There are so many bits and pieces of information, sometimes conflicting, about how to achieve balance and wellness both mentally and physically. It can be incredibly confusing and overwhelming to look at because there is SO MUCH that will never work for, or apply to you! Sifting through all these different ways of life to extract the tidbits which most resonate in your own life, although daunting at times, has been one of the most pleasurably fulfilling pursuits I’ve undertaken. Possibly because I tend to focus much more on the smaller details of each thing I encounter in life, it is often hard for me to see the overarching story-lines and do the things that are fulfilling in the longer term.
I think we each set out with programming on the most basic level to seek out the stimuli which provides us with the most pleasantly fulfilling brain-made chemicals. On the most basic level of understanding, we are dosing ourselves with our own body-made version of certain of the chemicals we could ingest through the creations of big-pharma. Our bodies write their own prescriptions based on the information they receive through our senses every second of every day. If the situation we are in causes little to no fear, our bodies release tons of chemical “drugs” into our systems, telling our bodies it’s time to rev up digestion and immune responses for repairing and cleaning our own cells and the spaces between them. If we happen to be faced with something unknown, and there was something in our past which may have caused us to be afraid in a similar situation, then the prescriptions our bodies write will be for ‘drugs’ which pump more blood to our muscles and sharpen our senses so we may best react to this possible chaos of the unknown.
If you’re paying enough attention…which is harder to do than one would think it should be…then it is incredibly clear which bits of self help to apply to your own life. The key is to listen to your fear and be incredibly honest with what you can and can’t do. It’s entirely possible to let your fear be the only thing you’re aware of…but if you try, and you practice, you’ll eventually be able to feel clearly which activities are creating health and unity in your body, and which are creating discord.
I’ve found that creating as many opportunities for beautiful moments as possible, has been the most successful tact I’ve found in my pursuit to create more balance and harmony in my body and mind. This has led me to the incredibly fulfilling pursuits of creating with my hands, as in spinning yarn, drawing, weaving and craft. It has filled my home with animals and plants that bring me many small moments of pure joy every single day. It has led me down the path of searching for a vocation rather than a career. It has led me to start caring more about how I eat and how I move my body…to savouring each sensation as fully as possible, whenever possible. Now, I am finding I am excitedly seeking opportunities to add to the pile of good things in my life, a little more often than concentrating on the pile of bad. It’s never perfect, and as a perfectionist…that’s hard. At some point you just realize that the steep climb upwards, however agonizing at times, is still the better option than a slow descent into a self-imposed hell.