“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” ~Caroline Myss

Dear Universe,

In a world where we are met with hundreds of distractions, demands, voices and responsibilities a day, I think it’s essential to sometimes stop and do one vital thing.

Listen to ourselves.  I mean really stop to hear what our minds and bodies are telling us.

Some people meditate; some people go for a run.  Some people take a long, hot shower.  Whatever works.  Just be sure to listen.

I’d like to think I’m in tune most of the time, but maybe most of the time isn’t often enough.

I thought of this the other day.  In between grading, planning, teaching, sleeping (trying to anyway), more grading, more planning, more teaching and more sleepless nights, I saw an article about what signs our bodies are sending to us.

What scared me was as I skimmed the list of seemingly insignificant symptoms, I found myself nodding along to most of them.

Twitching eye?  Yes, lately.

Lightheadedness when getting up?  Sometimes!

The more I nodded, the more it hit me.  Maybe my body was trying to get my attention.

According to the article it’s asking me to sleep more, take breaks from my computer and stay hydrated.

Guilty as charged.

The article reminded me of a book I’ve been reading on and off for a while now, Caroline Myss’ Anatomy of the Spirit.

In it, Myss, a medical intuitive, writes in depth about how illness, pain and disease can be linked to our mindset.  All those stresses and beliefs that we carry on a daily basis?  Well, they may be weighing us down in more ways than one.  (It’s much more complicated than that, but that’s the basic gist).

Constant sore throats?  You might want to work on having your voice heard.

Stomach aches?  Perhaps you are scared or intimidated by something in your life.

I’m no expert, but I think there’s something to all this.

And since I’m always asking for signs, maybe I should listen more to the most obvious ones.

I think I’ll step away from my desk, have a glass of water and maybe even get to bed early tonight.

Thank you,

A