Self-Care for Body and Mind
We are deep in the trenches of cold and flu season. As we all know, viruses are changing and it can be difficult to not be a victim of the yuck. It’s hard to not see a cold as a major inconvenience, especially in the heights of the holiday season. But of all the forms of sickness, colds are my favorite. They are relatively short lived, and usually more annoying than dangerous and most importantly, make us slow down. Colds create an opportunity for us to slow down, take stock of what is going on in our inner and outer life. A cold will trigger the body to go through a detoxification process. We can use this as an opportunistic experience for the mind and emotions to let go of what isn’t serving us anymore. Taking the time to do an inward look and be present with yourself and consciously support the body through this cold induced cleanse can allow you to come out the otherside not only with a strengthened immune system, but also a positive sense of self.
The process:
– Reflect on yourself and identify what is holding you back, not supporting you, not loving, not bringing lightness into your life. Some things you find will be obligations or situations you can’t externally change at the moment. But I promise there will be something internally that can change to help lighten the stress.
– As you go through the process of recovering from the cold, reflect on this possible change and what it would look and feel like. This reflection begins to alter your neuronetwork, priming your brain and mind for a new possibility. Going through this kind of inner change while the body is also going through a change cues to the body to also let go of old patterning and make way for new. When the mind is primed for a new experience and the body is free from the old experience we can more easily step into a new experience.