How We Meet Ourselves Matters

I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship we have with our bodies and how much our mindset can influence the way we move through healing.

My own body didn’t really begin to heal and realign until I stopped blaming everything outside of myself and started looking inward. That doesn’t mean everything that happens to us is our fault, or that we can simply think our way out of pain or difficulty. There are so many things that are outside of our control.

But there is a part of healing that belongs to us.

Healing is not passive. It is an ongoing relationship between you and your body, and the way you meet yourself within that relationship matters.

There is a big difference between meeting your body with frustration and meeting it with curiosity. When something hurts, feels tight, or doesn’t feel the way we want it to, our first thought can easily be, “Why is my body doing this to me?” But what happens when we pause and ask, “What is my body showing me?”

That doesn’t mean there is always a deeper meaning behind every sensation. Sometimes your body is simply tired, needs movement, needs rest, or needs support. But asking the question creates an opportunity to listen instead of immediately fighting against what we are experiencing.

I see this in my work with clients as well. When someone comes into a session expecting their body to work against them, there can be a lot of resistance. But when they can approach the session with the mindset of, “I’m here to support my body,” there can be a different quality to the experience.

The language we use with ourselves matters too. We can become so used to saying things like, “My body is a mess,” “I’m terrible at taking care of myself,” or “I should be doing more,” that we don’t even notice how harsh we have become toward ourselves.

I don’t think changing this means forcing ourselves into constant positivity. Sometimes it can be as simple as choosing language that feels a little more supportive and true.

Instead of “I’m failing,” maybe it becomes “I’m learning.”

Instead of “I should be doing more,” maybe “I’m noticing what I need.”

Even small changes like these can create a little more space between us and the story we are telling ourselves.

And awareness is where that change begins. You can’t change what you can’t hear.

So maybe take a moment to notice the way you speak about yourself and your body. Is there something you say often that you would like to soften? What might it sound like if you spoke to yourself with the same compassion you would offer someone you love?

You don’t have to change everything at once. Sometimes noticing is enough of a beginning.