Continuing from Life Lessons (1) this is my second realisation of things I wish I had known earlier or perhaps more truthfully, something I did actually know but wish I had put into practice earlier in life and consistently through all aspects of life. If you are looking at the image below, some of you may recognise the actors as Benedict Cumberbatch (left) and Martin Freeman (right) and the address of 221B Baker Street. The TV show is Sherlock which is based on the popular stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I hear you saying - what does a TV show have to do with a Life Lesson..? Well the character of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the best person or character to try to illustrate my point. For those that do not know, Sherlock Holmes has an uncanny ability to see absolute detail in just about everything. He uses that skill to solve the unusual mysteries by examining some very subtle clues others do not see, puts it all together, and seeing the big picture discovers the truth and catches the criminals. You could say that he takes nothing on face value, even what appears to be obvious is given a very discerning look before he makes any decision, comment or action. So to relate this to Life Lesson (2) that same level of discernment in all things, at all times, and in all places is something we should all do. It is very easy to read something in a newspaper, see something on the news, hear a story from someone and take it as 100% factual.
Mainstream media is renowned for presenting a particular angle or perspective which may suit their own agenda or that of another person or organisation. A person telling a story may without even knowing it, distort the facts or leave out a key piece of information which means you will only receive a percentage of the whole story, or their version of the truth. It seems the only way to be sure you know the truth of any matter is to examine several sources, cross check information, be open to the possibility that what you are being told or presented isn't the complete truth before making up your own mind. Or, to make it simpler, just feel what is true and what is not true - follow and trust our own inner knowingness. I am talking about other things too, far beyond just media, true personal discernment in food choices, food sources, clothing, purchases of any kind - in fact anything we purchase or any activity we partake in. We need to be far more discerning about our choices across the board.
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When we get older we often look back at our lives and find things we wish we had been told about earlier, or things we wished we had learnt or realised earlier. This series of short articles describes my top 'Life Lessons' and they are presented here for anyone open to the possibilities. One of the most important lessons I could have learned earlier in life was to listen to my body and respect my body. I never did anything too extreme but often pushed myself too far, for too long, without considering the consequences. I never broke any bones but even feeling sore the next day is a consequence. You may think that feeling sore the next day is nothing and that after a day or two everything is back to normal - but is it? We think that it is okay to push ourselves hard then have a day of recovery, and we do feel normal again, but does it really end there? Is it possible that all these events where we push ourselves too hard and end up feeling worse for wear have a cumulative effect, or catch up with us in older age? The medical world knows a lot but it does not know everything, and we are all individuals with different physical capabilities and qualities. My point here is that I wish I had known when to stop and not kept pushing on to the point where I was super tired, fatigued, worn out or just plain sore and sorry. Actually I did know as my body would have been telling me but I chose not to listen and chose to over-ride that feeling. This is the point where I could have and should have been more discerning, respected my body saying time to stop, and actually listened. An example might be getting sore arms from lifting heavy objects; I could have either stopped the activity, or got somebody to help, or used some mechanical assistance of some sort. But no - more often than not I would have pushed on until finished or found it impossible to continue.
Our bodies have so many ways to tell us when things are not right but we rarely pay too much attention to them or just blatantly ignore them. Sometimes it is an image thing where we don't want to appear weak or soft, that's a big one for men, other times we are in the grip of time and an imposed deadline we feel we must fulfill. Often the deadline is an unrealistic one we have set for ourselves and hos no real basis for existing at all. So, in summary, my No.1 Life Lesson is: 'Listen to your body' |
AuthorI love to understand things, how they work, why they happen - I'm always learning and keen to investigate... Archives
August 2023
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