Listen To Your Body And Learn From What It Tells You by Julia Armstrong

Your body holds all the wisdom you will ever need. Listen to its messages and you will be free to be you.

Start by listening very carefully, listen to what your body tells you. Is it tired or hungry? Does it hurt? Is there any tension? Listen to your thoughts and the words that you speak. You are made up of your beliefs and your thoughts and how you feel is dependent on them - if you are feeling bad or low or unhappy then take some time to question what you are thinking.

Change the way that you think and you will feel different. Nothing stays the same, everything is in constant motion, and in knowing this you can start to take control of your life by becoming aware of the feelings inside your body. Be conscious of the movement within as you adjust to the events and people around you. Any reaction starts at a physical level, as the primitive brain reacts when it feels a change in the body. Get in touch with where you feel your reactions and you have taken the first step to real health.

You can limit or expand your world by what you think, what you say and what you believe about yourself, about others and about life in all its multifaceted wonder. The way you react to feelings and reactions in the body affects the choices you make concerning looking after yourself and caring for yourself. Your ability to tune in to your own wisdom within affects how you organise your life – what job you do, your social life, how you exercise. It influences what choices you make when you eat and drink.

All of this springs from who you think you are and the influences that you have embraced and taken on as your truth. But listen closely and you will be able to tell whether these beliefs resonate with the core you – the part that knows who you really are.

Your emotional state is reflected in your body. This also arises from the way you think and the meaning that you have attached to events and situations – to conversations and your role in various relationships. Some of this will be stored in your body and if there is a history of pain and disappointment, regret, guilt, anger and more – then this will need to be understood and released to prevent it shaping your future in all its aspects adversely.

We have all set up many patterns of behaving and thinking and responding – some that support us, some that hinder and limit us. Notice your reactions and know that you always have a space before you respond, a space in which you have the power to change your future and rewrite your past through resisting habitual patterns.

If you want to learn how to express yourself in the clearest, healthiest form, the first step is to start to listen and to become conscious of what is going on within you as well as around you. For within that first step lies the answer. Self-expression comes from self-knowledge, self-acceptance and love.

Copyright 2008 Julia Armstrong has worked with people for over thirty years as a life coach and therapist. Her skills lie specifically in enabling people to have healthy and happy relationships with themselves and others. She is an Educator for the Imago model of relationship therapy, which is a powerful tool in enabling people to really listen to one another and validate and value their differences. Julia's work leads others towards real connection, healing and personal growth, allowing relationship to become a place to experience living with more joy and creativity. To learn more visit www.juliaarmstrong.com