Shine

I think the best way to glow up in your life is to honor everything about who you are. Honor all the stuff that makes you, you. I believe by honoring your mind, you glow up in a way that shines from the inside outward. It kind of comes from within. It shines through in the way you move and in the way you talk. You find yourself waking up with a smile on your face, Monday’s no longer a “dreaded” day but instead another day to live your best life. You find yourself smiling more and laughing more. The “bad” days become no longer, and you find yourself truly happy. One cannot help but shine when that happens, but I do believe what starts in the mind, eventually becomes the physical and vice versa.

So, let’s take any mental illness that people suffer from….eventually that depression, anxiety, PTSD will come to the physical. It will manifest into the physical. When you are always inside that darkness, inside that struggle, your physical body will start to follow suite. It will do what the mind says it should do, and when you are battling mental health issues, the mind is not telling the body to do things that light it up. The mind is not feeding the body beautiful messages of hope and grace. It is mentally beating the shit out of you and your body will most definitely feel that.

"Don't let your mind bully your body." - June Tomaso Wood

Chronic illness, cancer, amputations…all these things that start as a physical can manifest into mental illness. When you are always working against the curve, it can get exhausting. When trying to get a shower, fucking hurts, you tend to not shower as much, and soon you feel mentally incapable of a shower. When your body is taking on meds and going through multiple surgeries, tests are being run and you are seeing a doctor almost more than you see your friends….that is mentally exhausting and your mind will suffer. When physically it is hard to move, when fatigue is draining you, it is hard to stimulate the mind. The physical body stops asking for the good stuff. You stop asking for good, because you never feel good. So, soon that physical thing has seeped into your mind.

All of this is true, I know because I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night….hahaha Nah, I know because I lived it, I live it. I suffer from both mental illness and physical illness. If I am being honest, I think my mental illness (which lead to substance abuse) manifested into my RA. Is there “proof”, I say yes….but “scientifically” I am not sure (something for me to dig further into) but there is really no answer for autoimmune illnesses so, who is to say what is right or wrong at this point. The fact is, I suffered from mental illness most my life, and after getting sober I got sick. It took a few years to diagnose but it happen just like that. I got therapy, I changed my life for the better, I became a mother…and then I got physically sick. After getting physically sick, I ended up suffering from mental illness AGAIN…but the cool part is I didn’t turn to substance abuse to cope and I am proud as hell of myself. I never let the old ways of coping come back into my life. That is strength, and in a spiritual way, it was a test…and I passed.

"What we don't need in the midst of struggle is shame for being HUMAN" - Brene Brown

Anyways, that is really a different blog, my point here is that what is within, will also be without. What you live in your mind will be physically manifested. That is where the glow comes from but I am here to say maybe you need to start the other way around. Start by changing the body and watch the mind follow suit. As powerful as the mind is, it is still part of a beautiful system, and sometimes we can fake it until we make it. We trick the mind by asking the physical body to ask for what it needs. This can be done in many ways, but one that is special to me is massage. Massage has become vital in this day and age, human touch is so needed to stimulate the mind and receive all those good vibes. With humans more socially distanced, the body is lacking a lot of that stimulation that human touch gives.

Did you know there are approximately 5 million touch receptors in the human skin, 3000 of those are in just one of your fingertips. So trust me when I tell you, it is not hard to see why human connection is the single most vital aspect of existence. Sure, we have come a long way in the area of modern medicine, but the truth is our bodies are way more powerful than we give them credit for, and we often overlook their ability to heal themselves. How do we tap into the healing power of our bodies…..through touch. Massage is an active way to ask the body to create and release powerful endorphins, such as oxytocin and dopamine. These endorphins help us to regulate our emotions, they help us sleep better and they can create a natural painkiller to the aches and pains of life. The release of these endorphins reduces stress and can boost your body’s own natural immune system. Whether you suffer from chronic illness and pain, or depression and anxiety, the body can produce what you need to feel better, you just have to know how to speak its language…..and with 5 MILLION touch receptors in the human skin…you can bet that touch is the love language of the body, mind and spirit!

"Be good to your skin. You'll wear it everyday for the rest of your life." Renne Rouleau

Massage is so much more than just rubbing on a person’s skin. It is manipulating the muscles and releasing some of those trapped acids. It is stretching the muscles and allowing them full range of motion. Massage is relaxing, and it feels good. Why does it feel good? Touch receptors. Remember 5 million of them exist on your body. That is a lot! When we engage those receptors (through physical touch) we stimulate the mind (through neurotransmitters), and the mind in return stimulates the body (the physical becomes the mental, the mental becomes the physical). A beautiful and amazing system that works so flawlessly with our human condition. Massage, touch, stimulation, not just of your body but of your mind. That is a whole different kind of glow up. Ever talk to someone after a really good massage? They are almost drunk. The endorphins are firing.

