Our Beliefs About Discomfort

Often, we know what our bodies need. We know when we are giving it those things that nourish it and when we are doing those things that deplete it.

Yet, how often do we do something we know our body doesn’t want? Why is this? Where is the disconnection between our ability to hear what our body is telling us and our ability to act on that information?

This has puzzled and frustrated me. Why do I put something in my mouth that I know will leave me feeling like crap a few hours, or even minutes, later? Why do I stay up late when I know that I won’t feel good the next day?

For me, a lot of it boils down to feeling uncomfortable in my body. Often, when I feel something strong, whether it’s emotions, pain, discomfort or fatigue, then my ability to act in my body’s best interest gets harder.

For any of us who are sensitive, feeling uncomfortable in our bodies can at the least be really distracting and at its worst, excruciating.

Photo courtesy of tiverylucky at freedigitalphotos.net.
Photo courtesy of tiverylucky at freedigitalphotos.net.

The truth is, we are in human bodies. We are highly attuned, we feel things and often it’s going to feel uncomfortable.

I had a friend once who told me to just “get over it.” And I finally really heard him the last time he said it. He was right. I am a super sensitive being. I’m uncomfortable whether I am out there in the world living my life or if I lay in bed all day. The  problem was that I was letting the discomfort distract me from really living my full purpose and being out in the world in a big way.

So let’s look at this discomfort. Some of it has to do with beliefs around what we label as good and bad feelings. Right? Some people love the feeling of fear, others don’t. Some people love that feeling of being in love, while other people get sick to their stomach.

I am writing this today because I am making a commitment to shift this pattern of letting my discomfort have so much power in my life. I am no longer willing to let anything get in the way of my relationship with my body, and being uncomfortable has been getting in the way.

I am going to start by looking at the beliefs I have about discomfort. It’s my beliefs that keep me from really sinking fully into the experience of being in my body. It’s my beliefs that make me afraid to feel fully and this creates a distance between me and my body. It also creates distance between me and everything else as well because it keeps me from being fully present.

I’ll give you an example of shifting a belief. I had this belief that if I allow myself to feel things fully, my system will short circuit. This probably isn’t true. It’s possible that my physical system can handle a large amount of input and it would be fine. So my new belief is that my body is highly intelligent and equipped to feel big feelings with grace and ease.

I want to encourage you to do some exploring of your own. Look at some beliefs you have about discomfort and your body, shine some light on a few and shift them. Craft a new belief. And if you leave your new belief in the comments, I will send some energy your way to help support your shift.

Love,
Teresa