What Our Bodies Tell Us 

“All of our systems have our well-being at heart,” so says Gayatri Devi, M.D. author of A Calm Brain. I believe her because when one of my systems feels as though it is working against me, cacophony occurs. But when all my systems are in wonderful working order, I experience an interior and exterior harmony of my body. 

Our bodies are composed of eleven systems designed to work harmoniously with each other. Some of my body’s components are easier for me to be aware of than others. The skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urinary, reproductive and integumentary (skin, hair and nails) are more obvious to me. I actually experience my bones, muscles, circulation, breath, intake of food and water and its outtake, my history of birthing children and skin care kinesthetically.

On the other hand, my nervous, endocrine, and lymphatic systems are a little more nebulous because my hormones, immunities, and neurons seem to work behind the scenes, so to speak. Though just as important as all the other systems, I do not always see or experience them working in a kinesthetic way on a regular basis.   

Our body’s structure is not as complicated as a car which has up to fifteen applications working together. But neither is our body as simple as a bicycle which only has three main systems. 

Though we may not thoroughly understand the system of our automobiles, we are cognizant when something goes wrong with it. Some things are much more obvious than others such as when our car won’t start. But really, who besides a mechanic pays much attention to a car’s air filter? 

Seemingly so, when we break a bone, sting when we pee or experience a heart attack, the pain and distress prompt us to immediately care about and for our malfunction. But what about the subtle, little, seemingly minor yet consistent dissonance that arises in our thoughts and emotions? We begin to sense a disharmony between what we value and what we are doing, but it is easier to ignore this discordance more so than when we fracture a bone. 

We ignore the subtleties and start overeating for comfort, drinking too much alcohol to numb our brain or work too much so as to ignore ourselves. Eventually though, our dissonance catches up with us and begins causing us actual physically felt symptoms such as weight gain, hangovers, and exhaustion.

Knowing that all of our systems have our well-being at heart, we too can have their well-being at heart: eating a diet that doesn’t make us feel sick, exercising within our limits,  getting peaceful sleep, and not taking on more responsibilities than we know we should.  

Why Bother?

Why bother paying attention to what our bodies are telling us? When any one of our systems is out of sorts, it has a way of telling us. We may need a little help from a friend, counselor or physician, but when we take the time to listen and respond, then we can find our way back to bodily harmony.

P.S.  I wrote the story of my journey to forgiveness for those who, like me, know they need to change, but are not quite sure where to start. You can find A Heart’s Journey To Forgiveness at Redemption Press and Amazon.