Coming back home to our bodies after neglecting ourselves can feel like coming home to an abandoned place.
It can feel uncomfortable, awkward, scary. It can even feel like our bodies don’t want us there. And maybe we don’t want to be there, either. Especially if our bodies have become storage spaces for too many unresolved upsets and too much pain, shame and discomfort.
It makes sense that we’d want to avoid this relationship and pursue relationships outside of ourselves that feel better, whether it’s a relationship with another person or a relationship to some substance.
But when we leave our bodies and disconnect from the relationship with ourselves, it can leave us feeling like we’re homeless—like we don’t have a refuge in our bodies.
And so we float in orbit, keeping ourselves busy with whatever coping mechanisms we have access to, but never feel as settled as we’d like.
Repairing the relationship with ourselves begins when we give ourselves a chance. When we offer love to ourselves and find out that our own love is precious and very much worth our own time.
When we take the time to connect with ourselves, we begin to trust ourselves to be there, and trust that we can offer ourselves the compassion and listening and understanding we’ve been longing for, even when the going gets tough.
-JLK
