There is one often overlooked thing that’s essential to your vitality, beauty and confidence. But the fast pace of life makes it more challenging than ever to be present with it.

Most of us are actually living a short distance away from our bodies, not fully feeling or sensing ourselves, or even the world around us. We’ve been taught to treat our bodies like machines, as if they’re meant only to push through and get things done at all costs. We’ve learned that if we want to keep up with our demanding lives, we just can’t be inconvenienced by the body’s needs or cries for rest, hydration, pleasure, and deep nourishment.

As a result, we’ve moved away from one of the most important and powerful things we have available to us in any given moment – the wisdom of our bodies.

Our bodies carry incredible wisdom inside of them. The body is constantly communicating to us through sensation, and more importantly, it is incapable of lying to you. Our bodies are our most trusted and steadfast allies. They will do anything and everything to keep us because our bodies want us to thrive.

But this was never meant to be a one-way relationship. In order for our bodies to do their job to the best of their ability, we have to re-learn how to listen to what our bodies are saying, and how to best meet their needs

This means we have to learn that it’s okay to slow down and listen.
We have to learn to befriend and trust our bodies.
We have to have faith that the body knows, often better than our brains do.
We have to presume that if we follow the body’s lead, it will guide us to where we are meant to be – even if that looks different than what we thought it would.
We have to trust that when we honor the requests of our bodies, before they become desperate cries and shouts, that we are honoring ourselves in both the short and long run – which will pay dividends in our future that are priceless.

It’s far easier to promote the vitality and happiness of our bodies now than it is to repair damage and disarray in the future. But because the consequences of ignoring and dishonoring our bodies aren’t immediate, it can be easy to think they’re not important, or that gradual decline and impairment aren’t happening to us either.

But the truth is that how we live today will impact how your body looks and feels in the future. We can’t necessarily predict what that will look like, or when those effects will be seen and felt. But I can say, with confidence, that you are investing – one way or another – in your future now.

Listening to and honoring our bodies is a lot like accessing a goldmine of wisdom. It can help us make decisions that are truly in our best interest.

“How does it feel in my body when I think about taking that 70-hour-a-week job? Or getting back together with my ex?”

It can assist us in discerning the truth about something.

“I don’t know what it is, but something just feels ‘off’ about hiring that baby/pet sitter.”

It can enhance the quick certainty of our minds by offering a different perspective and wisdom that our rational, linear thinking brains can’t access.

“It sounds like an amazing opportunity, but whenever I really feel into it, I feel exhausted/nauseous/overwhelmed/angry/etc.”

Tuning into the wisdom of our bodies can help us stay vibrant and healthy in a way that our minds might otherwise override or not allow.

“Even though I’m vegan, I can’t stop thinking about eating that organic chicken breast!”

When we make the wisdom of our bodies an integral part of how we figure out how to best nourish ourselves – in every area of our lives – we start living more deliberately and powerfully, as if we have super powers that help us determine what’s best for us.

We want our minds to be a part of how we make decisions. But our big, beautiful brains can dominate any and every conversation (with ourselves or others). Handing over 100% of our decisions and discernments to our minds leaves out the vital intelligence and wisdom we need to be able to navigate today’s world in a self-honoring way.

I’ll leave you here with a quote from one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver:

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

Because what your body loves is wisdom, too.

With love and Transcendent Health,
Alicia