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We all know how good it feels to connect with an old friend, someone we haven't been in touch with for a while. It feels good to listen to what they have to say and catch up on how they are doing. The experience of reconnecting can remind us of how very important they have been to us.
Now imagine that the old friend we connect with is not another person, but our bodies. That's right, what if it has been a long time since we have really touched base with our physical well-being and listened closely to what our bodies are telling us?
With today's column, we have started a series entitled "Let Your Life Speak." A theme that will run through each of the columns in this series, and the Wellness Compass podcast episodes that accompany this column, is that our lives are always speaking to us in one way to another. The question is, “Are we curious enough to listen?”
People sometimes ask what we mean when we say that we focus on "whole-person" wellness. Our short answer is that all areas of our well-being are interconnected, like objects hanging from a mobile attached to the ceiling. Move one dangling part, and you will create movement in the other objects as well. All parts of the mobile, like all parts of our well-being, are interconnected.
This is why experts report that two-thirds of visits to a medical professional are stress related. In other words, while these visits are intended to address a physical health concern, the origin of the symptoms is often stress or being out of balance in a dimension other than the physical area of our well-being.
Knowing that stress, anxiety, and grief may first express themselves as physical symptoms is helpful in understanding and helping ourselves heal. For example, if a person is having difficulty sleeping because of something stressful they are experiencing, simply treating the sleep symptom would miss the opportunity to address the underlying issue causing the distress.
It is also true that being proactive about caring for our physical wellness can have a positive preventative impact on our emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being as well. This is the premise of a recent New York Times guest article, "Whatever the Problem, It's Probably Solved by Walking."
The article begins:
"Walking is the worst-kept secret I know. Its rewards hide under every step. Perhaps because we take walking so much for granted, many of us often ignore its ample gifts. In truth, I doubt I would walk often or very far if its sole benefit was physical, despite the abundant proof of its value in that regard.
There's something else at play in walking that interests me more. And with the arrival of spring, attention must be paid."
You can find the whole article HERE.
If we are fortunate, we can say we have more than one friend, yet we each only have one body. Perhaps it's time to reconnect with your "old friend,” go for a walk, and listen closely to what it is saying to you now.
Making It Personal:
1. What are a few things your “old friend,” your body, is telling you now?
2. Have you thought about looking at your health from a holistic vantage point before now? What could it mean to you and your life?
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Holly Hughes Stoner, LMFT and Scott Stoner, LMFT, are both licensed marriage and family therapists who are partners in life and in work. They are the Co-Directors and Co-Creators of the Wellness Compass Initiative, a non-profit initiative that crates preventative wellness materials for adults, families, and teens. They live in Madison, Wisconsin and are the parents of three adult children and are blessed with two grandchildren, as well.