodies never lie, if we become responsible in our living way, we will know this as truth, the mind disconnected from the heart is not to be trusted.
How often do we hear from another when asking ‘how they are’, the reply is: “alright” “just fine” or “it’ll be okay”, when you absolutely know that it won’t be.
Do we respond to them in a way the opens up the conversation and invites a truthful sharing or do we go with the mental response and say “ok” or that’s good” and breath a sigh of relief to ourselves while overriding the true communication that is there to respond to.
Treasuring the body – and deeply appreciating what it tells us is key to living with ourselves completely. Imagine the old ticker tapes for the stock exchange streaming and streaming information constantly 24/7 – our bodies are doing exactly this and it is a choice to read the information it tells us constantly and consistently or not. Very simple and yet the language of the body has been forgotten and hidden and it is now our responsibility to learn to be open to it again.
Our life would certainly be more harmonious when we listen to the intelligence of our body. Our minds when disconnected from our body will complicate things, whereas connecting to our body always support us to be love, to be in simplicity, to be honest and align to truth.
i love what you have shared Terri-Anne- so much truth and awesome to be reminded about this. As you say we really already feel the truth but often choose otherwise. Let the body lead the way!
Justification diminishes our power and strength.
There’s a tenderness in our body that is very precious and delicate. And there’s a hardness, a force that I can connect to as well. My body never lies. For a long, long time I connected most of the time to the hardness, force that supposingly was me. Or so I thought… Now that I’ve felt the delicateness, preciousness and loveliness of who I truly am, I can’t fool / tell myself that when I’m disconnected to my true nature, that this is me. And my body will forever keep communicating to me if I’m connected to me or the hardness, force. How loyal and patiently is this?
I pretended for years and years that I couldn’t feel, but to discover and develop the clairsentience by way of connection to my body has opened up a whole other true understanding of life.
Immense humility is required to accept that we (our bodies) knew it all along whilst we were racing off down our errant paths. The most simple example being drugs and alcohol – I mean, really???? What other sign do we need of our stupidity!
This is so well expressed. “…or you’ll get squatters”. The root of all illness and disease.
Like any relationship, my relationship with my body requires commitment, transparency, appreciation and a willingness to see truth without judgement or protection or control. If we can lay those foundations, then our bodies will show us the way home.
When we haven’t been listening to our body and we use things to keep it stimulated or dulled it isn’t always easy or even possible to feel what it is telling us, and hence we end up with big stop moments through an illness or accident. If we then start to listen, then it can be very healing but if we don’t, our body has to find another way to give us the message.
Just reading the final questions in this article I was inspired by how very different our health systems would be if we did live in respect of our bodies’ wisdom.
Yes it is the magic marker 🙂
I used to want another body rather than mine because of how it felt, ached, hurt, had illness, but when I realised it was actually showing me the truth of how I was living that changed. Now I greatly appreciate all that it shows me because I have made so many changes from it’s wisdom.
‘The body will never tell you a lie’ – This makes a lot of sense, how could our bodies ever signal anything but truth. When and why then, did we decide that it’s a good idea to override what we feel in our bodies?
Terri-Anne what jumps out at me about this is the fact that our body never lies but our mind can override that, its therefore we who lie to ourselves first and then live that lie as if its a truth, even though our body is saying otherwise. Quite remarkable the effort we put into ignoring and overriding the truth.
What is interesting here is the fact that in most cases of going against what we know to be true with food and how it affects our bodies, these choices tend to be in our ‘off-time’ or our ‘spare-time’ which has in general come to mean ‘me-time’. So why is it that when we are in ‘me-time’ do we choose to eat foods that are not suitable – knowingly so?
When we use our body as our rudder to navigate life, we can at times sail into storms that are sent to test our skills. These trials will leave us on the rocks or more confident to sail in any sea.
“When you know without any reasonable explanation not to turn down that street, but rather to take a different direction;” What I am appreciating more and more is that my body is very tuned into the future and if I pay careful attention to what it feels like doing, it supports me to prepare for events that are currently not on my radar but evidently very obvious on my body’s satellite communication system.
I am forever grateful to my body for showing me the truth constantly. However I’m not too happy to listen to it when it is telling me something other than what I want to hear! If I want the opposite I will ignore and override. I then go through a period of struggle which is totally unnecessary. This is my own will over the body’s own wisdom.
Absolutely. We can’t choose the bits we do or don’t want to hear. Like all of life, it is all or nothing. There is no grey area.
‘We could take this awareness deeper and consider all those times when you ignore a feeling from the body that tells you that something isn’t right.’ We can take this into all our interactions – read the energy of what’s truly being expressed, feel the imprint, the neediness, the attraction or the magnetic pull (there is a difference), and observe how we feel. If we allow ourselves to read a situation it brings understanding that helps us to not react with emotion but to respond (or not) as appropriate.
I often like this blame other people or situations for how I am feeling or how my body feels – or what it feels – when really it’s a lack of responsibility on my part.
Our bodies are constantly communicating with us- something I’m learning to appreciate.
We can allow our minds to really complicate things to the extent that we ignore, deny and over ride the incredible simplicity and wisdom that the body is constantly communicating.
Whole body intelligence is indeed a wonderful ‘navigation system’ which guides us through life unless our mind ‘dismisses these moments of awareness’. The problem is that our mind tends to confuse ‘comfort’ with self-love and so we choose something that we think we want but often it is actually harmful to the body. The more we live in a self-loving way the less we are able to abuse ourselves by not listening to the body and so gradually we start to develop a consistent rhythm of self-loving choices which lays a foundation for a more harmonious way of living.
“the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect.” The mind can convince us of anything, and until we accept that the mind is therefore not truly and lovingly intelligent, that true intelligence is through the body, then the suffering and neglect continues.
“No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time . . .” I know this one all to well! It is something that gets so dismissed even when we voice it we justify it and others can join in this justification. What if rather than enjoining in this form of hurting ourselves and each other we chose to confirm each other in the appreciation of sufficiency. This is much more supportive than over filling to the point of pain and then dealing with the subsequent over flow of physical and mental reactions.
This blog highlights something that should be obvious to everyone and yet the truth of it is avoided or ignored – that our minds can make us do things that harm the body. What does it take (illness and disease?) for us to hand ourselves over to the wisdom of the body, that truly knows what will support us to grow and thrive?
One would expect that illness and disease would cause us to wake up! But, for how many is it a pit stop to put a band-aid on the bullet hole and carry on?
Janet, this proves that our minds are not as intelligent as we think it is.
“The body will never Tell you a lie…” is a great statement to remember especially in these moments when we have a body reaction to something, be it food, or an exchange with another person. Rather than dismissing or ignoring the body signals, remembering this will take awareness and understanding deeper.
The body is our only vehicle to connect to truth. For that reason, every ‘negative’ message we get from the body, only reflects the fact that we are avoiding truth.
” the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true” This is beautiful and the more i begin to truly listen to my body the more it reveals to me and this is an ongoing journey of rediscovery of my body and all it shares to learn and feel the wisdom we all have inside us and are part of.
It is beautiful to feel the wisdom in your words Terri-Anne as I sit here and read your blog, and have spent the night reviewing a situation where I could feel my body was hesitating and yet in spite of these feelings I went ahead with the picture that satisfied my ‘tick boxes’. Time to come back to me and my beautiful body and all it’s wisdom, and allow life to unfold as I know it will – I just need to allow some space for expansion in my life and in my body.
I have found that building a strong connection with my body by focussing on being present I have got clearer and clearer messages from it, therefore my trust has built and it is a wisdom I know is true. My mind can try and interfere with the justifications but ultimately the truth is revealed by the consequences of my choices and how my body feels after.. whether it is because of something I have eaten, not expressed, felt stressed about, rushed, had negative thoughts or doubt, my body shows me.
In my past I have behaved in a way that was in total disregard of my body and the amazing thing is it does not hold a grudge at this. Instead simply carrying on to clear these choices and continually communicate to me the wisdom or not, in my choices.
Because our bodies belong to God, they will never judge us. Only lovingly reflect the truth for us to chose to see or ignore.
It is amazing what the mind can convince you of – go on, have one more drink, one more plate, one more episode, give that person one more chance. Often we can say we don’t know what got into us, or that there is a devil and angel sat on our shoulders. But are we really as out of control of our behaviours as we think? Well I know for me, when the mind is given free reign to do as it wishes then often my body simply follows along, showing be the consequences of my choices as we go. But when I remove the mind from the drivers seat, not allowing negative thoughts to run, not allowing my mind to wander and imagine future and past scenarios, and connect more with my body, i find those urges, desires, cravings are less intense or not there.
When I look back at my life and see all the silly and plain outright stupid things I have done through thinking something was a good idea at the time, like jumping off a waterfall into a raging river in the middle of winter when as soon as I hit the water my body freaked and almost shut down on the spot and I kind of wouldn’t have blamed it if it did, but if I had stopped to feel if it was a good idea it would have taken a bulldozer to push me over that edge.
Very true Shirley-Ann – we can attempt to ignore it but the body tells all.
“Have you ever felt that ‘sting’ that comes when you haven’t listened to what your body is telling you and you regret it later?” Oh yes, and for me it usually resulted in ‘talking to God on the big white telephone’ for quite a few hours. What is so ridiculous is that despite these intensely painful ‘telephone’ conversations, I still refused to make the link between how I felt and how I had treated my body, until I met someone who very clearly did and had enough self worth to not only treat them selves with immense respect, but everyone else too. This alone enabled me to begin to feel that I too am worth that immense care and attention and that my body has no option other than to suffer or exalt the way I treat it.
The mind is great at convincing us that something that has upset our bodies food wise previously on many occasions will miraculously not affect us this time, and in those moments when the body is under stress the last thing we want to do is listen to the body saying no thank you that will make matters worse. It is in those moments that we feel like a puppet and a slave to our food cravings.
I love the awareness of the innate wisdom of the body. There is an absolute solidness about it, something fully reliable and trustworthy. To me it is vital that the mind works in harmony with the body and does not ‘do its own thing’. We have seen the results of mind orientated choices. Time to give the ‘heart and body centred guide’ a go.
We have to lie to ourselves that the body doesn’t lie. The body tells us we can’t do something and we take it as a challenge! Free diving comes to mind, it is dancing with the devil in hell and trying not to get burnt… and now it is a sport?
Yes Alex, is it really that the mind runs amok or have we fueled it with an energy that it is simply being obedient to? Without addressing the source from where the thoughts come, we can at best use our will power in an attempt to control.
Just in your first paragraph it is clear to understand that there are essentially two processes going on, communication from the body and communication from the head. The thing is to work out which one is true
If someone said you could have a friend that would never lie, would always be by your side, would support you on a path of wise choices, would you accept them? So it’s curious that we spend so much time trying to disassociate ourselves from our bodies.
