Listen to Your Body - 2 in Self Help @ os.me
After listing some incidents showcasing body’s inherent intelligence in a previous post, I managed to remember some more experiences from my life, that depicts and confirms the fact that our body possesses an intelligence which is capable of sending relevant signals at right time. If you pay attention and observe closely, you too can take appropriate decisions whenever your body sends a signal.
When I was young, me and my friends used to gather at our friend’s house (situated midway at the alleyway) to play cricket. (yep, we used to play cricket at the middle of the road 😆🏏)
On a particular day, the weather was a little bit on the colder side and winds were also blowing at a higher speed. So I decided to wear a sweater and went to the playing spot. On reaching there, my brother’s friend said to me – “ye sweater kyu pehna hai?, tujhe abhi se hi thand lag rahi hai kya?”.
At that time, I was easily influenced by almost every elder person and didn’t have the courage to take the stand for myself. Despite being unconsciously aware of my body’s unease against the winds and cold, I decided to ignore my body’s signals and quickly ran to my home to remove my sweater at that friends’ order and again went to the playing spot.
This incident also occurred around the same timeline as the above incident. The difference was this incident took place in a class room. It was probably the last week of February and some students (including me) were still wearing sweaters. Our teacher casually remarked- “abhi tak thand gayi nahi hai kya?”, to which my friend replied – “mujhe to nahi lag rahi thand.” (yes, he was amongst the students who didn’t wear sweater)
Growing up, these incidents left a not so empowering impression on my mind. Sometimes, I am appalled at the human mind – it just about turns every incident into a belief (usually dis-empowering). And as you might have guessed, this thing made me feel inferior and weaker from others as I was impacted by cold and winds easily than other people. I could not comprehend the reason behind this thing, well until ‘The Wellness Sense’ came to my rescue.
There are several points stated in the book that resolved my confusion-
Charaka, and other sage-physicians of his time, understood that the unique constitution of an individual was the decisive factor in how he responded to the consumption of food and medicine. One’s constitution determined how one would respond to the external environment. They classified the elements of the constitution with three humours: vata, pitta and kapha.
Vata is made up of the elements of air and ether. It is cold, light and motive.
The primary characteristic of pitta is heat. It is chiefly made up of fire element; its secondary element is water.
Vatas prefer summers. They are most comfortable in warm environments. They are very sensitive towards any changes in the temperature, and their body reacts to such variations quickly.
Pittas are usually warm. They love winters and cold climates. They are uncomfortable in hot weather. They are not as bothered in changing seasons or summers as vatas are in winter. Heat tires them out quickly.
By reading the book, it was clear to me that I belong to the vata category and that’s why my body gets impacted easily by cold and winds as compared to pitta and kapha individuals. And the best part is I understood that every individual is differentely built and I do not need to listen to them and feel inferior for wearing an extra layer of clothing due to a quick change in the temperature outside. So if you belong to the vata category, just listen to your body and feel free to wear an extra layer of clothing, if that’s what your body requires.
(Yes, the teacher and my friends belonged to pitta category, no wonder they were not wearing sweaters. 🙃)
We are now in second half of 2019 (when things were sane in most parts of the world)
Due to my ignorance, my right jaw had swelled and there was pus formation at the right side of my mouth. So a dentist visit came calling and I booked a cab for the same. After reaching the clinic, I gently informed him about the relatives who recommended him as their go-to dentist. He knew about my relatives and said – “achha, achha, samajh gaya.” (Trust me, he didn’t even gave a single rupee concession from his fee 🙃😒)
After a little bit of questions and answers related to my problem, he did some cleaning around my right molar and prescribed me a 5-day dose. On my way home, I stopped at a medical store and handed my prescription to the attendant. While he was bringing the medicines to the counter, I glanced at the medicines and boy their sight would induce anxiety in just about everyone – one by one, he placed 5 different long and fat medicines at the counter. I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me (aisa dose kon likhta hai bhai? 😠😳) But the situation at hand demanded me to take the medicines, regardless of how I feel about them. (To be honest, I try to avoid the medicines as long as I can and sometimes I have no option left but to take them.)
So I reached home and started taking the medicines with a nakhre wala face.
Day 1 dose taken
After around 3.5-4 days (I don’t remember exactly), when I decided to take my medicine around afternoon, something unexpected took place that left me at my wits’ end – as I put my medicine in the mouth and proceeded to drink water, the medicine just wouldn’t go down my throat, no matter what. I almost finished half-glass water trying to take the medicine, but it didn’t budge from its place and was stubbornly stuck at the upper palate of my mouth.
I took this incident as a hint from my body that everything is all right and I don’t need to take any more medicines. This was the first time that the body has refused to accept any medicine (at least I thought so), and to be honest I still doesn’t know whether it was right to stop the medicines or not; I only did what I felt at that time.
Have you ever experienced such a incident with medicines in your life? I would be glad to know about your experience and views on this incident.
Thank you for your time. 🙂🙂
Feature image credits – Pixabay