Your Body is Your Greatest Ally

What would it feel like to trust your body?

I know you trust yourself. You have already proven how you can overcome challenges, come up with creative ideas, and have the stamina to stay cool under stress. 

But do you trust your body?  

I remember the exact moment that I began to trust completely. I was 21 and backpacking in Costa Rica for three months. Staring out over a massive valley in Rosario, Costa Rica, it hit me that there was so little I actually needed to survive. Food. A place to sleep. That was about it. 

I knew I had all the resources I needed to go anywhere, and do absolutely anything, already within me. I knew I could survive anywhere. That I could find a solution to any problem. 

And I made a decision that I would never live in fear of anything, ever again. 

The price of freedom from fear is personal responsibility. For all actions and outcomes, for all decisions and choices. It is a refusal to surrender power to anyone or anything, but instead owning our power to do and create the outcome we desire. 

It’s a deep, deep trust. Trust in ourselves, our abilities, and our bodies.

While we may develop a trust in our abilities as we begin to experiment with freedom and personal responsibility...it is much more challenging to trust our bodies.

We are trained from the beginning to fear the body we inhabit. To believe that it may turn on us, attack us, take us down, and eventually we will lose all control over our own body. 

Many times we look at our body with fear….or even hate. 

Here’s the truth. The training we received was faulty.

Just as the training that said going to school and getting a degree was the only path to a secure future. 

Just as the training we received that building a career around a passion was a waste of time. 

Just as the training we received that we don’t deserve freedom when everyone else has to suck it up and get a job. 

Lies, lies, lies.

Training that our bodies are capable of turning on us, that they are out of our control, that we cannot save ourselves from disease, that our body is faulty….it’s a big damn lie. 

Here’s a new question to ask daily; 

How is my body supporting me right now?

Here’s what I know to be true. And here’s what I see every day in the lives of my clients.

Our body is working every moment of our lifetime, to support our survival. To support waking up feeling wonderful. Supporting our joy. Working on our behalf to propel our vision and purpose forward. Helping us fulfill our mission. 

Our responsibility is giving it the tools it needs to do this successfully.

Make your body your ally. It is the most powerful tool, the most magnificent gift, that we are given in this life. 

It can survive and thrive so much longer when it is freed from fear, when it is given the fuel and care and attention it deserves. When it is permitted to operate with purpose. 

It is your greatest asset. 

Examine your beliefs. How do you talk about your body? How do you describe aging? How do you talk about your health challenges? 

Do you make your body out to be a threat and a traitor? 

Or do you look for the opportunity to take personal responsibility and give your body what it needs? 

Rest, quality food, care, mindfulness, and kindness? 

When your body is your ally,  it will take you further than you ever thought possible. Your power to heal, recover, and create is unlimited.

Beyond skill, beyond wisdom, beyond willpower, it is your body that will determine how far you go.