Ever wonder why you feel so relaxed after a deep message or a day at a lake or the beach? Ever get annoyed by how swiftly this wonderful relaxed state dissipates once we walk out of the spa or come back from the beach?
Think of it this way : the body responds to our external surroundings . Guided by our five senses our internal physiology responds to external cues like a massage or the sea air or sounds of the waves.
Remember this after a day of worry and overthinking. Internal thoughts impact our body as directly as the sun or sea. We forget that our thoughts are essentially the internal environment of our body that responds to our thoughts and moods on every level of our physiology. However the physiological effects of negative or stressful thinking does not dissipate swiftly like a message or a day on the beach. This is because a negative thought generates a deeper longer lasting after affect that moves more slowly out of our system because tension gets stuck deeply in our bodies on all levels While lighter experiences like joy and gratitude are restorative and drench our body and mind with relaxation ; when we are overthinking in negative ways we carve out deeper grooves of responses to help protect ourselves. What starts to respond to negativity are the defense systems of our bodies. The adrenal and limbic systems ( to name only 2 ) get turned on and ready to defend. These systems relax when we are in pure relaxed states but if the stressful or negative thoughts continue without awareness our bodily systems continue to protect and defend ourselves against our stressful internal thoughts. The key is not to eliminate stress from our lives because that is impossible. The key is how aware you are of how your particular brand or style of thinking impacts your own body which not only includes our moods and behaviors . If you disconnect from this mind - body relationship (which in the world we often do) we can numb out and not even realize how much our body is trying to tell us about the health of our mind- body state.
Bessel Van Der Kolk said it best in the title of his most recent book:
” The Body Keeps The Score”
This is really interesting and a great example of something I think we've all felt at some point.