‘What is the alternative? What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?’ The moment I tune in to my body and am honest with myself without judgement my relationship with my body changes.
Yes, it is amazing how much we hear when we actually listen!
The more I listen to my body the more I know, it knows all I need to know.
i know only to well the ‘justifications’ of the mind but thankfully my body is starting to speak louder and louder.
The body does not lie but we can misunderstand …
Are we misunderstanding or choosing to now understand as the truth is what we are not willing to feel and hear?
For a long time I judged hurts in my body as signals that I did something wrong. I slowly start to feel and build a different relationship with my body where I am much more loving, understanding and willing to listen to what my body wants to communicate. This relationship that I am building is very dear and precious to me.
My body is constantly communicating to me, and one thing that I have figured out is how I have learnt to play dumb when in fact I know exactly what it is communicating… so who is the fool here. Me of course, thinking that my mind can outsmart my body. Ridiculous really.
I love how clearly you describe the distinction between a feeling in your body and thought, excuse or justification from your mind. It reminds me of the old cartoon with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. This is symbolic that we are both spirit and soul; when we make choices from our body we are in line with our soul, and when we have a thought that is at the expense of our body our spirit is using our mind. Being honest about this distinction builds awareness and clarity.
Our inner knowing is indeed far more powerful than we have, in the main, given it credit for. One big ‘yes’ to fostering a relationship with this – that all that we feel can be discerned in full as to whether it truly supports the flourishing of who we are and the honouring of our bodies in full.
For without a body that is honoured for the signals it constantly offers us, we are left at the mercy of far too much that would not have us be the truly amazing beings that we actually are.
The honesty that my body delivers its discomfort with is amazing,. Even a slight slip with an ill choice of food can bring on a feeling of deep tiredness soon after the last mouthful has been eaten.
The more I listen to my body and act on it, without any need to doubt or question what I am feeling, the more trust I have in what I am feeling for next time. And so it goes, continually building back our very natural state of being.
I have come to understand that the things we do for COMFORT e.g. comfort food, staying up late watching TV or computer games etc., causes DIS-COMFORT on our bodies. Crazy really. So then, what part of us is it that needs the comfort?
The more I listen to my body and deeply love it the more I feel it loves me back. It makes no sense to work against our bodies which we are with 24/7!
This is a brilliant question:
What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?
We would be way better off and living more in harmony with the body , and so more true health and wellbeing can be achieved.
I have had a few moments recently where my body is very clear in what it doesn’t want or is unable to accept the food that I have eaten. The question is why do I continually ignore the wisest and most forgiving part of me?
From my studies of biology I was always so fascinated with the body – especially the way it sends signals and picks up changes in its environment – it is constantly signalling to the brain, and often the brain literally tunes them out, like the way we can no longer smell our perfume after a while – its not because the scent isn’t there to smell, its simply that the constant signal to the brain of the scent gets turned down and/or muted, so you don’t consciously notice it. But what would happen if we made efforts to connect more to the body, bring more focus to it and be more present and aware of its messages – would we discover a whole range of signals and messages we have till then kept tuned out?
It was interesting to return to listening to my body as once I did it seemed to want to say so much but in fact it was simply all that it had been saying for some years but which had fallen on deaf ears and which I had not acted on.
I remember having the arrogance of thinking I could do whatever I liked to my body as I was young and ‘healthy’, and often I would knowingly override its messages. It is not surprising then that my body eventually started to break down, and as a result I have had to learn to listen intently to its constant communication.
“Have you ever felt that ‘sting’ that comes when you haven’t listened to what your body is telling you and you regret it later?” This is great I often feel this but then a few days later repeat the same thing, watching my daughter is amazing as she first tries something and if it is not great for her she does not repeat it. Her body speaks and she listens.
In contrast to our minds which are susceptible to all sorts of ideals, beliefs, hurts and want to run life on previous experiences, our bodies are always super honest and always present the truth of love and life.
If the body will never tell you a lie, is this why we bludgeon our bodies so much with foods and other activities that don’t support us? Then we can numb ourselves from everything we feel and the level of responsibility and love that’s being asked of us.
Exactly Alison, I have more or less the same experience that you have shared. There is no trying or planning or needing to know ( or control) the outcome of anything, because when we trust our body, everything constellates perfectly and precisely for all parties concerned – simply the magic of God.
Everything in moderation is a great trick of the mind to justify behaviours or habits that do not truly support the body, but it is this that keeps you in comfort and indulgence. Eating chocolate in moderation is a great example……sugar is still sugar and a poison in the body.
“However, the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true.” It does, all the time, our bodies never stop sharing their wisdom with us, all we need to do is decide whether or not to pay attention and even better, honour it. When we do, miracles happen.
The body doesn’t lie and it sometimes seems that the mind will go to all sorts of lengths to punish the body because of this as though they are enemies and not part of the same person.
The everything in moderation is such a tricky sneaky way of justifying doing harm to our body. As it seems so reasonable and makes not eating the said thing unreasonable and controlling, rather than the loving supportive act it truly is to say no to something that is harming to the body but may taste delicious.
“The body is the marker of all Truth.” (Serge Benhayon) It is one thing to be presented with wisdom, feel we understand and another to live it.
After years of programming, we are called to switch off the programme that says mind knows best and ignores the body. To thoroughly de-programme entrenched beliefs demands willingness, love, and humility.
The body never lies! So, why don’t we believe/trust what it is telling us? Can it only be manipulated and influenced by things outside of us? Ultimately it becomes a choice.
Our mind seems to be able to live independently from our body, or so it thinks. It forever comes up with excuses why a good decision can wait: until next month, tomorrow, when we have finished this pack of cigarettes, etc. It doesn’t make sense. After all, the body is everywhere we go, it never leaves us while we are alive but the mind has always another story to tell.
“The body is the marker of all Truth.” (Serge Benhayon) It has taken me a long time to really integrate this into my life. I was so disconnected from my body throughout my life that even when my body was screaming at me to live differently and make other choices, I would ignore it. Quite blatantly so. These days it is still a daily conscious choice to listen to my body, making sure that I continue to develop a loving relationship with myself/body.
My body was so numb too and I remember at a women’s talk, discussing our ovaries and thinking I don’t even know where they are exactly (they are down there somewhere) and I have never felt them. I have since discovered their exact location and am aware when I ovulate and I know them now and wonder, how is it that a woman can go through so many cycles, so many years and yet not feel such an important part of her body. How numb was I?
As I notice more and more the truth that my body gives me, I can reflect this wherever I am without needing to do anything. Living life from the communication of the body is the way forward for us all to deepen our learning of it.
Yes, learning that language is very useful, expanding, helpful, powerful …
We lie to ourselves about what our bodies are telling us. My body sometimes tells me that what I’ve eaten has hurt it, but what I do is eat more of something else to numb the feeling. That’s rather stupid really, it would be far better to not eat for a while and allow myself to feel its true message…
The word that stood out reading this was neglect, how we can neglect our bodies at the expense of our minds, and how our minds can play this game of ‘sure it will be fine’ or just this once or whatever our current favourite justification might be. And we know and that’s the really amazing thing if we stop to feel that, we know exactly when things are not right, so really it’s about getting honest with ourselves, feeling the impact of our choices and truly listening to our bodies.
‘What if we listened to the intelligence of the body rather than the justifications of the mind?’ Great question Terri-Anne. We so often dishonour the body ‘thinking’ we know best. Not so. Our body gives us subtle warning initially then speaks louder. When ignored it can bring us to a stop in the form of accidents and disease. Yet we still don’t want to acknowledge the part we played in creating these.
We have to learn to be a liar – it is not naturally of us.
The more I pay attention to my body, and act upon its messages, the more of a willing messenger it becomes. I’m becoming ever more aware of the choice: to either resent my body and its messages, or to listen to what it’s so patiently trying to tell me.
My body always lets me know how going to bed later than it asked me to or eating more or less than it was communicating makes me ill. I no longer blame my body for the symptoms that my choices induced but am now looking to what happened that I choose to abandon it in favour of some sort of excitement or dulling down knowingly drowning out its voice because I didn’t want to feel something. So then it’s about being there to support myself to feel whatever it is I have tried to avoid and appreciating my body’s often loud protests at some of my treatment of it because without that I wouldn’t care two hoots.
Today I traveled by train and sat next to a male and female student. The female student shared how much she drank last night and how she didn’t feel fit today. I joined the conversation and shared how I was exactly like them when I was their age. But that I’ve learnt that I wasn’t listening to my body at that time. Just escaping from myself. If I would be able to do it again, I would never ever be so abusive to my body. I’m still learning to nurture my body, but am definitely much more listening to its communication than ever before.
“What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?” Keeping in tune to this incredible radar, if allowed, is an amazing navigation in life.
The depth of intelligence offered by whole body experience has not been experienced by many of us and I find it difficult to understand why those that have not experienced it so easily disregard or deny that it exists. There are many instances like the ones you have shared Terri-Anne that over and over again bring evidence that the body is reading everything that is happening and that it holds us in love in every moment.
The body knows far more than the mind can imagine.
I’ve never heard about the ‘intelligence’ of the body until Serge Benhayon presented this, it took some time before i felt i really understood this, as i had only known the intelligence of the mind. Yet Terri-Anne you have shared very clearly how they intelligence of the body works – very simple and direct communication, where often the mind misleads us away from what is intelligent and yet we champion the intelligence of a fickle mind.
It is crazy that we deem the mind the most intelligent when it can lead us into such trouble, listen to the body and like you say Terri-Anne we have a true compass for life.
What I’ve noticed with re learning to live from whole body intelligence is, it’s like a muscle we haven’t used very much. The more I use it the stronger it gets, the more I confirm this knowingness the more I trust my body and know when it has spoken.
What is so great about our bodies is that they are always honest… unlike our minds that will find all reasons to lie, deny, avoid, justify – and totally disregard our bodies in the arrogance of knowing best – when it is our body that has the authority of knowing exactly how we are choosing to live every second of every day.
The more I listen to, love and respect my body the more simple, joyful and awesome my life becomes – wonder why it took me so long to discover this. Hugenormous thanks to Serge Benhayon for his teachings on this subject.
The more we abuse, poison and don’t listen to our body the harder it gets to hear what it is saying so that sometimes it has to shout, get sick or have an accident to get our attention. Of course not all illness is a result of this, some are for very different reasons we always need to listen and discern.
Lately I have been very tired and it seems to be getting more and more so. I’ve wondered if I need some extra support with vitamins, if my thyroid and adrenals are ok…but when I am truly honest I know that the foods and amount of food I’ve been eating of late is a huge contributing factor. Yet I would rather distract myself away from that, make it about something else and stay away from feeling what lies beneath my food choices.
