Mind Body Connection

There is a place in the mall where you can walk in with no appointment and have a 10, 20 or 30 minute massage. On an impulse the other day I went in and had 20 minutes of "me time". It was wonderful, but I realized just how tense my muscles were. I've been under a fair amount of stress lately and had thought I was handling it ok. My muscles told a different story however. Yikes! The massage helped a lot to work out the kinks, but it got me pondering on the connection between the mind and the body.   They are separate in some ways, but yet influence and affect each other profoundly. It's kind of a chicken and egg thing isn't it? When we feel stress, our body reacts. But when we neglect our bodies and don't have enough sleep, etc than it causes us to feel stressed. Which came first? Hard to say sometimes. The same applies to weight. It is well documented that depression and weight gain go together. But do we become depressed because we gained weight and feel bad about ourselves? Or do we stop taking care of ourselves because we are depressed and then we gain weight?

The point I'd like to make is that if our bodies and minds can affect each other negatively, then it stands to reason that they would be equally connected on positive things. So even small changes we make in one can build up the other as well. When we work on our bodies and strengthen ourselves and lose weight it has an amazing affect on our mental outlook. Not only because we have more energy to try new fun things, but also because we feel more personal power. We are proud of our accomplishments and hold our heads a little higher knowing we look better. This was one of the biggest surprises to me from my weight loss actually. I expected that it would make me feel better physically and help my health. I did not expect the almost total change in all of the other areas of my life as well, as I had more general enthusiasm for living. So for me it was body first then mind. But I wonder...if weight loss is stalled. What if we started taking more time to nurture our spirits? To start a new hobby or play more with our kids or pause each day for quite meditation. Whatever works for us personally to help ease our minds and fill up our hearts so our attitudes are full of joy and hope. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that doing this would help in our weight loss (unless we choose to eat double chocolate cakes to boost our moods of course).  When we are happier we have more overall energy and zest for tackling projects. It is easier to get out of bed to workout. We feel more confidence which helps us overcome the difficulties of our weight loss journey. We feel more hopeful for a positive end results which keeps us active and moving forward. So if your weight loss is stalled or moving too slowly for your liking, try working on boosting your mood and internal outlook rather than beating yourself up about your supposed failures. Focus on being HAPPY rather than just on being thin and see if it doesn't work out that you become both in the process. Good luck!