My Body Speaks ‘Overwhelm’

Does your body speak to you? Does it know the adjectives for ‘discomfort,’ the past tense for ‘burden,’ the comparative for ‘rut’, or the dangling modifier for ‘in-over- my-head?’ Does it speak to you in a language of aches, pains and itches?

My body knows the language of overwhelm inside and out, after years of being tested time and again. It’s developed its own subtle dialect, telling me exactly (yet indirectly) what is going on in my life. With a bevy of sound effects – the ones my body creates and the ones I verbally release – we communicate back and forth, as if in conversation. With each creak, crack and pop, my outer life is expressed through my body.

Lately my body is giving me a ‘blow-me-over’ message. It’s this cheeky nudge of ‘haven’t you learned this by now’…‘we’ve been here before’…‘what are you doing, again?’ Yup, you’d think I’d learn by now to listen to my body, and for the most part I do. However, it’s a crazy lingo it speaks.

Like for some reason, when my right knee hurts, it means my mid-back is twisted out of alignment. When my fingers ache, it’s not all the typing I do – that would be too obvious! Instead, it’s a weather change coming. Such barometric shifts used to be marked by a headache, so I am relieved in a strange way to replace them with crinkling fingers. Then, there’s heavy sinuses signifying stress on the rise. To which I bring out my neti pot to wash away niggles of stress. There’s waking up in the morning with nausea to let me know caution is needed that day – my very own lighthouse beacon!

But then there are times my body sings with messages of joy, validating all I am and all I do. My favourite moment is when my stomach gurgles when I get an accurate ‘right-on-the-spot’ intuitive hit with a client. It lights me up, showing me the way! For these moments alone, I bear the translations of my body language when it’s in overwhelm.

So, this week with my right knee squeaking, and my neck crackling whenever I turn my head to the left, do you think I’m feeling overwhelmed? Oh, yes. Thanks to my early detection and communication system – my body – I can now step into action to do some well-needed self-care.

What does your body tell you? What language does it speak? Have you figured out its code yet? It’s well worth the chat!

(C) 2011 Whitney McMillan

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Whitney McMillan is a best-selling author, life & business coach, workshop facilitator, & motivational speaker who supports people weighed down by overwhelm to reach Overwhelm Freedom! Check out her book ‘Rock Your Overwhelm: Live in Clarity, Balance and Freedom’ and receive her FREE eWorkbook and eZine tips: www.whitneymcmillan.com