.
My Body, My Soul
On July 1 I learned that I have breast cancer. (You can read more about this at www.YourIntuitiveLife.com/blog.php or watch for my Breast Cancer blog at www.PinkMagazine.com blogging section.) In the last few weeks I’ve learned a tremendous amount about myself, my life, the disease and the body. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the mind-soul-body connection. Dealing with this life threatening illness has taught me a great deal more. I would like to share what I’ve learned about the body and soul connection.
I have been what some would call a “health nut” for most of my life. I’ve avoided chemicals in all forms, am vegetarian, take vitamins, exercise intensely and often, meditate, do healings on myself. I was very shocked to learn that my body developed this illness. At first I felt like a failure. I also felt betrayed by my body. I have since come to understand more about the body and how some disease happens, and I am grateful that I’ve taken such good care of it, so it can heal.
Power Truth #10 in my book, Unlimited Life says, “I am not my body. I am a unique, essential being living inside my body.” I learned this while doing yoga 35 years ago. I have since learned to identify with the “real” me that is separate from my mind and body. It is essentially aware and in touch with another level of information than the mind normally misses. I’ve taken care of my body, but thought of it merely as a vehicle for my soul.
Now I understand that body is a being in its own right. The body has been in existence for millions of years – an animal evolving over time, with eons of experiences and information. The Eastern philosophers speak of the body as a temple. This is true. It is a valuable dwelling place for us as we experience life. In fact, we can’t experience life in a full sense without it. However, the body is more than a temple, it is a living, breathing temple that has it’s own awareness. The body has fears, needs, personality, understanding, instincts, knowledge, pain and joy. It also has an incredible ability to heal itself. (those who get squeamish might want to skip to the next paragraph.) I remember watching C-sections when I was a Nurse-Midwife. The body was cut open, the baby was taken out, the uterus was pulled out and placed on the abdomen, sewed up and put back in. The next day I’d see these women walking around the halls of the hospital smiling and unaware of the trauma that the body had faced. They healed, they had more babies, life went on. I know of no other entity that can heal as well as the body.
The body is an amazing being. It learns and adapts daily, and we are unaware of it. Several years ago I was running in the woods in Fall. My foot landed in a hole that was covered with leaves and twisted badly. I heard the tendon snap over the ankle – not torn, but OUCH. It healed over time and I continued to run. Last summer I wasn’t paying attention while I ran, and my foot hit the edge of a hole. It didn’t twist, though. This time it stabilized. My body had learned how to keep the foot flat and navigate over the hole, without my thinking about it.
Another time I was skiing on a beautiful day with perfect weather and snow. It felt like I was floating down a heavily powdered slope and I heard a noise. I realized that the “noise” was my body laughing. I, as spirit, was not laughing. My mind was not thinking. My body was experiencing its joy in an entirely different way than I was as a spirit being.
The body has its own issues. It has its own history. It’s had its own experiences in this life that it’s adjusted to. It has heredity to deal with. This means that there are familial and genetic tendencies in the body that define it. It faces new challenges with pollution and chemicals that are around and in it, and it has to adapt to these. The body has to work through all of these issues. We are each a guest of an entity is growing and evolving. It comes into this world with these issues and we as beings in the body can help it along. But, there are some things that will be unavoidable.
I find that to help the body, it’s important to realize that it is a living being with needs of its own. We tend to put so much trash into our bodies. We know to put the right type of gasoline in our vehicles. We don’t put metal in the garbage disposal. We don’t feed our cats eggplant, or water our plants with lemon juice. Yet, we eat things that the body is not equipped to handle. We have even developed pills to take so that we don’t feel sick to our stomachs when we eat foods that the body doesn’t want or need and obviously can’t handle. It’s an overlooked truth: If we feed our body chemicals and foods that cause imbalance, it will eventually break down. If we feed it too much sugar or fat our body will get sluggish. The brain is influenced by the health of the body. If it runs on the wrong fuel the thinking will be askew. The emotions will be off kilter. It’s inevitable that this will happen. I’m even more aware of this as I continue on my cancer journey.
My body has been a real hero these last few weeks. I do my best to help it along. I realized that my body has been fighting this disease from months to years, and never complained. The only thing I noticed was that I slept 8 hours a night (a lot for me) and I had less stamina and endurance when I ran. I am happy that I’ve taken care of it so that it can now fight, but it obviously has its lessons to learn.
I’m learning a lot from my body. It takes things in stride and does what it needs to do. It lives in present time and deals with whatever is happening in the moment. The body doesn’t complain, but it does get weary and frustrated. It wants me to pay attention to it and give it what it needs. I try to tune into what the body wants to eat, not what my mind wants or thinks it should have. I’ve had this tremendous craving for Mediterranean food and never tire of it. I try not to stuff myself, though, as my body gets tired when I overeat. I try not to tire it. I still exercise, but avoid pushing it to fatigue. Meditation helps to relieve stress, as I see that stress is very difficult for the body to handle in large doses. I‘m doing my best to sleep and rest when the body needs it, instead of supercharging it with coffee and power drinks. I exercise when I can, rest when I’m tired. Sleep has been difficult, but I’m working on that.
I’m learning a lot on this new phase of my journey. I’m making friends
with my body on a whole new level. It’s not an organic machine.
It’s an amazing, living being that I have the honor of inhabiting.
Loving, appreciating, and taking care of my body – supporting
it as best as I can – has now become not only an essential, but a soulful
experience.
If you'd like to connect body and soul, contact me at debhill@yourintuitivelife.com.
A
FREE newsletter with an article is sent out monthly. It is my way of
sharing concepts with you, to show you the depth of thinking that can
be uncovered in the coaching sessions, trainings or speeches that I
offer. My intention is to help you to live a richer, fuller and more
attuned life – on your path and doing what you love.
To receive the monthly newsletter, with articles
and information. Fill out the box below and you'll be
added to the list. You, of course, can
always unsubscibe via the link at the bottom of each newsletter, if you like.