I am always fascinated by the signals in my body – sore shoulders, why? Bloating, why? Trouble getting to sleep, why? Is it possible all these things and so much more are signals and markers of how we have lived – tense and held back or stressed and pushing, leading to tightness in the body, or taking on emotions and not expressing, or eating the wrong foods and bloating. The body is like a book to read if we take the time.
It is ironic that our education system focuses solely on learning with and developing the use our minds and does not even mention the awareness of the body. Well this alone lets us know what part of humanity is behind the current education, it is certainly not the wisdom of the body.
It is ironic that our education system focuses solely on learning with and developing the use our minds and does not even mention the awareness of the body. Well this alone lets us know what part of humanity is behind the current education, it is certainly not the wisdom of the body.
“…However, the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being…” This is where it is so important to feel the connection with our body, from the soles of our feet to the tip of our head, otherwise it does become too easy to be lead astray. We are a head on a body yet it is as if we operate like a head on legs when we don’t have the connection with our body.
For all the times I have not listened to my body and ended up feeling the consequences I later do not like, I know regardless of how confronting and at times challenging the truth from the body can be, there is no benefit in not honestly and openly listening and embracing it.
It is interesting how we from a very young age learn to work against our bodies by watching how others are doing it and copy that.
Thank you Terri-Anne. You are absolutely spot on. The sting I feel when I realise I’m in a mess because I ignored the signals my body gave me is well known to me and very uncomfortable to feel. Your blog reminds me not to judge myself in these moments. I can see it’s much more responsible to simply observe my choices and begin listening to my whole body once more.
Haha this catches me out. I used to eat lots of salt and sugar and always get mouth ulcers. Of course I would blame it on stress and not want to look at my diet and always say ‘I know I need to cut sugar but just one more time’ – but then the ulcer would come back. It shows my body is always communicating to me. And guess what – since I have stopped eating sugar my ulcers have cleared up. No more excuses.
The way we live affects everybody around us and if we falter in our resolve then others will too. We are all connected and everything we do affects everyone else – our good choices and our not-so-good ones.
As much as we sometimes don’t want to listen to our bodies because we know that it means we will have to expose something and make changes we quite convincingly carry on until such time the body makes it loud and clear that we need to stop.
I agree, our bodies tell us when things aren’t right, or conversely, when things feel amazing, to over ride our feeling, develop ill health and our posture and movements clearly illustrate our choices to honour what we feel of deny.
Yes, Terri-Anne. The body is constantly reminding us that we are a part of a perpetually expanding sphere of energy (aka God) and as such we are connected to its all-encompassing wisdom.
“The body is the marker of all Truth.” It took me a few years to really get this sentence, to truly appreciate the immutable fact that how my body feels is a direct consequence of how I treat it. Feed myself rubbish, feel rubbish. Wise up and clean up my act, feel a great deal better. It is a very simple equation and one that has supported me to completely cut out many of the substances I used to regard as treats, such as chocolate, coffee and alcohol and not miss them one iota, because in truth the temporary pleasure gained in consuming them never made up for the way they poisoned my body.
Great point, Rowena, and a simple equation to live life by – this could easily be taught in schools as part of foundational education.
Over-riding our body long enough it will acclimatise itself to the abuse to the point that it eventually comes to believe that it is necessary for its survival e.g. any form of addiction, whether it be physical, emotional or mental, or even a long established habit. This becomes what we call a ‘gut’ reaction giving short-term relief and can be confusing to discern at times from the body’s true intelligence. What Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness bring is deep understanding of this situation and with that the tools and means to re-establish congruity and harmony within the body.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” If this were the case there would never be any question as to what was right or wrong, as everything would be felt and answered from a place of truth. How different the world would be if we all lived this.
Love this Terri-Anne! “just listened to what your body was telling you and ignored the justification in your head”… a teaching to ensure is in my day.
I used to think my thoughts and my words were my truth, but the problem is they were firstly not my thoughts and secondly my words were versions of what I wanted life to be like or things I did not like. To bring life back to the body is one of the greatest gifts we each discover as I know my body never lies and is indeed what shows me the truth.
I love the title of this blog. ‘Body Will Never Tell you a Lie’ for it reveals that for most of the time we choose to put our trust in the one that lies, deceives and tricks us: the mind. I know how it feels to want to stop an ill-pattern, but find myself repeating it again and again. It can be frustrating, but I’m learning not to be hard on myself, to simply observe and understand. Discerning what is true and what is not, is an ever unfolding process we refine movement by movement.
This really is a science, the science of listening to the body and one that we all need to start getting A’s in, for too long we have been letting the mind run amok and look where that has got us so far. The world has never been in such a state and it is only getting worse. By listening to our bodies we are less likely to harm ourselves, therefore less likely to harm another which then becomes inspiring for others to take note of how we are living.
Beginning to appreciate whole body intelligence and how it speaks to me, but also observe how the mind comes in to over-ride and de-stabilise. It often feels miraculous when an intrinsic knowing is confirmed. if we trusted whole body intelligence more and quietened the mind we would experience many more of life’s miracles.
Great blog Terri-Anne, our bodies are constantly giving us pearls of wisdom – its just us who think we can ignore it! For me this debunks our level of intelligence completely because why would we do something we know is going to be detrimental to our body, something we live with 24/7 – it makes no sense yet we constantly do it.
Our body is amazing with everything is does, without being told! It is the perfect child that just wants to run, play, eat and sleep… then the thing between our ears thinks it can improve on this process!
We do so much silly stuff to keep the might within contained. If we were to listen to our bodies we would know that it is designed to let the love within out, it’s not to be kept there. And I was actually going to write LIGHT instead of MIGHT but I like the word might. We have a might within and we are perhaps afraid of letting it out so we do all these things to contain it and food is a very effective way to keep it there, seemingly so.
After some practice it becomes almost a dialogue – a sore throat, an itch on the nose, a stumble at a particular moment – they may just be meaningful.
” No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time ”
The justifications you are mentioning are true. What I observe is yes there are discomforts but when we did it one more time it is like we give ourselves allowance to do this several times. I grasp more and more the irresponsibility of the spirit and how the body is expressing afterwards.
We can so easily marvel at he messages our body gives us as we can also so easily suppress them. It is in the appreciation of these message and obedience to them that our true future lies.
Blogs like this are important to be written and should be read by many as everything that is shared in this blog makes so much sense, that our bodies do know as like they are connected to life in a completely different way than we can imagine by our mind. With our mind we think that we are limited to our three dimensional world as being sensed by our 5 senses but our body shows us that there is more, another dimension or even dimensions we all are part of and interconnected with. When we allow that to be the case, to me, we will open a way of life where magic again will have its place and where there is more than that can be seen only by the eye.
I have finally come to understand this as well: “the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being.” And in today’s society we champion the mind and its so-called intelligence beyond all else, meanwhile our amazingly wise body cops the fall out. I am aware that many times during every day that my mind tries everything it can to divert me away from living the life I have chosen; a life where my the intelligence of my body is my true champion. It has taken a while and much commitment to understand this devious game my mind plays but I am refusing to play it, as I prefer the honesty of my body every time.
‘The body never lies to you’, this is so, so true. When I was a teenager experimenting with alcohol, my body was very clear at showing me how toxic and poisonous alcohol is. It didn’t hold back is any way, my whole body reacted to the poison very quickly, every part of my body was working hard to eliminate the poison. A rash appeared on my palms and lasted a few days, showing me how much strain I had put my body under and how the poison was still present. But even with these very clear and obvious signs, my mind was trying to justify and even think of ways to build up my tolerance to alcohol and ignore my symptoms. Thoughts and ideas were building up in my mind to find ways to numb my body. My mind was trying to work against my body, so I could fit in with the norm and be like everyone else. Now, I realised how deceiving our thoughts can be. I know through experience, listening to my body has been the best thing I have done and it has guided me through life to make loving choices. I am now much more aware of how my mind can at times lead me astray, convince me to ignore my body and distrust what I feel. I am listening to my body more and more, because it never lies.
We can all put our hand up in agreeance to not honouring a feeling from our body at least once in our lives, because we have been programmed and moulded ourselves into accepting others and the worlds ideals and beliefs of how we need to run and be in our lives. We have lost our natural ability to feel and respond to our bodies in favour of going with our heads or sadly, the majority. In doing this we dishonour our own truth, that we are actually, truly amazing beings that are full of love.
It seems to me that the mind doesn’t have my best interests at heart when it’s not at the service of my body. It’s like listening to my own worst enemy who tries to convince me they have it all sorted but they really, really don’t.
When we think we need to reward ourselves with food or watching tv after a long day at work or a successful day of ticking off our to do lists, we are in effect not really rewarding ourselves at all because we are negating our own inner compass. That inner compass is always working and serving us by letting us know what it needs to be loved, supported and nourish and it is only our heads that sometimes get in the way of this wisdom we hold. Bringing awareness back to each movement we make allows our bodies to work in its natural state of being and bring harmony back to our lives.
A great topic to raise Terri-Anne… What if there was something more to those moments where we feel not to go down a certain street, eat a particular food, buy something or engage in a strange situation? Could this be greater than intuition or even superstition, because actually we feel and are aware of more than we realise?
The justifications of the mind – that old chestnut! I reckon I do this a dozen times a day, in fact probably more than I am aware of. It seems easier to justify things, that way I don’t feel responsible for the choice some how. Or rather, I don’t feel responsible for the outcome of the choice, because I was justified in my mind driven choice, so it’s not my fault it turned out the way it did. Ha!….when you write it down, you get to see just how ridiculous it is!! We are one funny species!
To me, the mind does not deserve award of the term genius, for it is but a transmitter and receiver. However, the energy at play behind the scenes is one that is really in control, making moves to keep us from tapping into our untainted and pure wisdom that comes from alignment to the Soul.
What you present here Terri-Anne simply makes so much sense. Surely it’s worth us at the very least, experimenting with this as our way, when we look around and see the exhaustion, illness and disease that has become our ‘everyday’ norm. Like a groove in record, the mind might be an ingrained and repetitive habit for you and me, but with dedication, discipline and and the help of our body, I know our life can play to a different tune.
I love this: why don’t we listen to our body instead of listening to the convincing mind? The mind convinces, which is very imposing. Yet, the body leaves us free. It allows us to choose whatever we want to choose, yet it communicates clearly what it needs / is impulsed to do so. Overwriting feelings doesn’t feel loving at all. Why is it that we just don’t allow ourselves to have and build a loving relationship with ourselves?
I had some day surgery yesterday and have awoken feeling quite tender and it is quite weird to see how much the mind still wants to control the pack, even after surgery. It was supportive to read this blog and return to my body and heed the call to rest deeply.
