What we think we become. Our thoughts manifest into physical attributes, changing how we look and feel. Our bodies literally transform, becoming the image we show the world.
Actors illustrate this mind/ body connection clearly. Assuming a part’s persona, an actor often begins by physicalizing the character’s movements and carriage. By simply holding a head high or slumping their shoulders, they convert their own body into the role they are portraying. We can easily read others by how they carry themselves. We witness people who have become their thoughts and behaviors daily.
If we want to change how we walk through the world, it starts by letting go of behaviors, usually unconscious ones, of how we carry ourselves. If left unchecked, these habits can result in physical manifestations, including premature aging, illness, and skeletal discomfort.
11 Things To Let Go, Changing How you Look
1) The Weight of the World Upon Our Shoulders. We can’t change the world by carrying it around, so let’s put it down. Hunching or sloping and rolling our shoulders forward to carry the burden often creates a rounded back, aging us beyond our years. It compresses the spine and our lovely necks, which can manifest into back pain, headaches, joint discomfort, to name a few.
2) A Scowl or Frown. Who remembers hearing as a child, wipe that look off your face, or it will stay that way? If you find yourself consistently wearing either, you may be unknowingly imprinting a permanent look on your face. It is said that at 40 yrs old, you have the face that your attitude has created. Choosing a smile outshines a frown any day.
3) Looking Down Your Nose. When you look down your nose at someone, your eyes become harsh, sometimes even a bit crossed. Not a good look for anyone of any age. It projects an air of judgment, superiority, and disapproval. By letting go of those attitudes, it allows us to see with an open and accepting mind.
4) A Stiff Upper Lip. A tight-lipped response is a mask we wear when we are in denial of our emotions, shoving down our feelings or suppressing our needs and replacing it with an air that all is ok. A rigidity coincides with the lip’s tension that unknowingly tightens the neck and shoulders down into the back.
5) Expectations Others Place Upon Us. Wearing the expectations we have allowed others to place upon us takes us away from living our own truth. Let those people who put their expectations upon you take them back. Let them actualize them for themselves.
6) Wearing Disappointments as a Plea for Sympathy. Holding on to disappointments for too long will restrict our growth. Bad times will pass if we understand that we are holding on to something we cannot change. Living in the past robs us from living in the present.
7) Grudges and Resentments, just like disappointments, limit our growth. These emotions can be toxic to ourselves as well as those around us. Holding on to slights, perceived, or otherwise keeps us chained to that moment that no longer exists.
8) Rose Colored Glasses: Admit it, we have ALL worn them one time or another.
Shielding reality by being overly optimistic, naive, or oblivious about a situation is just as detrimental as being negative. Our ability to see clearly exists if we let go of the fear of realistically seeing ourselves.
9) An I Can’t Attitude. Not a great look. When you carry a dark cloud and a defeatist attitude around, it contributes to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and a lack of success. The slumped profile can contribute to neck, shoulder, and back pain. This attitude always propels me to ask. “But if you could do it, how would that feel?”
The alternative Can Do attitude fits all body types.
10) A Know it All Attitude. No one likes a know it all. This attitude is often a mask for insecurity and is concerned with how others perceive us. It can be deeply ingrained from family dynamics, serving as a defense mechanism. However, because it was, it does not mean it needs to continue to be. The energy is destructive to relationships, so best to drop it. Learning to listen is a place to start.
11) Our Super Hero Personas. These have been a popular item for years. We thought we could, and had to do it all. We can lose the costume; understanding it is not the end of the world to ask for help in fact is it is a sign of strength.
What never hinders how we look is an open heart, an easy smile, a straight back, a flexible approach, a zest for living, and a positive attitude.
The connection between body, mind, and spirit is paramount in the philosophies of eastern medicine. Our illnesses and injuries indicate what is going on at a deep and usually unrecognized subconscious level. Because we cannot see it doesn’t make it untrue.
It has taken a lifetime to create some of the physicalities we end up with, but we can shed them in an instant once we become aware. It is never too late to let them go.
It begins with the courage to look at who we really are. The original meaning of the word courage was to speak all that is in one’s heart. Are you ready to love yourself enough to look deep inside, so you may begin to undo the looks you have become accustomed to wearing?