Your Forever Dance Partner

A friend and client recently shared something she had written that made me so happy for her.

I’ve known Sam for years, and I’ve had the privilege of watching her make some enormous changes in her life. Those changes didn’t happen all at once, and they certainly weren’t easy. But one thing that ultimately got her attention was her body.

She began experiencing what felt like panic attacks at work. At the same time, she was dealing with physical problems with her back. Eventually, she reached a point where she had difficulty doing her job.

There was an emotional component. There was a physical component. And perhaps trying to neatly separate the two misses the point.

Sam began listening to what all of it was telling her.

She eventually left the job that was no longer working for her, moved from Ohio to Florida, and gave herself the space to discover what she actually wanted her life to look like. I’ve watched this journey, and I am incredibly proud of her.

Recently, she wrote a letter to her body and gave me permission to share it with you:

Dear body,

Thank you.

Thank you for showing me the way. For teaching me to slow down, to listen, and to become aware of the flow between mind, body, and spirit.

For so much of my life, I lived almost entirely from my mind. I didn’t fully understand the ways you communicate with me.

Thank you for reminding me that you are always working for me — constantly adapting, healing, and doing everything you can to bring me back into alignment, harmony, and well-being.

What I once experienced simply as pain became a doorway into greater awareness and an opportunity to listen to and appreciate you more deeply.

Thank you for this journey. Thank you for the healing, the awareness, the lessons, and the enlightenment you’ve brought into my life.

Thank you for bringing me home to myself — to my authenticity, to my inner wisdom, and to my own power.

I love you.

I trust you.

I’m listening now.

Your forever dance partner,

Sam

I love that last line: Your forever dance partner.

The Records ask us to pay attention to our emotions. Instead of immediately judging them, pushing them away, or telling ourselves we shouldn’t feel that way, we can become curious about them. What am I feeling? Why might I be feeling it? What is this emotion telling me about how I’m doing, what matters to me, or what I need?

What if we developed that same kind of relationship with our bodies?

Our bodies are giving us information all the time, and most of it isn’t nearly as dramatic as what Sam experienced. We know when we’re tired. We notice when our shoulders tighten. We know when we’re energized and when we’re dragging. We feel the difference between being relaxed and being on edge. Sometimes we walk into a situation and our whole body seems to tense before we’ve consciously decided there is anything wrong.

And just as we can dismiss our emotions, we can become very good at dismissing our bodies. We’re tired, but there’s too much to do. We’re tense, but we tell ourselves we’re fine. Something leaves us depleted every single time we do it, but we keep doing it because we think we should be able to handle it.

Our bodies give us feedback. The question is whether we pay attention to it — just as we do with our emotions.

Have you ever considered that our emotions and our bodies may not be two entirely separate feedback systems? Think about what happens when you’re nervous and your stomach starts churning, or when you’re stressed and realize your jaw has been clenched for the last hour. Think about the physical lightness that can come with joy, or the burst of energy you can feel when you’re excited about something.

Our bodies and emotions are constantly interacting, and both can help us become more aware of what is happening within us.

That doesn’t mean we need to assign some profound meaning to every ache, pain, or tired afternoon. Sometimes tired means we didn’t get enough sleep. And listening to our bodies certainly doesn’t replace getting appropriate medical care when something is wrong.

It simply means paying attention.

Instead of immediately overriding what we feel, what if we got curious? What is my body telling me right now? What does it need? Is there something I’ve been ignoring? Is what I’m feeling physically connected in some way to what I’m experiencing emotionally?

For much of her life, as Sam wrote, she lived almost entirely from her mind. It took both physical and emotional distress to get her attention. But once she began listening, she literally had to learn to walk in a new way — in alignment.

What a metaphor.

She wasn’t just learning to walk differently. She was learning to live differently.

Most of us don’t need to make the kinds of dramatic changes Sam has made. But I do wonder how much more we might know about ourselves if we stopped expecting our bodies to simply keep up with whatever our minds have decided we should be doing.

The Records remind us to listen to our emotions rather than simply react to them. Maybe it’s time to offer our bodies that same attention.

After all, as Sam so beautifully reminded me, they are our forever dance partners.

What has your body been telling you lately?

Affirmation

I honor my body as my partner. I pay attention to its messages and respond with care.

Journaling Prompts

• What has my body been telling me lately that I may not have been paying attention to?

• When do I feel most energized, relaxed, and at ease in my body? What might that be telling me?

• When do I notice tension, fatigue, or discomfort in my body? What is happening in my life during those times?

• How might my physical responses and my emotions be working together to give me information?

• What is one way I can respond with care to what my body needs right now?

From My Journey

After struggling for years with my relationship with my body, I finally chose to think about it differently:

I honor the sacred vessel that holds the jewel that is my soul.

Choosing to think about my body differently changed my relationship with it. It deserves my attention. It deserves my care. And most importantly, it deserves to be part of the conversation.

I often think of my relationship with the Records as a dance. Thanks to Sam, I realize

I need to recognize my first dance partner — my body.