It is story time here at Jubilee of Wellness.
We all know that sometimes life can surprise us with lessons and I had an experience recently that I think will resonate and I really want to share with you!
Have you heard of the book, “The body keeps score?” My mentor and friend George Bryant had shared it with me several years ago. The book is by Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD.
In this book he dives deep into how trauma physically affects the human brain and body. He also talks about how to heal it! One of the teachings is that some of our physical pain is actually emotional pain.
As a caregiver, I have seen this in action. The more distressed my mother was during care, the more her pain increased, causing her blood pressure to skyrocket. It's something I became aware of and it was very useful information! But I had never experienced or at least noticed this myself, until a hike with my family last weekend.
It was a great get away at a state park where all three of my kids and husband got to be together. You may already know that this is challenging as they get older and everyone has their own schedules!
Well, my husband Jeremy and I had a bit of a disagreement that morning. He was wearing some old clothes that were beyond my comfort level of wearing anywhere but the garage. Being a leo and married to this guy for 22 years, I told him so. He defended his cargo shorts with the ripped seam by stating that we were going hiking. He’s supposed to wear worn clothes! Insert my eyeroll here. What evs, we went hiking.
We really enjoyed our long and beautiful adventures through the creek bed of the steam. We saw butterflies, salamanders, dragon flys and so much beauty!! After having a rest on some rocks, the disagreement popped back up. Jeremy decided to point out that it was a good thing his shorts were old, I mean look at how mossy this rock is that just sat on. Whatt?! Did he really just bring that back up? LOL.
We shared a few heated words and then I noticed something! My knee started hurting. How odd I thought. I mean, I have physical limits, I just turned 48. I know what hurts where in my body and when to be careful. You learn these things with time. Ha! But this knee never hurts.
I was more interested in this discovery than our silly argument so I took a few steps the other way, watched the butterflies and felt the cool water running over my feet. I noticed that when I did this, within just a couple of minutes, my pain dispersed. It was gone. It made me think of the book I mentioned. My body was reacting to my feelings. When I stepped away for a little self care and regulated my nervous system, my body felt safe again and the warning sign disappeared. I found this absolutely fascinating! We hiked for hours that day and the next, let the shorts thing go and my knee was great!
I want to share this because we all have moments of stress and pain and silly arguments. I’d like this email to be a reminder that when these moments come up, you may have more opportunities to be pain free and stress free than you realise.
Here’s your permission slip to step away, take a few deep breaths and bring yourself back to center. Your health and happiness is worth it! You are worth it my friend.