How do you listen to your body?

[Coral]

What are some things that you do to listen to your body? It's easy to get caught up in the chaos of every day life, and sometimes we might forget to pay attention to what our bodies need.

For me, I sometimes find that when I'm feeling extremely stressed or anxious, it's because I haven't been getting enough rest and maybe need to take a nap or go to bed early. Another important one is being more mindful of when I need to eat.

Being mindful of your body can mean a lot of things, not just physical! It could also look like reminding yourself of how much your body does for you, or taking the time to name things you like about your body.

What do you do to listen to or be mindful of your body? How does listening to your body help in other areas of wellbeing?

[Rubix]

Usually when I'm really stressed out I pay attention to things like, "Is my stomach growling because I'm hungry?" and "Is my mouth dry because I haven't been drinking enough water." I feel like actually paying attention to my body and the signals it sends is super important to staying in a good mood.

Of course, then there's also all the times when I'm horny. I slow down and listen to my body when I'm masturbating so I don't hurt myself. I try to focus on the pleasurable sensations my body is feeling.

However, appreciating my body is sometimes very hard for me because I'm a trans woman. Dysphoria is the worst. However, now that I've started growing boobs, I'm finding it a lot easier for me to be comfortable in my body. I feel like learning to treat my body as a thing that keeps me alive and trying to limit my usage of gendered terms for my parts will help me feel more comfortable being who I am. The alternative is to be quite unhappy about my AMAB body.

[d_harp]

Same here. I feel terrible when I'm stressed out. My body hurts everywhere. My knees, back, stomach, head, arms...
I heard one interview with Jim Carry, where he talked about depression.
Depressed - is your body saying "I need deep rest". That attitude literally changed my mindset. I stopped overworking and doing unpaid stuff (which should not be assigned to me at all!). I stopped arguing and conflicting with people. Got rid of toxic people and relations. It all helps, and I can feel it.

[Emily N]

Rubix, I really like what you said about focusing on pleasurable sensations! I tend to be very task-oriented, so it helps to remind myself to slow down and enjoy things. Listening to my body's reactions to a food I'm eating, movement I'm doing, how the weather feels to me is something I'm trying to do more of.

I am also learning to listen to my body's needs for alone vs. social time. I love being around people and my default is to spend time with at least one other person when possible, but if I start getting irritable or anxious, I know it's usually time for me to create space for myself.

[perfectionist]

Same here. I feel terrible when I'm stressed out. My body hurts everywhere. My knees, back, stomach, head, arms...
I heard one interview with Jim Carry, where he talked about depression.
Depressed - is your body saying "I need deep rest". That attitude literally changed my mindset. I stopped overworking and doing unpaid stuff (which should not be assigned to me at all!). I stopped arguing and conflicting with people. Got rid of toxic people and relations. It all helps, and I can feel it.

This is a very interesting conclusion from the interview. I have not watched it, but I came to a similar conclusion through self-digging. This is not the best entertainment, but no one knows better than you what you need now. And what was needed a year ago, when everyone left you and you were alone. And self-examination teaches you to look at things from a different angle, draw conclusions and not commit them in the future. Perhaps I am wrong in terms and this is not called self-digging, but self-criticism, but I mean the process when you reflect on your experiences and try to come up with another way of solving that situation.
And in fact, meditation helped me a lot to understand myself. It was a very long journey, but the most pleasant and calm one. At first, I just learned to throw away thoughts, and for the first 3-4 weeks I almost did not succeed. After a month and a half, it began to bear fruit. Firstly, I became calmer, and secondly, I began to notice that during meditation I concentrate more on my breathing and almost all thoughts leave my head by themselves.
After 3-4 months I could already feel the impulses that I send to this or that part of the body. For example, I thought “I want to feel the pinky of my right foot” and felt it specifically, then I thought “I want to feel the knee of my right foot” and felt like I was touching it, but I don’t move at all at this moment. Etc. And it allowed me to start feeling my body differently.
And after I began to feel my body differently, I began to treat it differently. I started to eat differently, I started to play sports more often, if I didn't have time at all, then I did exercises in the morning and warm up during the day. I have changed many of my habits. I learned a lot about sleep. I changed the mattress on which I slept for 10 years, and by the way, Jim Carrey also helped me with this. I watched again Yes man and there was a mattress he was jumping on. I ordered myself the same mattress because I read about it in some article and because I remembered that I had dreamed about it since childhood.
Yes, that's what is also very important. When I started meditating, I began to structure my thoughts. And now I understand what I really want and what I wanted before. And it helps to make plans for life. Because in this way I understand what I really want and what society is trying to impose on me.
It seems like meditation is some kind of panacea, but no. I am lucky to have found my own instrument with which I can hear my body. I'm 32, but I only found it a year ago. And someone finds it at 18, and someone never finds it at all (but did look for it?) Someone suits meditation, someone smashing dishes or other objects. We are all different. Each of us is individual and that's great!