What is truly interesting and worth studying is the fact that we give so much power to developing intelligence and ‘think’ this is how we are supposed to live. But the reality of the well-being of humanity clearly shows something isn’t working. This blog is the pathway back to true well-being.
Re-connecting to the intelligence of the body is by far a simpler way to live. The truth is the mind brings in the complication and is a 100% decoy of the joy, well-being and harmony that is innately ours.
A really brilliant blog and so relatable to whilst honouring all we feel and not ignoring it .The awareness after events that I knew this or that is showing us to listen to our bodies and the true love and intelligence that comes from this.
Yes, I have found it very useful to remember how my body responded in particular situations and what happened afterwards.
You have nailed it here Terri-Anne! There is an intelligence of the body that we have a tendency to over-ride continuously. What you present here is the possibility that we don’t have to over ride it, that it is ok to listen to the body and its signals and messages, that not only is it ok, but that it is actually our natural way of being, I love those moments when I have listened to my body and heeded its call, and I also appreciate those moments when I have not done so and I am acutely aware of it – I appreciate it because to me it means that at least I am in tune with the body, that I did really know not to do something, and yes there is a sting about this choice, but it is also a confirmation that I know better and hence the opportunity to make a different choice next time around.
If we truly listened to our bodies, and followed its impulses, our mind would be a support – rather than the dictator and executioner it so often is.
The “everything in moderation” excuse is totally a set-up – an arrogance that believes we can keep going with behaviours we know are not great choices for our bodies, and not take responsibility for our health and well-being.The fact is though, we don’t get away with anything – wherever we are, our bodies are with us and so they experience absolutely everything, and they will always expose the truth of our behaviours and show us the truth of our relationship with our body.
How often the ‘everything in moderation’ line is used to justify having or doing something that if done in excess would be very harmful to our body, and it’s our mind that does the justifying. Drinking alcohol is a classic example. I used to drink and used to ‘manage’ the affects of it. I knew how much I could have without feeling dreadful the next day but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t harming my body.
If we followed the body it seems everything could be quite simple. Yet we follow the head and that brings complication in to life.
I agree Nikki – it is amazing how much we can complicate life when we try to think about things rather than going with what the body is saying to do. Its a bit like the body saying im tired have a rest or go to bed and overriding it only then to need a sugar fix or something and feeling worse the next day. Every time we push the body we are asking more of it and somewhere it has to give. Whereas when we just say yes ok bed time we honour it and the rest & rejuvjnation we get is such a different quality.
I’ve recently come to realise how much I base what I do with my body around what the head dictates. My head has decided what it wants to do for the day, week, year and so on and I conform to that and only at times and to a certain degree to I honour my body. I’ve been fixed in the function of life and have made my body go along with that.
A resounding yes Terri-Anne! The awareness our body offers us is off the charts when it comes to smart, yet our mind overrides and discounts it. The more I choose to be aware of this the more humbled I am of the arrogance I have had in this life. The self beat-up process is not too pretty either. So today a fresh opportunity to make the intelligence of the body my first and foremost marker for intelligence.
Sometimes I laugh at what my mind can come up with in terms of trying to discount, ignore and work against my body. I laugh because some of the ideas and thoughts my mind creates can be outrageous, ridicules and ‘off the charts’, and I used to wonder, like… wow, where do these thoughts come from? They are crazy!
Yep, I laugh…then I cry as I find myself indulging them or actually following through and I am left open-mouthed at my own inability to stay aware of the thoughts that come in and the choices that come from those thoughts! Building a body that has been loved, nurtured and cared for has been a turning point to be more aware and that awareness gives me more opportunity to choose differently next time round.
If we all honoured what we felt in our bodies instead of overriding what we feel and relying on what the mind is telling us, humanity would be in a very different state.
Indeed Eva, we would be much more in union with one another as that is the origin of our bodies being connected to that grander whole we are all part of, that grander whole that is in constant communication with the universe and everything, seen and unseen that it contains
One only needs to look at any professional sport and the drive to override the body! What would the world be like without these clashes in our lives?
This makes me remember when I was at school and began to get a picture from what I was learning that your body is a big hunk of flesh and bone and that the squishy thing in your head was the one that really did the thinking. To me this no longer makes sense especially when the hunk of meat and flesh so called seems to know better than what we think in the mind. Perhaps there is more wisdom in our body than we realise?
Ha ha – love how you have put it here Joshua! It is so true, we are taught that the brain holds the intelligence, but as Terri-Anne presents here, behind this apparent great intelligence lies a stronger far grander one which is the intelligence of the body itself – the question is which one will we follow and heed?
Absolutely Henrietta. No matter how super awesome and smart we think the squishy matter is in our head, the fact is it is still one small part of the entire body. And it after all has defined what ‘smart’ means! Surely if you add this squishy organ with the rest of the body the smart factor has got to increase!
Love it Joshua!
The more we surrender the more we are able to feel how our body communicates with us all the time. This blog has come at a great time for me as my body is telling me through aches and pains as an indication of a way I have been choosing to live, so now is a great opportunity for me to let some old ways go and start fresh.
When we realise just how much we use our mind to navigate what to do instead of following what we feel with our body and its intuition, it is then that we see just how much a separated life we are living.
Love it – what you have so clearly broken down and described, is that the body is constantly communicating in situations – tugging on our coat tails or taping us on the shoulder. When we give this communication air time, and actually allow our body the space to be equally as heard as the mind that can often convince us of following a path that leads to harm or discomfort, we might just find that life changes, but for the better, working with the body rather than against it.
When my mind and body are one, it feels amazing. Lost in my thoughts, that inner chatter, there is an avoidance of going to my body to feel the truth of a situation. However I am learning that I cannot escape my body completely and will eventually have to feel the truth my body is presenting, and when I do all that fighting and resistance melts away. It does make me wonder why we fight in the first place when feeling truth from my body has such a healthy track record whereas the mind is a constant failure.
I so agree with you Terri-Anne when you say
“…the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being.”
It is the driving force and I say force because this is what it uses to over ride our bodies and for most of us we go through life totally unaware that this force is there controlling us – we just become the out play of its waywardness through the illness and disease.
How many times have we honestly set out to do things, like go to bed earlier, or study more, or excercise more and then done the opposite? It’s as if there is a part of us resisting being more.
True intelligence is that when we live life from our connection to our bodies, feeling energy first before anything else.
Yes, there are numerous times throughout my life where I just knew something but second guessed or just flat out ignored what I felt to be true. Now I am way more aware but can sometimes miss the not so subtle promptings from my body that need my attention at that time, and my body or the situation lets me know immediately when I choose less for myself.
What I feel happens a lot with food is that we don’t associate the reaction we get with the food we eat. I know for years I drank milk and felt immediately sleepy, and sinus, yet never associated the two. It seems really silly but sometimes the obvious is deeply ignored, and often that is a choice we have made, consciously or otherwise.
“….the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night.” This is so true Terri-Anne, and the crazy thing is that we continue to listen to our mind and ignore the messages that are coming from our bodies. If we were to turn it around and paid attention ot our bodies and not our minds, there would be no end of changes, possibilities and opportunities that await us.
The mind sounds so convincing and powerful when separated from the body, what I am finding is that if I use my body and give voice to those justified ‘reasonable’ or defensive thoughts I get to feel their true quality. Most of the time they are complete rubbish or stem from a hurt being held in my body.
The fact that our body will never tell you a lie makes me consider how much the mind can choose to lie, how I can pretend things are one way when they are another yet in all the situations like this my body is the strongest truth I have. I love how I don’t need to think about the truth as the truth is living in my body if I choose to listen to it then I can not be caught by lies.
life is totally different when we listen to these inner messages. And when we do listen it contributes to our feeling of self-empowerment. All the answers are within us. There is no need to look anywhere else.
The intelligence of the body is very simple and very easy to understand…perhaps because of this simplicity we easily dismiss its communication in favour of the mind, which likes to complicate life.
One of the great things that I have learnt from seeing the body as a marker of truth has been that it has allowed me to discern whether someone is telling the truth or not simply by observing their body and their movements. For example, if their body is not at least looking healthy and vital and their eyes are not sparkling, then I would question whether they actually have a true understanding of health and wellbeing.
Yes, Terri-Anne, our ability to feel everything and sensitively pick up on the energy of everyone’s words and gestures does stand us in good stead to be able to navigate our way through life, and remain connected to what feels true in the body.
I love the way you’ve introduced the word navigation here Janet, that the body we move in is to guide us through life.
I used to convince myself that once I was in bed, I was resting: however what I used to do was be on my phone for an hour before actually going to sleep. My body would then have a disturbed night and I would often wake in the mornings still feeling very tired. I have changed that habit and now don’t use my phone past 8pm. My sleep is more settled and I wake feeling rested. The body does communicate with us all the time, but we often override its messages.
I have been observing the destructiveness of the mind which will have me reach for a food which even a hour earlier registered in my body as being unsuitable, but in that moment of reaching it is as if the memory of the previous experience has been erased and I feel reassured that I will get away with it – how crazy is that.
Thank God for my body! Without it the unloving choices I make could not be registered nor the loving ones felt in confirmation and expansion!
Life would be simple if we listened to and lived from our body. Maybe that’s why we don’t – because we love the indulgence, complication and motion of trying to work things.
I can contend that living from your head is not the answer – I can come up with the excuse I can’t feel – because it keeps me in complication and individuality.
“… or the best excuse/justification of all – “everything in moderation.” A lie I used to frequently tell myself, until someone reminded me that I was worth deeply looking after. Not only did this alter my relationship with my body, it exposed how my levels of ‘moderation’ varied from week to week depending on how exhausted or depressed I was feeling. Learning to respect the messages from my body and make deep shifts in my daily habits has established a quality of health that I never want to disrupt through any ‘moderate’ intake of my previously favoured poisons such as alcohol, caffeine or chocolate, as these substances can never equal the awesome feeling of true health.
I have relied on my mind for making decisions and it has led me down many rabbit holes of complication and confusion. I have been learning that when I connect to my body and surrender to what I feel, the answer is exactly what I need, without knowing what the outcome will be. The body definitely knows best.
Terri-Anne, what you are making clear for me is the choice between listening to the body or to the mind and how the body is always loving and the mind can be harming, what you have shared here is so true; ‘No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time’. I notice this with myself and others all the time, repeating behaviors that clearly do not work, for me overeating, even when there is pain time and again I still overeat, it is great to be clear on why this happens and to realise that the mind will always come up with ways of convincing us to repeat this unloving behaviour, while the body consistently and simply shares the truth of the effects of our choices on us.
I feel everybody does know the body’s intelligence, as we do all have these moments you speak of but for some reason over the ages we have gone more down the route of using the mind and the body takes second place. The intelligence of the mind on its own without the body can only gets so far on our journey back to who we are but the both working in unison will rapidly speed this up.
