The last couple weeks have been jam-packed for me with family visiting from out of town, parties, work obligations, and a fun minor cold thrown in for good measure.  It’s been a time for connection and fun and also, my body let me know about 3 days ago it needed rest!  So today, I am honoring that request by freeing my calendar, lazing about in bed, and doing stuff that truly replenishes me. 

I’m learning, but I don’t always listen to my body signals, and I don’t always get the rest thing right.  I tend to take on a lot of tasks and I have pretty high expectations, so it’s hard for me to ask for help or back down from something I’ve committed to.  And when we can’t find the balance between action and down time, sometimes our bodies step in, pull the emergency brake, and take us right into shut-down, or in polyvagal theory terms, dorsal vagal collapse.  Our body, having tried to give use gentle cues of fatigue or sore muscles or yawning, says enough is enough and it’s time to hibernate. 

The journey into shut-down mode can be hard to come back from and if we keep going down the path of ignoring our body’s signals time and time again, the emergency brake becomes a way of living.  I think many of us function in extreme patterns of living like this, going until we can’t, giving our all until we collapse, and then feeling shame and guilt when our bodies force us to rest or we get sick.

So how can we avoid the extremes and find our way back to balance?  Especially when modern society has so many tools at our disposal that keep us ignoring ourselves, screens and devices and AI that can just give us all the answers.  The way back to ourselves starts with curiosity.  Would it be okay to take a moment and listen in to my body’s sensations?  Do those sensations give me any clues what my body might need?  Does this app I’m about to open help me connect or disconnect from myself?  Could I experiment with putting my phone down for a moment and bringing my hand to my heart? 

See if this week you can start to notice activities you do that help you tune in and connect and activities you do that lead to checking out, avoidance, and dissociation.  Notice if it might be okay to keep moving towards connection and times when you truly need a brain break and disconnection.    You won’t always get it right, but starting with wonder and curiosity about that mysterious, beautiful body of yours is a good place to start. 

And now back to snuggling under my blankets 😊

Peace to you on your journey,

Cassie