« Take care of your body so that your soul wants to live in it. »
Chinese proverb.
Hello, young Padawan
I hear you laughing behind your screen, about the “personal physiological development” thing, lol, but I chose this title with care because if we take a second look at it, it’s not that stupid. When I told you in my article here that we can no longer economize self-knowledge given what we are eating, drinking, breathing and living in general; when I told you that knowing how the human body works is good, but understanding how our own body works, in particular, is way better: that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.
It is essential to understand that at best you will know how your body works; at best you will understand it. That at best you will understand and listen to it (and not your psychological and hormones that tell you that you are too lazy to lift your butt and that pasta is better than broccoli, see my article here) at most you will be in great shape and even: at least you’ll be sick.
Because even if you are a member of the human being team, your body is unique. And that it’s not because your Aunt Brenda does three enemas a week that you have to do the same thing or else everyone would know it (hallelujah, ed). It would have gone into the annals of the history of medicine, ok I stop otherwise you will make a nervous poop of my childish jokes.
To learn to know how your body works means to understand what makes you feel good. It is, without any schizophrenia, to move forward as a team, you and your body, side by side, for the best. And if one day the worst happens (huge stress, health problem …) you will be emotionally and physically ready. Because making a team with your body, means to be stronger and more positive to adapt yourself to the daily events of the life which is neither kind nor fair, just because it is not its goal.
So at best you will be prepared and at best life shit will slip on your daily rather than hang on (yes we are in the scatological right now, but it won’t last long, ed).
Open ones eyes
The knowledge of the human body in general and individual in particular is paramount, at the risk of repeating myself here again: it is something that should be taught at school.
Understanding our roots (running naked in the woods, yes it’s an obsession, ed), our true nature, understand that our food has changed more in 70 years than in 3 million years, can explain many things is this not? Are you shocked to be tired or sick while having a life against nature? This is not a surprise though. So of course, we’re not going to set up huts in the surrounding forests, swinging underpants and socks to the ground and chasing butterflies (it’s a metaphor, ed). But some changes, however small, can truly change yourself physically, psychologically, make you stronger and go back to your 20 years old. Or almost. Let’s say 22.5 years old.
As I say since the movie came out, lol: we must get out of the Matrix and understand the toxic world in which we live. If you were born after 1970, you have almost never experienced an environment without pollution, whatever it is. We must learn to evolve with this world in the most appropriate way possible.
To lay down ones habits
Make a personal statement on a typical day of 24h. It is is the time to take a small notebook to write and report what you do each day, without worrying if it’s enough or not, or if it’s good or bad. We will be interested in movement, sleep, belly and head which are the four cardinal points of your physical and emotional health. To this must be added the lil’ bonus of modern toxicity:
– Physical activity
You saw I did not say “sport,” because it is only a part of the physical activity.
How many minutes do you walk each day, if you have a smartphone it can tell you about it (the data is never very reliable, but you can get an idea)?
Do you take the stairs or the elevators, escalators? How many floors do you climb each day?
Do you park your car in front of or far from where you want to go? Do you get off at the nearest stop or a stop before/after your destination in the bus/metro/train?
Do you stay more than an hour sitting in a row?
– The number of hours of sleep and its quality
Do you sleep easily?
How often do you wake up in the night? Are you getting back to sleep? At what time do you wake up?
Are you tired of getting up in the morning?
Are you, in a general point, satisfied with your nights’ sleep or not?
– food
Do you eat according to your emotional desires or according to your physiological needs? (see my article here).
What is the percentage of processed foods in your diet?
– Available brain time
If you work and your days are busy, with or without children, you’ll recognize yourself in there …
Are there moments in your day where you can afford the luxury of emptying your brain, of thinking strictly about nothing? why did you say “lol”? Note whether or not and if so, approximately how long.
Do you feel stressed? If so, is it according to you some stress that stimulates you, motivates you, or rather paralyzes and demotivates you?
– Environment
We are talking about exposure to modern devices. That is to say, all that has no place in the cave of the mainstream prehistoric man, namely: TV, smartphone, internet box, wifi relays …
How long during the day are you in a completely natural environment, i.e., without electric waves, without blue light, etc.?
Do you use screens (TV, smartphone, tablet …) after 9 pm?
Do you work outside in a clearing in the mountains, or an air-conditioned office?
Do you spend more than 2 hours a day outside in the sunlight?
Do you live in a polluted environment or the open air countryside?
And finally, if necessary:
– Symptoms
Do you have headaches regularly?
Digestive problems?
