Have you ever been sick with the flu and found yourself feeling mopey and sad, maybe even sobbing?

Sure – we’ve all been physically sick enough to suffer emotionally, as well.

But we’re not always as quick to understand that the phenomenon works both ways. Sometimes we can feel so bad emotionally that it causes physical pain, too. 

The mind-body connection is real. ‼️

It is powerful. And it can knock you down – literally – if you’re not in tune with what you’re feeling.

The experience historically has been called “psychogenic pain,” and it occurs when emotional, psychological or behavioral problems lead to physical symptoms.

Consider how it can be easy to go from “feeling sad” to “being depressed,” which is an actual physical malady that can make you have tiredness, soreness, and headaches.

Or how suppressing anger leads to tension and high blood pressure.

It’s a similar concept with feeling anxious or ashamed. If you’re up worrying all night, your body and brain suffer from the lack of sleep.

The term “psychogenic” is somewhat outdated because it means “produced in the mind” and experts realize that there can be a negative association with that – like, “Just get over it if it’s all in your head.” (NOT helpful!)

But this pain is real, no matter what anyone says. 

This is demonstrated physiologically via your sympathetic nervous system and the fact that they run on the front of your spine.😱

So if you are stressed out, fearful, angry etc it is going to light up that sympathetic chain, and you will have physiological issues at your weakest link. Maybe its :

👉🏽 A headache

👉🏽 Or heart palpitations

👉🏽 Or digestive issues

👉🏽 A problem with elimination

👉🏽 Or an issue with Libido

Any (or more) of those areas will have physiological issues because of your emotional stress.

Understand your mind and body, and don’t be afraid to seek help if you need it.

Please be kind to yourself and practice self-care about the mind-body connection. Exercise. Meditate. Talk with a therapist about your feelings for help processing your emotions. See a qualified physical type therapist that can view your issues holistically. 

Pain is pain. Don’t let it hold you down.

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world and your life, by all the people you encounter, and by all the stuff happening around you.

You can really lose yourself sometimes. And not being aware of yourself and how you operate is a surefire way to self-sabotage yourself with any challenging task. 100% guaranteed.

But a strong self-awareness keeps you grounded with a healthy perspective. It keeps you in the right mindset to succeed and to maintain happiness. In fact, some experts say it’s one of the most important characteristics we can develop.

Simply put, self-awareness means have a good understanding of your emotions, values, patterns of behavior, and how others see you.

It means you appreciate what you bring to the table, and what others see when you get there.

And it allows you to understand what you want and then match your actions to your desires in healthy, productive ways.

Being self-aware lets you focus on what really matters, despite the hurricane of life happening around you. When you truly understand and appreciate who you are, why you do what you do, then you have clarity to see through the maelstrom to what’s important. It also lets you help other people more effectively, because you’re certain of your intentions and the effect you have (and DON’T have) on them.

how do you develop it?

True self-awareness has layers that can take a lifetime to understand. But generally speaking, here are some guidelines to get you thinking in the right direction.

👉🏽 Know what you want, based on your gut and on your values.
👉🏽 Learn from your mistakes and forgive yourself for them.
👉🏽Seek constructive criticism from well-chosen sources who can help.
👉🏽 Identify your top skills and, just as importantly, those you lack.
👉🏽Reflect daily on what you’ve done and how you feel about it. 👉🏽 Look for patterns in your words, thoughts, and actions(this is a big one).

Now, think for a moment about all of this — your healthy lifestyle goals, strengths, weaknesses, and patterns of behavior…

What do you see? Please hit reply and let me know!

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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Do you ever start the week feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to do in the days ahead?

Between work and family commitments, it seems like you won’t have time to to the workouts you have planned. 🤯(I feel you.)

That’s the worst. Been there, done that and still doing…😂(I feel you.)

You gotta do what ya gotta do for work and family. You can make a habit of leaving work and home, and that definitely helps, but you gotta be there for your family. And the two combined can sometimes leave you with not as much time as you wish for your workouts.

The best way to keep yourself moving forward and work with the time you’ve got is to:

👉🏽 Know what your ultimate goal is with your workouts. No, “being fit or strong” doesn’t qualify. It’s the WHY that you want to flesh out.

👉🏽 Know the most important things that you should be doing and work from the most important to the least.

But I’m a big believer in making lists to stay organized. And I noticed a big pressure relief when I started using a daily/weekly checklist for my most important exercises and stretches.

Then you look at your weekly and daily times to fit it in. Ideally, you have a minimum of a 3-day-a-week schedule that you are getting at least an hour in and a little in between of your most pressing issue/goal.

I call it Macro and microprogramming

This way, I will do a few things every day and week that I know will move me forward.

But as busy people we know, the ideal doesn’t always happen, so you have to be adaptable because we know our WHY and know that we need to do something about it.

Here is an example of what I do: I set up my schedule for Wed, Saturday, and Sunday big routines. Hopefully 1 1/2 to two hours. This allows me to get a proper warm-up, cardio (as a warm-up or routine), strengthening and stretching, and a cool own of myofascial stretching, ELDOA, and some GPS (global postural stretching)

On the other days, I hope to get 20 min of myofascial stretching, ELDAO, or GPS. This sometimes happens during the weekday, but more often than not in front of the TV at night.

But as Mike Tyson says, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.😂” So when I get punched in the face, I adapt.

✅What is the most pressing thing I need to do? For me right now, my ribcage.
✅Ok, how much time do I have?
✅ Ok, work from the top of the most important things to do.

It’s not so much when you break it down daily. This leaves you feeling accomplished; your body feels good and moves toward your goal

Let me know if it helps!

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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