Bodies can be tough. We can feel anything from great to terrible, and all that falls in between. Self-care through bodywork, exercise, eating well, and good sleep, can move us forward exponentially in how we’re feeling and thriving. But boosting our emotional and mental state also does wonders in changing how we feel in the physical body, along with how we experience our reality.
A powerful, simple tool I use daily for boosting my physical, emotional, mental feeling state is a gratitude list. I do mine in the morning or at night; sometimes both, and any time of day when stress is higher. The key to a positive effect is to feel the gratitude all the way into your body, to your very bones and muscles. As I focus on one gratitude at a time with sincere feeling, it sinks into my body, easing muscles and bones. If you focus with real intention and awareness on each gratitude, you can feel tense muscles opening, warmth flooding into them, blood moving more easily into the area, and anxious or depressed thoughts changing in intensity.
Done at night, it helps me sleep. Done in the morning, it helps me set my attitude for the day. A list of just a few gratitudes felt deeply, from the smallest, simplest thing to larger, more complex things in life, can do wonders for us. It’s not about false hope, guilt, platitudes, or denying the presence of stress in life. Done from that standpoint, gratitudes won’t be felt with any meaning or support in the body. Truly feeling the reality of just one gratitude lightens our spirit and our body. Falling into this habit, making it palpable by feeling it physically, only increases our awareness of more gratitudes in life. Often a challenge, but always worth the effort, for a life-changing, tangible result.
Copyright © 2020 by Lara Stillo
Massage - Feeling and Sensation 