It can be so damn hard to stop.
Stop working so hard, so much, stop rushing, stop being obsessed with our “to do” lists and what we still haven’t accomplished, running around with kids, friends, family, “obligations”and other things in our lives that just have us going at full speed ahead, non-stop, wishing there was more time in the day.
When we get caught up in… or more likely when we’ve never been taught to live our lives any other way than the “go, go, go” mentality, we’ll often completely forget about taking care of ourselves… or it will be bare minimum at best. This is usually when those annoying little symptoms start to rear their ugly heads. Headaches, insomnia, indigestion, aches, pains, anxiety… Symptoms will of course show up differently for all of us, but why?! “Why, why, why won’t our bodies & minds just behave??”, we’ll ask ourselves in frustration. “It’s because I’m getting old! I could do whatever I wanted in my 20’s & 30’s. Everyone’s been telling me that this would happen and how much aging sucks.”
No. No, no, NO.
Our bodies are miraculous machines! Do you know that cholesterol is the body’s response to weak arteries and it’s trying to build up the weak relaxed walls of to keep them stronger for blood flow? Do you know that inflammation is the body’s way of “attacking” a situation that needs immediate attention and healing? Do you know that acid relfux/ GERD is just another way the body is trying to expel the excess stomach acid and food from the body because it’s not serving your system to maintain optimal balance?
The body is so brilliant that it does whatever it possibly can to handle whatever situation comes it’s way- with what it “has” to work with- until it can’t. Often when the body struggles, another larger, more unpleasant “symptom” comes up. Perhaps one that we can’t as easily ignore. But what are our bodies really doing when imbalances arise? It’s waving it’s metaphorical hands and saying “Hello brain! We need some help in here! We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got, but DAMN could you give us a little more to work with here?”
More simply your body is telling you to wake the hell up and start practicing those fundamentals of self care: drink water, eat whole foods, sleep well, breathe well, move your body & most importantly PLAY. Yes, play is an important act of health.
When we get wrapped up in “I used to be able to do this when I was younger.” frame of mind, we aren’t wrong. The truth is that your body & it’s resources only can go so far, for so long until it runs out. Meaning if you don’t give your body what it needs to continue to thrive like a 20 year old (see list of self -care items above– and yes it can be that simple of a list) then it will begin to inevitably fail.
Another aspect of the message “Stop!” is accidents.
Car accidents, stubbed toes, breaking/dropping things, tripping, burning food or leaving a empty pan on a hot burner, banging your funny bone… all of the above- accidents arise when our Mars energy is out of whack and is in overdrive. Mars rules self confidence, our inner warrior, drive, focus, follow through, creative spark… But it also rules, aggression, war, overachieving attitude, fire and with that burn out. When we have too much Mars ruling our lives we will attract accidents for that extra reminder to “Take a seat”. And if we don’t take a seat, Mars will find a way to force us to.
Don’t forget that we’re also in the thick of Summer/Pitta season which is also the Mars ruled dosha which harnesses those same aggressive fiery forces. It’s a double whammy.
So, what’s the lesson here?
STOP. Listen and do what you have to do to take care of yourself. No one can do it for you, and you CAN’T pour from an empty cup. No time? Time to make some. You deserve to be a top priority. xoA