My face tells on me even before I’ve had a chance to say a word. Any of this sound familiar?

A wide-eyed, forced smile in a conversation you’re not fully into.
A tight jaw you didn’t notice until you relaxed it.
Eyes look down and arms suddenly cross in a delicate moment.

What about…

Shoulders slightly raised like they’ve forgotten how to drop.
Too many moments of shallow breathing never quite reaching capacity
Cold hands when everything else seems fine.

What about other signs that pop up that we excuse away with, “I’m just tired”, “It’s stress”, or “That’s the way it is” ?

The interesting part is that we often don’t call any of this important.  We dismiss it as personality, genes, age, weather, “just life” but the body is always responding to something.

And that response doesn’t stop at posture or expression. What about a rash, dry eyes or weight gain? The problem is, we don’t always connect the dots. Sometimes we normalize a situation, excuse it or turn to a quick fix to lessen its appearance.

Have we lost communication with our body?  What’s it trying to tell us?

Aha! ~ “The human body is the best picture of the human soul.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Imagine your body to be a canvas and painted on that canvas are your emotions, experiences, and innermost thoughts. (Feeling a little exposed?)

The truth is, our gestures, facial expressions, body language, and overall physicality display our inner workings. Not metaphorically. Practically.

What you hold mentally is what you display physically. What you carry emotionally, the body reflects in real time—and sometimes over time. Your vessel is constantly communicating how it is carrying you through life.

You can ignore it, adjust your story around it, or turn to quick fixes to lessen the impact but your body will still speak. So instead, use it in your favour.

Are you repeatedly in situations that leave you feeling frightened or afraid?

Are you doing work that drains you?

Are you feeding yourself with “food like substances” (as Jillian Michaels calls highly process foods)?

Try shifting the question from, “What’s wrong with me?” to “What is my body trying to tell me?”

Want to try a simple exercise? 

Stand up.

Now say out loud, “My name is ____” and notice you will lean very slightly forward. 

Now say, “My name is (pick someone else’s name)” and notice you will lean slightly backwards. 

Now try a few words and phrases like, “I trust myself” or “alcohol”. Notice what your body does before you can explain it.

This is interesting: We tend to relax, open up, and trust a conversation more when we feel listened to.  What if your body is waiting for the same thing?

Listen differently.

This Aha! started when I learned the exercise I shared at the end.  SO often our body is shouting at us and we just don’t receive the signals.  We’ve been gifted with intelligence beyond measure.  More of that in Human U, 4:30 Wednesday.  Email me [email protected] for the link to join the conversation.