Your body is a wonderful instrument that tells you in many different ways what you need and how you are feeling. However, we often get so caught up in the daily grind that we lose touch with our own body. Then we find ourselves doing things that are not good for us. But what causes us to lose contact with our body, which actually gives us all the clues we need? What can be so strong that we put access to our body on the back burner?
In fact, it is completely normal for our attention to fluctuate. Sometimes our attention is more on the outside and sometimes more on the inside.
We humans are social beings and very sensitive to external energies. Paying attention to what is happening around us has given us an evolutionary advantage - namely to prepare for and deal with stress and challenges. To do this, we need our antennae on the outside more than on the inside. Then, when we have released the stress, we relax and turn our attention inwards again, thus supporting our regeneration. As long as there is a balance between internal and external perception, everything is fine. However, in people who are constantly under stress, something changes in the body over time. It adapts and adjusts to the constant stress. The sensitivity of the receptors on the cells for stress hormones (epinephrine) decreases - i.e. you feel yourself less. But why are some people susceptible to stress in the first place? Why do they make the decision to take on a stressful job or say yes to a stressful relationship? One of the lesser-known reasons has to do with unprocessed emotional pain.
Old pain from childhood is often felt so existentially by us that we go into stressful situations to distract ourselves on the one hand, but also to feel the pain-numbing effect of the stress hormones. So if we now decide to stress less, relax a little more and calm down, then we are not only fighting against old ingrained stress habits that have become so familiar to us, but also against the much deeper pain behind them.
In order to lead a more relaxed life, you need a certain amount of knowledge plus discipline and pain tolerance. Yes, really - pain tolerance! The region for physical pain and mental pain are right next to each other in the brain. So if you start to change your life, reduce stress, incorporate moments of mindfulness and self-awareness again and again, then it may very well be that the underlying mental pain leads to withdrawal-like symptoms because the pain-reducing effect of the stress hormones wears off. Incidentally, this is one of the most common reasons why people abandon psychotherapy, self-healing processes or simply their big plans for a healthier life in general, because it hurts! Letting go of stress and simply feeling it is not that easy.
However, you can support yourself a little on this path by integrating things into your life that alleviate physical pain. This automatically leads to emotional pain also being alleviated:
- Diet: animal products often have an inflammatory effect and maintain inflammatory processes in the body
- Fasting: reduces inflammatory and pain-active processes in the body
- Drinking: flushes toxic products out of the body
- Cold shower: also known as thermogenesis, activates blood circulation and the removal of toxic and inflammatory waste products.
- Cuddling: physical closeness activates pain-relieving hormones, especially oxytocin.