Day 28 of 100--are you being mindful?

Listening to our body is a huge thing to do.   A lot of times we forget that it is trying to tell us something.  We are running on empty, we are short on sleep.  Starving, full, Hot, cold.  We definitely know when there are extremes.  There are signs before we get to the extremes, if we pay attention.  This picture came through my email today, a fuel gauge.  The quote isn't the same as what I am thinking, but the message is.   When we drive a car, we look at the gas gauge, don't you?   Every time I sit down and start the car I take a peek.   It is good to know how much I have in the tank, so that I can base my actions on that information.   If my tank is less than a quarter full then I won't drive 200 miles without fueling up first.   If my tank is full I don't try to go fill it up again.  So how does it equate to our bodies?   First pay attention.  It is the first step.  When you wake up in the morning take a moment before reaching for the smart phone, or what ever else you do.  Take a moment to feel...Just a quiet moment to decide if you are hungry, tired, achy, list all of the adjectives.  Notice them, in the moment.  Then get up and move on.   Next when you feel hungry take a moment to notice it. While eating, notice as you start to get full.  It is all about being present and paying attention to those signals we are given. Stopping the noise of the world and our to do list from drowning it out.

I have the eatq book this came from.  Have not read it yet, it is in my stack of good intentions.  I love mindful/intuitive eating though.  I came from a place where I ate until I could no longer physically stuff another item in my mouth, I was so full.   A lot of it was emotional eating.   I'd eat because I was angry, then feel guilty, then eat because I felt guilty, and so the cycle would go.  Any discomfort would send me to food and I didn't even know why.  It took an awareness of the cycle before I could do anything, and then I started forgiving myself.  Telling myself it was ok and working to express my emotions in other ways.  I am strong, forgiving and loving to my body.  It takes really good care of me, even when I have not taken care of it.   I, we, have all been given a marvelous gift called life.   This body that houses our spirit is a miraculous creation, one that we should not take for granted.  Listen to it.   See what it says.  :)