Our Body's Boundaries

Listening to my body has become less than an afterthought in the cycle of busy in which I've found myself. What I was eating, how I was moving, resting or recalibrating was not even on my radar. 

Ironically enough, the theme this month in 'Rise of the Universal Freelancer', our online community for deepening into this work, is Boundaries. 

When you hear the word "boundaries", what are the first thoughts that pop in?

You may have let your mind wander to your relationships with people; totally normal, this is how most people relate to this word. 

We tend to set boundaries around:
- How we let others speak to us or treat us.
- What we're willing to do for work or to be paid for.
- How far we're willing to help for free.
- Our expectations about reciprocation.
- What we're willing to say yes and no to.

Often we set the rules with others first before a single thought ever turns to our own self-sabotaging behaviors, thoughts or movements. 

But what about the boundaries within your own energy field, i.e.:
- How you talk to yourself.
- How you feed your body.
- Respecting how your body wants to be moved.
- Or, listening to when you press the gas pedal and when to stomp on the breaks.

My body has been craving cleaner fuel, not hoards of Halloween candy. 

It was asking for movement, not 10 hours a day at my computer working on projects and with clients.

My soul was asking for a reprieve, not being "on" all the time. 

Was I listening? Nope. The pain crept in, swelling and inflammation took over, fatigue set in and my mental-scape started to drift back into the spaces of anger and frustration that were oh so familiar from my past. 

Why are we so unwilling to be in sync with our bodies?

In my own reality, I recognize a pattern where every time a big change or leap is coming, I will slow it, dumb it down, and try to delay the inevitable. Whether it be with thoughts, food, fatigue or feelings - they all related back to the same story. 

I set a new boundary. My soul, my body, and my mind come first. I honor the messages, I follow through and I choose to thrive every day. No matter how big the leap is, or scary the challenge, or how much I'm chasing a dream or goal, I choose ME first. As in, the better I fuel my body, the better it performs. 

By choosing to (body, mind, and spirit) fuel ME first, I can serve YOU better. 

Are you listening to your body? Are you tuning into your soul? Have you given yourself a voice at the table?

Who are you choosing?

Let today be the day you learn to put yourself first. 

xo, Caitlin