The Monty Python sketch about the diner that eats everything and just keeps getting bigger till he can’t eat anymore. He is then tempted to have just one small little wafer thin mint and finally subscribes to the offer and explodes. We put things in our body constantly without feeling if we are hungry or if the body requires it but we still just swallow. The mind will win every time we have disconnected from our body… at the expense of our body,
I love this analogy Steve. How ridiculous is it that we abuse ourselves in this way and yet for many, if not most, we keep pushing until we explode!
There is one saying that is used regularly in relation to the body that to me does not make any sense, and that is “everything in moderation”. It has been said to me so many times since I made the choice to take gluten, dairy and sugar out of my long suffering body by those who appear to be uncomfortable at the self loving food choices I have been bringing into my life. My answer usually is – ‘why would I eat something simply to have a 30 second taste sensation in my mouth only to have it followed by several days of feeling decidedly unwell?’ – and I can feel my whole body nod in appreciation.
What I have found out is that my body is so much quicker with a true response than my mind can ever be – providing that I allow myself to be connected with my body otherwise this beautiful response is gone and I have to deal with what my mind assumes to be the best thing to do.
I agree, the only discomfort we can have is the control of our minds.
You are right, we do know when something isn’t right for us and it is a whole-body feeling; the excuses are of course prolific, evermore inventive and topped by “everything in moderation” – I wonder, would we say that about arsenic or snake venom as well?
“The body is the marker of all Truth.” (Serge Benhayon) – learning to live and to deepen living this truth for the past few years has changed my life…every time i am not in harmony, i am not in the truth of my body’s natural stasis, and this leads to its (and my own) disorder and dis-ease.
Our bodies always tell truth – you look at any salesman, it is easy to see if they are genuine or not because any greed will show in their body language. So we can see it in others but we don’t listen to our own – why not? Perhaps because it reflects back areas we have avoided because we know we need to change.
Its showing how we came to trust the mind to lead our lives. While we all know th body knows best, it would change life significantly when we all would live this.
This is really so very true – I can convince myself otherwise but in the end my body will tell me when I have not lived my truth
The number of times I have ‘kicked myself’ for not listening to the wisdom of my body is beyond counting. However in more recent times I am choosing to listen more and each time I do, the confirmation I receive obliterates millions of times I have not. The power of letting our body lead the way is unimaginable.
I would do well to listen a lot more and a lot more intently to what my body is sharing with me moment by moment and then honouring that —- it is time for the path of least resistance!
The sooner we all get back in touch with our whole body intelligence the better it will be for all. The world would change over night, there would be less accidents, way less illness and disease and when we stop hurting ourselves we can then turn round and stop hurting others.
The mind is a genius at justification and not only that there is also the chorus from the minds of others that want to impose their justification to keep themselves from feeling the truth of a certain choice.
What becomes very clear is that we do know but we tend to not listen or give this inner voice lesser attention.
The ‘sting’ of ‘if only I’d listened to myself’ can be very sharp and only get sharper if we continue to ignore our body’s inner knowing.
Yes to all that you have shared Terri-Anne. I can relate to very similar experiences of being led, justified by my mind, and also to now choosing to instead to be guided more and more by the intelligence of my body, and knowing the difference. I have discovered, and am continuing to explore, how much more honouring it is to listen to my body, and can honestly say I am living with a greater sense and knowing of truth, love, well-being and vitality that is becoming more steady by the day. I now understand, as I can feel it is my body, that the mind does not consider the effect on or state of well-being of the body in any way, for it only has eyes for the satisfaction it seeks to attain in that moment. The mind only sees a moment as an opportunity to control, whereas the body sees a moment as the opportunity to surrender to more love and to more truth.
I like this blog Terri Anne, and am amazed at how much my body communicates to me all the time and in a way, I feel bad for how long I have ignored it. What I have noticed too is, the more that I listen and honour what my body is communicating to me, rather than brush it off or ignore it, the better I am able to understand the signals and messages. Like in any relationship, it takes time to get to know how the other operates, and in this case, it has taken me some time to learn how my body communicates as I haven’t been listening to it for years, if ever. Uhm, well maybe I did listen as a child but then when I started to abuse it with alcohol and eating junk food I probably just ignored it.
“What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?”
This is an interesting concept for us to think about. It would involve quite a surrender to the body as the mind always wants to be the ‘top dog’ or ‘the king pin’ and does not like surrendering to the body’s wisdom. It likes being in control, the individual, and doing what it likes. But I know from experience, that when I have tuned into my body, and listened to what it has shared and acted upon it, the results are quite awesome. It is a concept worth exploring and testing out for yourself.
A mind that is in line with the body and what the body is doing is a mind that best serves its true purpose.
It’s a very intriguing science one I’m in deep discovery and investigative of. It is a moment to moment situation allowing what is there to be apart of your natural flow – an acceptance there is more to you always and be caught up in retracing old ways stuff that already has been discovered.
Our bodies most certainly never lie… they reflect back to us constantly the way we are living and treating them. We can override their messages only for so long before our bodies speak more loudly and clearly, and illness and disease arise on our doorstep – something that never comes ‘out of nowhere’ but has been a gradual process over many years of ignoring the messages.
“No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time” I am wondering about this myself at times when I am not honouring my body and keep eating till discomfort as to why I would do it because you know I do know it does causes this discomfort. If we make it just about figuring that out by our minds we never will get there but by connecting more to the body and feeling what is going on at those times and the times before such a moment will explain a lot more.
What you describe Terri-Anne, is the long and arduous journey of clearing from ourselves the well embedded habits from childhood, the influences of birth and upbringing, and the numbing of our “knowing” body because of those influences. Mostly it is about fitting in when we are children and even when we are grown up and aware of what is going on and want to break the habit, we can still try to make old habits of food fit into our new way of life. Yet it becomes the focus and is given too much importance. What other energies do we take in that prevent our intimate relationship with our bodies and so with our food?
Yes, our body is just like a barometer, it signals with all sorts of bodily functions when we have eaten or done something to cause it to react. There comes a time when one just has to stop and surrender to the body and watch its barometer to lead the way.
‘What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?’ – Indeed Terri-Anne, key is to listen to that inner knowing, the very obvious message from our bodies and not fall for the trickery of the mind.
Our bodies are absolutely the one thing for our whole life that is with us with every movement, thought, decision, choice, voicing ect ect the list goes on. Yet as a society our bodies are something we just take it for granted and drag it around really, hoping they will serve us well; then we get shocked when our body screams back to us with an illness or disease – when in fact we have accumulated this slowly over many years of living certain patterns in complete absence and disregard for our bodies or what they communicate to us daily. Listening, being attentive our movements and becoming familiar with what our bodies feel is a medicine that is well serving.
In answer to your last question- yes it would. Our minds can take us off onto any tangent or justification yet our bodies always speak the truth.
I’ve experienced both sides of this – listening to my body and seeing how things have turned out, and not listening to myself and how that has turned out. Turns out my head doesn’t know as much as my body does.
And the amazing gift we are given is that each present an opportunity to learn.
I reckon our bodies are way, way more important than what we give them credit for, what if they are how we know the future? And how we treat them not only determines whether we can see what’s next, but whether we embrace it and what our future will actually look like.
Hear hear Meg
My body told me very clearly yesterday that what I had chosen to put inside it was no longer appropriate. And now I have a choice, respect that very clear message and feel into why I wanted to eat said item in the first place, or override its absolute wisdom and put myself through another day of headaches and sickness in favour of a fleeting pleasure. Our bodies are immensely wise, our true education is in learning how to listen to and respect this wisdom and honour it completely.
And that accepting that fleeting pleasure can only ever be from the mind – the body would never say ‘yes for 2 seconds of pleasureable taste, it is well worth the digestive system, unclarity of mind, nervous system and any other organs affected l to go through a process for hours, maybe days to clear the unsupportive substance or food.’ Only the mind would do this without any consideration for body. Whereas the body considers the all.
As I read your comment I saw the organs having their say… imagine what the lungs would say as we inhale smoke into them, or how the liver may react as we drink alcohol. When we listen to our bodies they do speak very loudly.
The more I live honouring my body’s intelligence so my life increasingly flows with less stress and greater harmony.
“everything in moderation.” is one mighty justification for doing exactly what we know is not good for us, we’re controling and measuring exactly how much it is we can get away with it – without (immediately) copping the full consequences, and convincing ourselves we’re doing OK.
Yes, “everything in moderation” was one I heard many times and have also succumbed to; the mind is great at justifying to do as it pleases, and as you say seeming get away with it. The body is simply honest.
Yes Victoria, I can feel how to use the ‘in moderation’ is neglecting the fact that we either harm or we heal, there is no moderate ground. So ‘in moderation’ is completely exposed for the excuse it is.
What is it about our minds that wants us to suffer because suffer we do, as it seems to over rule the body most of the time? and why do we tend to listen to it rather than our bodies? For most of us I would say our minds are completely out of control and like a spoilt child we let it get away with anything. I have decided I have no discipline when it comes to my mind, I sat down recently to do my expenses which takes a lot of concentration as I was dealing with different currencies and my mind just kept wandering off and I kept bringing it back to the task at hand and off it would go again, it reminded me of when I was at school I disliked being shut in doors so much having to listen to the teacher, I just tuned out and looked out of the window instead or daydreamed, usually about being rescued from the tedium of class.
A fantastic question for us all to consider, Terri-Anne – “What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?” I love the idea of a rudder navigating our next movement based on our connection to what feels true.
I love this analogy too. It speaks volumes for how our body is the true complete guidance we ever need, for the most power part of us us in the body – our inner heart.
It has also been my experience that the ‘messages’ I get from my body and those I get from my mind can often contradict each other. The messages from my mind are not always reliable but my body is very reliable, honest and consistent.
Perhaps whenever we have to convince ourselves or justify something to ourselves it is an indication that we should take another look – or consider what our bodies are ‘saying’. Does the fact that we need to convince or justify reveal a deeper level of awareness in itself?
Good questions – I know that it can sometimes be only as I’m getting into bed when the day hits me. Or if I go on an evening walk and only realise then how I’m feeling. This has helped me to check in more regularly – for example, I love lying in bed in the morning feeling my feet, legs and body. You’re absolutely right, they are indeed ‘gifts’ too often ignored.
So much pain, anger, frustration, dissatisfaction etc could be avoided if we simply chose to listen to what our bodies are telling us.
Yes Sandra – I feel our health care systems world wide would not be under so much strain, pressure and exhaustion if people developed a relationship with their body and took responsibility in feeling their choices.
‘However, the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true.’ Those moments where I resonate most deeply with my body are the ones when I am in appreciation of it and with myself. In appreciation I have the foundation to really listen and celebrate what is being communicated.
