The body is always speaking to us. It repeatedly and actively lets us know what it needs. If we are too distracted to notice, the body develops symptoms. They may be subtle at first and more acute over time. These physical symptoms are a manifestation of unmet needs, emotional voids that want our compassionate attention. This system we call the body is not only wise, it is completely connected to source wisdom.
I coached with someone recently who struggles with chronic pain. As we talked, I felt strongly that her body had a message for her. For years it had been trying to get her attention but she had been unwilling or unable to stop and hear what it was wanting to say. We sat and listened together to what the pain was communicating. The act of simply making space – and turning towards the discomfort rather than away from it – transformed, in that very moment, her experience of pain.
When we have pain our first instinct is usually to run from it, to do things that will make the pain go away, to medicate. We don’t want to be uncomfortable and, often subconsciously, we fear what is on the other side of that discomfort. The irony is, however, that the symptom is merely trying to bring us closer to our truth. Pain, if we welcome it, can be a teacher pointing us in the direction of joy.