More or less chronic fatigue?
The head spinning when you get up quickly from your couch?
Are you out of breath after climbing one or two floors?
Do you feel stressed when something adds up or vanishes in your daily agenda?
Do you have quick mood changes?
Note all the symptoms that appear for a few years at the end of your list.
Better understand to move forward
The time has come for the lil’ assessment. In what you have written in your notebook, there are inevitably things you absolutely don’t care and others that annoy you a little more. The goal is pooling logically the things you would like to change, the symptoms, if any, with the (bad) habits of life, by appealing to your sincerity and logic. And here we are again, between smart Padawans who know how to estimate when the symptom is sufficiently installed and/or disturbing to trigger a visit to the doctor. The disclaimer is done …
Just put in a blank page the three major observations of your daily life that you would like to change to have more energy, feel more comfortable, be healthier … in short, to be better in your shoes or in your Jordan’s (life’s always better in Jordan’s, just sayin’, ed).
For example, if you are a little tired at the moment, your eyes may pay more attention to the sleep part, if besides, you also noted that you woke up at night, around 3-4am. Take a look here to my article on the liver (to be translated very soon, ed). I bet you 50 bucks that you do not wake up anymore, at those hours at least, it works with all ages.
If you have some trouble falling asleep, maybe you noticed that you were stressed, or that you were watching TV or using your smartphone after 9 pm, or that the physical activity part has as much echo as the Grand Canyon …
If you have trouble digesting, you may have noticed that you were eating emotionally and that your body simply cannot digest this too rich or too full of industrial products.
Here it’s your turn to play, to correlate the lifestyle you want to change and the logical solutions that result in it.
To test yourself
The goal is to experiment yourself to understand and find what suits you (and not the neighbor, even if she’s gorgeous). That, I cannot, nor anyone can do it for you, but it is really essential. If you have lost this connection with your body or if you never had it, you will have to discover and test what works or not for you, individually.
Even if your BFF has gained an iron constitution by eating raw, maybe your intestines are too weak for you to digest 100% raw foods. Sometimes the arithmetic is simple: it is better to digest 100% of al dente steam cooked veggies on which you lost 20% of vitamins rather than digest 30% of raw ones and give 70% of vitamins to your toilets, is not it? of course, it is! Enjoy your meal, be stingy with the shitter.
In the important areas of your life, find your balance, you will. It is your mission, my little Padawan. There is going to be some mess, but it’s worth it.
Experimenting with the different physical activities to find the ones that are right for us, change the way we eat by looking at the quantities and types of food that are best suited to our body, try different ways of life to stop counterproductive stress that we afflict to ourselves. If this stress is punctual and temporary because you have to work on a particular file for example, have you tried mediation?
I am ok with stress, but the one that provokes you adrenaline rushes, the one that makes you want to go forward, to progress, to overcome you, not the one that blocks you, locks you, cuts your legs and your motivation. That one, you have to take it out of your life, even if it has to go through a drastic change.
If your job does not suit you, for example, know that you can search for a new one while still employed, that there are training. Your physical and mental health is priceless, and especially not the price of a job. Your life is much more important than that. If you think that it is not possible, it is either that you are not ready, or that you refuse to see the truth because it makes you afraid, but fear is not an enemy. With a little organization, nothing is impossible, you just have to want it, and the solutions are there, there are always some. Finally, if your financial comfort is more important than your health now, keep in mind that sick, in a hospital room, looking through the window see the others living a life you are losing, you will change your way of thinking, but he will be too late. It stings, doesn’t it? I’m here for that too. You’re welcome.
It’s also about people with whom you share your life and who do not want you the best for you, it is also about your place of life; you have the keys, you are a grown adult. A shrink can help you if the step seems too disturbing to accomplish without help; it is their job to help you see more clearly.
The bad stress, even if we live it every day, must slip on your daily life but never stay glued like a piece of chewing gum on your sole for years. You saw that, we went from scatology to Hollywood, it’s more classy, right?
Here is the end of this series in four episodes, the return to the basics while keeping Netflix (aka the “assets” of our modern world, lol, did I tell you that I have never watched Netflix?!), or how to bring to our crazy lives a little physiological reason.
Let’s all live naked in the woods for the best, no I’m kidding. What? You are already waiting for me with your fig leaf stuck on your proud? Oh, that’s too bad, I can’t, I have “spationaut” rocket class that day, lol.
The best person to take care of you is yourself, so cherish yourself.
Altruistic XO ❤️
Ferndale, Michigan, USA.