It’s awesome to recognise this but even more amazing that you can live this way now – you are a living example of the two ways of life, and sharing this with the world will be a blessing for all.
I find that the more I truly care for my body and build awareness of the way it is the more this feeds back to my mind to be in harmony. I do still get distracting or negative thoughts but they tend to stand out more as imposters and not something to run with – it’s something that I’m continually learning and developing but can say it really does help to tune into and care for our whole body.
Awesome article – I love how you ask questions and consider things from both sides. It’s very relatable and we’ve all been there when we’ve either kicked ourselves for not going with what we’ve felt or felt awesome because we did. I know I have. For me, I’ve been working on trusting that knowingness and not letting my mind come in to question what I feel. I’m definitely not perfect but am making progress on building that trust with my body.
It would be so freeing to live our lives free of the “I knew I shouldn’t have done that” moments… Imagine if before making any choice (without perfection of course) we considered the full outcomes and consequences; how it would affect us, our bodies and everyone around us, and then made whichever decision was going to best support the whole.
There seems to be no end to what the mind can convince us to do, and looking back at some of my past choices, some are quite cringe worthy, abusive and pretty darn reckless. So waking up to this fact is the first step to realising how wayward and destructive the mind can be.
Our heads carry so much ‘fluff!” Constant noise and chatter it can convince us of anything. Yet, listen to the body and it shouts loud and clear what our choices have been and what it needs next.
We can all ‘feel’ food I agree. We can all feel the foods to eat that will dull ( or numb) our awareness so that we do not feel what is there to feel…. and we can all feel the foods that truly nourish our body, but not forgetting to constantly keep feeling and discerning, as what was suitable last week or month, may not be this week. With growing awareness we get to feel which foods we need to let go off to continue evolving.
Due to our habits the body can be configured in a way which does not serve us anymore. When we are addicted to food it can be that the mind and body is tricking us, on the one hand-side with justifications and on the other hand-side with cravings or some sort of hunger feeling. So we have 2 components we need to look at in order to come out of a habit.The false signal the body is sending because of its configuration and the justification and lie the mind is telling us.
Scary thought about the mind and the body working together! In fact, it sounds childish! But, this is a good thing when we look at children, they are in perfect harmony with mind and body. What would a little playtime in our life look/feel like?
One thing I’ve felt about my body recently is how I sometimes prepare and harden myself in order to “protect” from something that I think I will not like or that is out of my hands. I feel a whole tension go through my body, so an instant knowing that something is not right. What I am learning is firstly that my body shows it goes into tension when I react and secondly the ability to have a relationship with myself to start to heal the trigger points, to learn to feel and read and read and read the energy of what is going on. All of this comes from my body.
A great sharing Terri-Anne. In some ways I did listen to my body as in the consumption of alcohol , knowing that I wasn’t going to put my body through being sick or hungover just for a “good night out” and similarly with cigarettes , But there are so many food related warnings that I haven’t heeded! I have much improved with this also but certainly not perfect!
‘everything in moderation’ is a way for doctors to say you shouldn’t be doing this but without the patient feeling attacked or that they have to change their lifestyle too dramatically. For example, a person diagnosed with diabetes, or someone who has had a mild stroke, may be told with regard to drinking alcohol that ‘in moderation’ is OK, but how do you measure that? So many people take their pills and carry on, somehow convincing themselves that they are ‘being careful’ but really, ANY amount of alcohol is contra-indicated, because, basically it is a poison to our bodies regardless of how well or ill we are.
When we have felt the absoluteness of us in our true power and love, it begs the question, why do we abandon ourselves regularly throughout our day? Why do we not want to spend every second in that divine glory? What energy are we accepting that gets us to sell out to our truth?
My body agrees with everything you present Terri-Anne. We live in a way that is just like a ‘master and slave’ with our mind dictating how to step forward. We’ve tried all different flavours of this, but not with the order reversed. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining the dysfunction we see in politics, business, and society. We try to rule with an ‘intelligent’ mind driven first rather than the inner sense of how we all feel.
Approaching life through the discernment of what we feel is the way forth in our evolution as time, again and again, we have come to realize that meeting life through our head is the easiest way to compromise and override our innate nature at our own expense.
I love the concept of our body guiding us through life via the messages it offers us should we choose to listen… gently and sometimes loudly nudging us when we allow ourselves to wander off the path of true health and well being… supporting us to chose to return to honouring ourselves in the way we should. A deeply gorgeous support through life.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” – yes, well sadly it is because of the latter that we have so much ill or disorder going on in ourselves and because of this within our societies too because what we do to ourselves it’s easily done to another…living from a whirring mind full of ideals, over the solidness and steadiness of our body’s natural intuition and truth.
The mind can be arrogant in its overriding because it wants what it wants, yet the body is very loving and continues to share its wisdom regardless. It is wise to serve the master of truth.
What is also amazing is the body’s seemingly endless supply of patience, which we so easily abuse- and then we get upset when that patience can’t handle all that we throw at it!
…and the body without any emotional reaction or fan fare continues to get to work to clear and resurrect itself, it IS amazing, and something I am learning to truly appreciate.
“The body is the marker of all truth”. Serge Benhayon. This is one of my favorite quotes as it exposes how we have been living, and when we are willing to be honest, gives us the signposts of where to start in walking our way back to truth.
This is true Adam, I have heard it referred to as a ‘healing crisis’ where the body feels the falseness of the fuel it has been choosing. Giving up smoking is another example, the body can take some time to adjust physically, yet also the reason why we smoke in attempt to fill the emptiness needs also to be addressed.If not the addition can simply change to another eg food. Reconnecting with the love within and building a relationship with our inner essence fills us from the inside. There are no instant remedies as such it takes every loving step.
‘No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time’ – True Terri-Anne, however this discomfort can become a comfort when we use overeating and disregarding ourselves as an anaesthetic to not feel what’s going on around us and in relationships… Thus in a way we do enjoy this feeling, and continue to choose these behaviours.
A golden choice presents in every moment – choosing the body’s innate knowing over the minds incessant chatter.
This blog just goes to show that we cannot explain human life from the human perspective – It just does not make sense!
Reading this blog is beautifully timed. I recently had something come to me which made my whole body say “YES”, followed quickly by another event which made my body say “NO”. The funny thing was that the second event came with justifications and logic which for a short while made me override what my body was saying to me so clearly. But this time I can feel that I have made the choice to honour the wisdom of my cells.
The array of behavior that we as a society chooses to override what we can feel from our bodies is vast but just how much more the body can tell us than our human mind.
Absolutely the body does not lie …. it is just do we listen to it … and honour what it is saying? Much could be learnt and life would be so much easier if we truly understood this teaching and responded to the body with complete respect .. both ours and others.
How amazing our bodies are that they tell us everything we need to know about how to live. But so often we see them as an inconvenience that get in the way of what we think we want to do. Life is much more worth living if we listen and respond. So much more joy!
It is quite incredible the wisdom of the body and what can unfold when we listen to it.
And how unexpected that wisdom can sometimes be.
And we do know when something is not quite right and make the choice to over-ride it. The power of the mind is so exposed in this and if we are to explore why we go with what the mind imposes then real honesty and reflection is required. It is so great to be increasing our sharing around this and the opportunity to become more transparent in the way we live.
I agree with all you have presented here Terri-Anne. We currently live in a polarised state in the sense that there is a part of us that is solid and true and then there is a part of us that seeks to sabotage this and in terms of the human form, wilfully takes it, our body, on a reckless joyride through life without any true consideration as to the consequences to our health and vitality when we do so. It is time for us to wake up to the fact that we are more than human and that there are in effect two captains we can choose to steer this ship. Our Soul is that part of us that will never lie to us by virtue of the fact that its essence is truth/love and therefore in connection with this we are able to stay on a steady course through the stormy seas of life, and it is our human spirit that has separated from this Oneness (we could say ‘hijacked the human mind’) and wantonly pursued a trajectory of its own, leaving our true self, our body, our innate common sense and ultimate health behind in the process. Mutiny indeed.
Terri-Ann you highlight the importance of the wisdom of the body. What a gift we have when the body lets us know right there and then that something is up. We have a divine form of communication from our bodies and this so worth listening too – and it shows that if we listen to the body we do not need to say ‘I wish I listened’ – we can start to respond and live with our bodies in a way where it starts to be our guide.
It is amazing when we listen to our body and trust what we feel. Our body is certainly very intelligent but our society does not celebrate this. Instead a majority of people think that intelligence comes from our mind. After reading this blog and your comment Jane, it is very clear that our intelligence and wisdom lies in our body.
Brilliant blog Terri-Anne. It is so true what you’ve shared. We tend to use our mind to fight against our body, it feels like a constant battle between our mind and our body. As a result our body and health suffers which may lead to further complications. So, if we listen to our body more and honour the messages we receive it will guide us to self-love, self-nurture and self-care. It would guide us to greater health and greater intelligence. Our body certainly never lies, whereas our mind can trick us in many subtle ways that could be harmful to our body, to our health and even our relationships. Listening to our body support us to connect to truth, to people and to God.
That is true – it is quite an experience for the mind to realise that there is somebody smarter than it around – permanently so.
Our bodies are marvellous and when they do what our mind wants them to do, we ‘think’ our body is this. When our body gives us a loving message such as bloating to let us know that either something we ate or the way or reason we ate it isn’t right for us, we think it is a nuisance and look for ways around it so we can keep having that food, rather than doing an honest appraisal and with this, realise that our body has been giving us this message for a little while in many instances but we haven’t wanted to see this because we ‘love’ that food and don’t want to give it up. And so our minds run the show in instances like this. Imagine if we ran our cars like this, and continued to put the wrong fuel into it – we’d have cars spluttering down the streets and conking out on a regular basis.
There is the gut feeling which seems to be in the body but is actually quite unreliable. Otherwise the body IS the marker of all truth.
Whilst my body always tells the truth, I don’t always want to see it (or feel it) for it is very clear about the choice or choices I have made or continue to make. Ignoring what I am feeling is a choice. But it also highlights the arrogance of the mind, which is deemed to be all intelligence. It’s not that we are not intelligent but given that our body comes a very poor second, I know that I am really asking myself why would I be overriding something that is pointing me in the direction of a more loving way with myself in favour of something that simply makes me feel unwell?
Brilliant blog Terri-Anne. I can relate to all the examples you share here.
Can totally relate Terri-Anne, well said. There are many times I follow my bodily felt impulse and magic has happened, life has flowed and unfolded harmoniously. However there have been many many others when i have over-ridden the impulse with my mind and reaped the consequences. For example, feeling ghastly after eating foods that don’t suit me or finding it difficult to wake up let alone feel refreshed after staying up later than intended working on my computer. I loathe feeling like that yet there are times I still do it. The key I am finding, is to look at ‘why?’. Is it comfort i am seeking with the food, perhaps eating it to not feel the poor choice I made around not going to bed earlier for example? One poor choice engenders another and if we also then engage in the beat up of ourselves for doing these things it becomes a very vicious cycle. Listening to my body over my mind is beginning to win out more and more, it has proven itself time and time again to be a very reliable compass/barometer navigational aid.