I believe massage, with the right person, is the best and easiest way to start faking the mind out. But there are so many physical ways we can trick our mind into firing off the endorphins. Dancing is a great example. You do not have to know how to dance, to dance (boys take note here!!! Just fucking dance with her!!! She loves to dance, I promise!) Just dance, and watch how you automatically smile. Moving your body is the fastest way to trick your mind into doing its job better. It triggers a cycle of the body’s natural process. This is why exercising is so important for good health. It keeps the body preforming the cycle affectingly. When physical movement is withheld, the cycle will not remain strong. Get up and go to the beach, go lay in the sun, soak up some vit D. Read a good book, or listen to some great music. Move....just move!

Another thing that can stimulate the mind through a physical act is hugs. Hugs are the greatest invention ever (that is my story and I am sticking to it), hugs actually stimulate the release of oxytocin, which is stored in the pituitary gland. Oxytocin is known as the “love” hormone, and it the reason when we hug we can feel an exchange of energy. When that hormone is released in both people, they can feel it more strongly. Hugs are amazing things and I probably hug people a little too long most times, and sometimes I squeeze them and they have to struggle to get free…..hahaha but maybe if they knew I was trying to stimulate both theirs and my own oxytocin they would not struggle so much? Did you know the word “hug” is believed to come from the Scandinavian word “hugga”, which means “to comfort”? More than likely the action of hugging started as a way to produce heat and warmth, but I imagine once they realized it also felt good…they did it more and more often. Until it became (and for me always will be) a way to say “hello, I love you!”

Any time you can move your body physically, or have someone else manipulate your body physically…it will trigger a response from the body, which will trigger a response to the brain but you can also do this by what I like to refer to as “self-care.” (Massage can be included in this too….massage is 100 percent AMMMAzing) So, take a bath, paint your nails, take a hot shower, wash your hair, brush your teeth, put on some makeup and get dressed up, wash your face! Anything that requires you to give physical time and energy to your own body is a plus in tricking the mind. It starts to get use to these little moments, and it looks forward to them, when you preform them it stimulate those hormones and you feel good. Getting a facial is a sure fire way to get that glow up look. When you get a facial they use amazing products on your skin (especially at My Favorite Place Spa…just a little plug) and that does help the skin appear like it is glowing, but the science behind it also proves that a facial massage stimulates the collagen in your skin and helps promote blood circulation and lymphatic drainage. On top of all of that, it helps your skin feel seen. It says “Thank you for holding all our insides, inside. Thanks for having beautiful movement and wrinkles, so I can smile and enjoy my life.” AND it is another thing that you can physically do without doing anything. I promise….get a facial!!! I promise, you will not ever regret taking time to pamper your body. It says “I love you” in a physical (and energetic) way that tricks the mind into releasing all that good serotonin into your system, so good.

Yoga, meditation, prayer, sage your surroundings, clean your house, wash your car….all of these things are physical things that can stimulate the brain. Meditation and prayer are, in my humble opinion, the same thing. In prayer you are praying to God, in meditation you are going inward, where God also exists, so…same. Yoga may be seen as “exercise” but in all actuality, it is a beautiful way to meditate. You get to a place where the movements become a dance of sorts, but you are dancing with yourself. The flow of yoga is meditative. It helps your mind go into a zen state, which the mind needs, to recharge and re-center, it is why we need sleep. When we get restful sleep, it help both the physical and mental work better together. Cleaning your surroundings, whether it is physically or energetically, is a way to stimulate the mind. A clear and clean place to be is always more restorative than a cluttered mess. Sage!!! Burning sage has Native American roots, but can be traced as far back as the Egyptians. Most that burn sage today, do it to cleanse, a person or space….but it has been said to also promote healing and wisdom.

sage: 1: wise through reflection and experience 2: proceeding from or characterized by wisdom, prudence, and good judgement.

The physical will manifest into the mental, and the mental will manifest into the physical. There is no other way to say it. What you think, will be what you believe, and what you do, will become who you are. So, do good things for your body, and say good things to your mind. Find ways to physically love your body. I give myself a foot massage every Friday morning. I love it. I give thanks for another badass week. I say thank you for carrying me around all week, and I physically manipulate the skin and muscles. Is it the “same” as getting a foot massage from someone else (I am open to anyone volunteering to give me one…hit me up…no weirdos lol?) No, of course not….but it is not meant to be the same, it is meant to give thanks for another week of badassery. So, it gets the job done…both mentally and physically, because one does not exist without the other. They work together in a beautiful relationship. Honor that system….love your body physically and it will stimulate your mind to love your body mentally!

So beautiful!

"Beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart" - Kahili Gibram