As the saying goes, I would love a dollar for every time I have said or heard someone say, “I knew that was going to happen” and yet seldom do we follow that knowing. It’s usually a hindsight to walking down another road that leads us to reflect on a feeling to not walk down there in the first place. I use to work in a job that had people saying this to me regularly, having a feeling on something, dismissing it and then getting themselves into some type of trouble after. I don’t think we are stupid people by any means, quite the contrary but there is something that has us overriding what we know, at times consistently. Could it be as simple as truly connecting deeper and deeper to your body? I mean you take it everywhere, it’s in everything and physically it’s the largest part of you so really it makes sense. Maybe it’s time for us to look back or ponder on how much our body has let us know and from there take more notice when there is a message, whether in the form of pain, fatigue, an ache or just a feeling.
It can be very revealing the intuitiveness that we are offered by our body, often dismissed as coincidence, the knowing moment where we think of a friend and then they message us, that happens too often to dismiss. And if we do dismiss it is us dismissing our very own higher level of intelligence. Now why would we want to do that!
The sting of stubbornly not listening to our bodies is quite a sting, how many times do we have to say – I knew that was going to happen or I knew better – before we listen?
Haha it’s true the mind can take a while to be humbled, when the body can tell us instantly.
Extraordinary Terri-Anne, simply because what you say is so true and I trust the whole world recognizes themselves in this. Hence it is about our whole body intelligence that is smarter than our mind. And so giving credit to our body is worth it, as we are in better hands (so the speak). It is time to no longer neglect what we know is true – that is our key to life.
Would Life not then have a more joyful and harmonious flow and ease to it? Absolutely Terri-Ann, the moment I stop listening to my body there is less space to be felt in my body, my movements change, I get distracted and so on and so on. Learning to listen to my body is still a challenge now and then but my body has never disappointed me, but for sure I have let my body down time after time and a big one in this is food with overeating or eating certain foods because I have heard these were the ones to eat. My body told me as I’ve got very skinny but I just did not listen for quite some time. Now I allow myself to experiment and let my body decide what to eat or not and yes I am allowed to make mistakes.
‘No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time’ – Our mind can relentlessly trick us into believing that we ‘have no choice’ ‘this will be the last time’ ‘I deserve it’ and so on… and we buy into it. Why? Because we are not willing to give up the comfort that keeps us imprisoned.
You have shared such great examples of how we override and push our bodies on daily basis, and then we are shocked to find out that our bodies start to fall apart.
So true Nichole – shocked, indignant and then blame our bodies or something else.
I know for me there has been times in the past and there are still the odd time in the present where the body tells me something I do not want to hear – such as this food is not true for me to eat right now. Yet I have found I would rather go for dishonouring it rather than honouring it when it is telling me the absolute truth anyway. Could it be that we are only capable of this because there are hurts and parts of life we simply don’t want to feel and avoid embracing in full?
“…What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?…” Great question, and certainly the world would be totally different place to live in to how it is at the moment…
It is the configuration that holds on to us and makes the next step a reflection of what we have said yes to. What we choose to configure or say yes to is often the ‘ouch’ moment that we often discover way down the track. The path of return has no perfection but the willingness to work with the imperfections.
“the body deeply resonates with its own knowing, and that knowing later reveals itself to be true”.
From a personal experience, I know this to be true.
I went to park in a preferred place in a shopping centre, which was available, but suddenly there was a sense of knowing to not do so and to park well away from this spot. On my return from the supermarket there was a car on fire right next to the place I was intending to park.
What a great example Stephanie! What use is our 6th sense if we are going to override it? You can read more about our clairsentience here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-clairsentience.html
So many of these experiences happen everyday and I have lost count of the times I wish I had listened to my body instead of allowing my minds chatter tie me in knots – Whole Body Intelligence is a blessing and when we listen to it the magic that happens is beautiful.
I agree, the ability to tune into our body is an awesome ‘rudder’ to use to steer us through life Terri-Anne. We cannot really afford to be tuned out or be looking the in any other direction.
There are times when I ignore my body’s wisdom and times when I pay attention to it. For example, I will always listen when I get an impulse to be somewhere – time and time again that has proven to be life-saving, or a usefully constellated meeting, so that gives me the confidence to know and trust those impulses. When it comes to food, that is a different matter. Strong reactions I can deal with, such as recognising that eating sweet or starchy foods makes me feel depressed, so it’s easy to avoid those, but overeating is not something I have come to measure as yet – I look at my plate and think ‘That looks like rather a lot’ but I don’t take any food off, I just eat it all. And I often nibble when I’m not really hungry, so there’s still room for evolution in my food habits!
Coming to terms with how much we ignore our body is a humbling experience. Beginning to choose again to do so is very powerful in many ways and is also very challenging, especially as we become aware of what we have now created in our lives from ignoring what we felt. Accepting how our mind takes us in the total opposite direction to what we truly want in life is a step towards allowing the inner knowing that comes from our body to again be acknowledged and when we are ready, listened to.
Our body is quite remarkable. It knows exactly what is going on and can guide us through life if only we would let it. Listening to our body’s wisdom ought to be something that we learn from a very young age and then taught in schools.
It is amazing how much our minds can trick us, convincing us of a completely false angle on a story, basically allowing us to see life and our actions within it in any way we want. I know that I have nearly convinced myself that a conversation happened in a totally different way than what it did, or observed others in conversations where you can see that everything they hear is being passed through a filter so that they only get from the conversation what they want – and yet this is all the mind, because in the body it is honest and truthful – we feel how a situation left us, and we feel the tensions, emotions and reactions we may have gone into even if our mind would like to think otherwise.
What a corker of a blog Terri-Anne and I read it right at the right time – thank you.
That ‘sting’ of knowing what was needed, and not following that, is an awesome lesson in trusting ourselves and our body’s wisdom. On the contrary, when I do follow my body’s knowing, I find there is always a reason for doing so – always!
Listening to the body means dropping all control of how we want it to be or think it should be. Any plan that we have we need to be willing to drop or change. Listening to the body means being wiling to be open to witnessing our day unfolding instead of thinking we know ahead of time how it is going to go. When we make a commitment to do this the day can be a beautiful voyage of discovery.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” What if indeed… our lives and the way we all live would be very different – with a harmonious rhythm and flow that was aligned to each other and to the grand plan… it would be a very different world.
There have been times when I have entered into relationships knowing that they did not feel right – but over-rode these feelings in favour of the attraction or the sense of ‘self-worth’ and confirmation having a partner brought. This was not true self-worth or confirmation but more a feeling of acceptance and approval from outside rather than the real thing that comes from within. These relationships did not work well nor end well in general but there was a belief underpinning them that ‘this is what relationships are like’. I have in more recent years experienced what at one time I believed to be rather ‘pie in the sky’ – a relationship that does feel right from day one, where my whole being said yes to it from the start and without reservation. It has proved to be a very loving relationship based on self-love rather than seeking love – and this has made all the difference.
Although in a sense, the phrase “The body never lies to you” can be thought as to be equivalent to “The body is the marker of all Truth” in the grand scheme of things they are not. The body never lies to you describves a movement from the body to the person who lives inside it. The body is the marker of all Truth, is not restricted to such a limited movement. It also has an outward movement that connect us to the universe.
It is true that the body is the marker of truth but before that is energy first, because your body moves with the energy that you have chosen to run it, and if that is not loving we can let ourselves be run in a way that is not truly harmonious.
Our body is always talking to us, the question is do we listen to the messages or, are we so checked out that we cannot hear what it is saying.
“It is the mind that often dismisses (..) moments of awareness without a hesitation.” – so true. Simple example: I go into a shop, see something I feel pulled to, try it on – its great. Do I just buy it? No. I try another 15 similar pieces and come back at the end to what I started with. Or I am so confused now that I don’t buy anything. But my body did know the first time. My mind however gives me thousands arguments pro & contra, what if…, is it…? And I spent a lot of time with this, lost in a world of thinking. To trust in my first feeling is to trust in my body. Therefor I have to care for the relationship and awareness – for me and my body.
As I was reading about the excuses we use for repeating things we know are not good for us, I instantly thought of those hideous hangovers. So often we get the message that alcohol is a poison, but we play around with dosing, so that we only get a mild to moderate dose of poison. This is where having a saying like ‘everything in moderation’ is so harmful as we think its ok to put a poison in our body, so long as its not too much or even not too often.
We are so confirmed when we do listen to our bodies, and the joy that is felt from the harmonious flow between ourselves and others and the magic of what can unfold cannot be denied. So when we do feel this and know it is how it can be, it seems crazy that we would do anything to override what we know, but we still do. I feel inspired to bring this to my full attention today. Thankyou Terri-Anne.
Learning to discern or read the energy behind our thoughts truly is intelligent, it’s something that I’m becoming more aware of – like when I’m focused and working on something and then a thought pops in that makes sense on a certain level but that I can feel is just there to distract me from what I’m doing.
So true Terri-Anne, listening to the body and honouring what it tells us is our navigation back to restoring a natural harmony and flow within ourselves and also with life itself. There has to be the question asked why we choose not to do this when it is all there to be felt and known. Thinking our minds are part of this equation is perhaps our first mistake… if we disregarded what it has to say, and listened to our bodies instead, it would be a whole different way of life.
I have attempted to numb the feelings I have in my body with food and the way I move, the more I have committed to being aware of my body and caring for it the less possible it is is to numb and more simple it is to observe the signs that it shares, it is a process to approach wth understanding.
“the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night.”
I am blown away by this marker in my body of the divide between what my head bullies me into and what my body begs me not to do.
Tuning into the wisdom of our bodies allows us to navigate harmoniously through life so why oh why do I continue to let my mind override what my body is telling me? More and more I am recognising the consequences of each individual choice and that the smart option is to harness the power of the mind to work in tandem with the body but vigilance is needed because my mind still likes to think that it knows better despite lots of evidence that this is not the case!
Thank you for this blog Terri-Anne. ‘No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time..’ If we were to be honest about the discomfort in our bodies and actually voiced this discomfort aloud, sharing it with our families and nominating why this discomfort is there, learning to do this from young – we would learn to listen to our bodies more, rather than override their signals dismissing them as unimportant. Every little discomfort, ache, pain, stomach ache etc., is there showing us that something we have chosen simply doesn’t sit well in the body and is worthy of attention and loving focus.
Thank you Terri-Anne, you have reminded me of all those times when I override the intelligence of my body, and this is a huge ouch, very humbling and beautiful to read.
listening ‘to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind.’ seems very practical, real and full of common sense and yet we override it all the time!
“What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?” In truth we all know it is, but how often are we encouraged to truly adhere to what our bodies tell us. Learning to pay attention, respond without the need to know why, to honour a wisdom far greater than the excuses we invent to ignore it, really is the most awesome navigation tool we can ever have. Forget satellite navigation, our inner compass knows exactly what to do; all we need to do is pay acute attention to it.
Re-establishing connection with and living from the voice of truth from our body is the greatest thing we can do for our self.
The mind is very clever and thinks it knows a lot but I found that when I stay in my mind I start to feel stressed and anxious in time. When I stay with the body there is more stillness and settlement in life. The last one I prefer!
This is very true, Adam. Learning to distinguish the voice of the body from ingrained habit and the voice of the body from true self-love can be difficult and challenging to distinguish yet it is perhaps it is the greatest thing to learn to establish truth, love and joy in one’s life.
Terri-Anne, what you are sharing here is so true from my experience, I feel strongly when it is time to leave somewhere, when something does not feel right, my body often becomes tense, If I override this then things do not work out; my body is very clear and if I do not listen I pay the price and so more and more I am listening. I can feel my head trying to get in the way and talk me out of what I am feeling, but I am listening to these thoughts less and to my body more as this is what is proving to be true.
In our society the mind is championed and the body given little regard. It’s time to reverse this trend. A good place to start would be school where we teach students the value of looking after their bodies and paying attention to the messages always being communicated.
“What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind?” I simply love this as I would then not have the “I knew that was going to happen” moments that occur. For me putting into practice listening to my body has been super supportive and provides a real flow in my day. Which ultimately leads to a bounce in my step!
Our bodies unite us. When we are connected to ourselves we feel what another needs and know what to say or do. I am disconnected from my body I have days and circumstances where I completely miss what was needed and I am left with a feeling of regret.
I like your analogy of our body being a rudder that guides us through life. I have certainly felt the ‘sting’ of realising after the fact that I actually did know what was going to happen but didn’t take action.
The body is so wise it makes complete sense to live in a way that honours the feelings from the body and trust our senses over the thoughts from our mind. What you have written is very inspiring as it shows how enjoyable life can be when we are living from within.
“I knew that was going to happen” this is such a familiar feeling and reveals that the energy passing through us is not constrained by time and that the future is our present.
Terri-Anne that makes complete and utter sense what you say that if we listened to the whole body intelligence and not the justification of the mind we would have a more harmonious and joyful flow with the body.
An inspiring blog Terri-Ann. How true that until we re-connect with our body, we allow our mind to continually override the wisdom of it – like the promise of ‘this will be the last supper eating that food that makes me so uncomfortable’ only to find there can be another ‘last supper’ and another and another…..
“Nonetheless, regardless of our body screaming at us not to go there, we keep going back time and again. No one honestly enjoys the discomfort in their body, but our mind convinces us to go there just one more time”
It is amazing to live life listening to your body and accept its intelligence, but for me it is challenging too as I was brought up learning to rely on my mind so much so, that it kicks in a lot and overrides what my body tells me and sometimes I just don’t trust my body, which is silly really but just shows how much power I still give to my mind.
The old cartoon image of the angel whispering in one ear and the devil in the other ear came to mind of one tempting and the other confirming. Is not far off from the body and mind conflict that seem to be always at war with each other! The outcome and the victor will be the one we support the most!
Haha, I’ve often thought of this. And in the cartoons do they have a conversation with both? We can do it too, it makes it more real and allows us to call out what is not right for us.
It’s crazy how we override what our body is telling us, which it does even quite loudly at times in what will or won’t support us and choose instead to let our mind play games, even though these games can be very deceptive and controlling. Who are we kidding really, we know what is truly caring and nurturing for ourselves and for each other, it’s simply about choosing to be honest with ourselves and take responsibility for our actions and behaviours.
Many times it shows that the mind does not have our own best interests at heart, and in fact works against the body, until that is, we develop a stronger relationship with the messages the body is constantly giving us and feel the value of them.
A super blog to read, as you share exactly what is going on with communication from the mind and the body “…the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect, and yet again the mind will convince us to do it night after night…” This dualism certainly is worthy of a study in human psychology, as it is something that happens to us all, it affects us ALL, and yet, we don’t seem to talk or have conversations about it.
“…….and ignored the justification in your head….” Great observation as if we are able to grasp the energy of our justifications, we cannot be trapped so easily anymore by our mind wanting to control and dominate the intelligence of our body.
I could relate to everything you have shared, I am sure these experiences are something most, if not all, human beings have had. We would have to question if the thoughts coming from the mind aren’t in harmony to the body and are in fact harmful, and to its own vehicle of which it is a part, then the source of energy supplying those thoughts must also be in separation from the body. The body definitely has its own intelligence and it’s very simple, clear and truthful.
When I look back over my life I am sure that I actually knew that “the mind overrides these feelings in your body, while the body suffers from this neglect”, in fact if I am totally honest, there is no doubt. I can remember asking myself over and over again: why do I do this? – why do I eat this – why do I stay up late and feel horrible the next day? Well it has taken a long while and coming to know the wisdom of my body more intimately than I ever have thanks to the life changing presentations of Serge Benhayon to get the answers to these questions. Finally I now honour my body as the wise messenger that it is and by listening to its messages the quality of my health and my well-being have improved beyond anything I ever thought was possible.
‘Body intelligence’ ‘rudder through life’ ‘navigation system’ I love these analogies and truths Terri-Anne. A brilliant blog that I am sure everyone in some way can relate to.
What if we listened to the intelligence of our body rather than the justifications of the mind? And what if we based our entire lives on whole body intelligence, using our mind to respond to and work with the body, not against it? If we did listen to the intelligence of our bodies, there would be much less symptoms of discomfort either minor or severe, and we would be giving ourselves the space to make choices and choose to listen to and honour ourselves because we would feel how lovely it feels to actually spend time with our bodies and the rewards that come from that choice.
The harmony from our body is exploring these messages and conversations from our bodies and working with them not against them to deepen our relationships and bring our full expression to the forefront.
I can really feel the drama my mind sets up and likes to play in by ignoring the body. I have heard and said that the body never lied many times before actually, and what I am feeling is that it was mostly said in the hindsight. If I know that to be true, then the wise thing to do is to make a choice based on that, by listening and paying attention to what the body has got to say.
‘What if the ability to tune into our bodies and intuitively feel what is happening, is our rudder through life?’ I love this idea of being able to steer ourselves through life. We always know what to do we just convince ourselves that we don’t. We let doubt in and wobble us off track and we let old configurations in our bodies have their way, playing out habits and mis-set default positions. It’s like we put our blinkers on so we don’t see what we don’t want to see and justify our actions that we know are neither supportive or loving. We don’t have to though , We can change these ways of being by becoming more and more aware of what is a happening in us, making space for all those feeling that we normally ignore in our desire to have what we want or don’t want. I find that going on the annual retreats of Universal Medicine an awesome way to connect to this inner wisdom, to allow myself to open up to this and change old patterns of behaviour that have been holding me down
There are many dilemmas that occur to us on a regular basis and could it be that not listening to the body is the overriding factor in suicide.
‘However, the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being. What I mean by that is, those thoughts and that voice in our head that convince us that something is “alright” “just fine” or “it’ll be okay”, when you absolutely know that it won’t be.’ Where do the thoughts about suicide come from? For more on suicide go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/men/mens-health/suicide/exploring-suicide-considering-another-way.html
‘“The body never lies to you.” However, the mind is a genius when it comes to justifying our ill behaviours that prevent us from having true health and well-being.’
Terri-Anne, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The body works in concert with the soul and the universal and the divine; the mind, acting in concert with our proud and self-aggrandising spirit, will use every trick in the book to keep itself identified – which usually means going against that which is naturally there to be lived. Ultimately though it is our bodies that will pay the price, and it is only once we have had enough of these destructive ways that we will consider listening to what they tell us. It could take a serious illness – or many lifetimes – to ‘get it’, but get it we eventually will.
I never used to realise the messages from the body were so powerful in my youth,Terri-Anne and overrode them with my thoughts, thinking I was much more clever in the mind. I do know when I have been tricked by my thoughts in the past though, and got into some sticky situations following my head. The more I listen to my body, the more clarity I feel making, often not knowing why i am choosing that path at the time.
“…often not knowing why i am choosing that path at the time.”
That is the challenging part, the mind wants to know, wants to calibrate, wants to be save but listening to the body requires us to let go of the control and surrender to the bodies wisdom and the divine intelligence of its particles.
You have beautifully summed up what it is like , a daily battle between the body and the mind, and when we don’t honour what our whole body is asking for it always ends up in contraction, a dis-ease. Our body is also a part of a super firm of intelligence, how did the person end up messaging is when we were thinking about messaging them? Superb
Just last night I found myself scoffing down a couple of extra mouthfuls of food while I was putting the leftovers away – and I knew I certainly didn’t need any more food! It was like an automatic pilot – a very sneaky command totally unrelated to my body’s precious intelligence that was saying – yeah! Go for it – why not?
That’s the wayward attitude that causes no less than the suffering humanity finds itself in today, with rising rates of illness and disease and stress levels to name just a few examples.
The question is what voice do we say yes to? The steady voice of our body that knows and is always with us, or that sneaky voice that will whisper to you that you can do whatever you like? The first voice will take you to a harmony with yourself that is so exquisite and natural, the latter will take you on the rollercoaster of emotional life with all the woes we are do familiar with today.
It is a sore lesson when everything is easily known and we choose to ignore our most basic of senses.
Beautifully shared Terri-Anne, ignoring the body’s signals is what society has set up for us to align with others, so it seems normal. The simple focus of ‘what is my body telling me ?’ should be our every moment of every day and then we will feel true wisdom and power.
Having lived in my head for much of my life coming to experience what my body had most probably been messaging me all my life was a huge wake-up call. It feels all too easy to ignore my body when my mind – spirit – offers temptingly to ignore my body wisdom. Rather than using discipline to say no to those tempting offers I now ask myself if it is loving to go with my mind rather than honouring my body. This feels a more loving way to enable me to stay with what my body particles needs.
Beautifully said, Sue. The pesky spirit will always offer us what is seemingly a better choice, the one that tempts us the most. I think it’s a great way of going about it, asking yourself what feels right.
The question then arrises – How intelligent are we really that we ignore all these clear messages and reflections?
Your blog has come at the right time Terri-Anne, reminding me that Yes, the body never tells a lie, it is our mind which continuously overrides our inner knowing and body symptoms. My justification or excuse with certain foods is “just one more time” before I give it up to make sure that I’m not just following a rule.