This week is national nutrition and hydration week, in case you didn't know. When thinking about how a coach might blog about food and water, the word that popped into my head was ?nourishment'. I headed to Google to check the meaning and the most common definition appears to be ?supply with what is necessary for life, health and growth' and what's interesting is that for every literal meaning, there is a figurative or spiritual interpretation. Nourish is an intensely evocative word, don't you think?
Most of us know, don't we, that what we eat and drink can have a dramatic impact on how we feel and our overall health and wellbeing. I'm well aware when I choose to eat something less healthy that, for a short period, it feels fab, but for a few days afterwards, I'm aware of the physical impact.
I was talking with a good friend recently who has spent much of the winter months lurching from one cold or infection to another. I think there have been a couple of courses of antibiotics in the mix, so not just the normal viral stuff. We had the usual conversations: Burning the candle at both ends? Eating sensibly? Sleeping okay? Come into contact with someone recently who was ill? And our view was that she wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary to be so afflicted.
Does this sound familiar?
My friend also told me that she was aware that she was wrestling with some unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. In fact, she'd been wrestling with them for nearly a year now, and she felt that she was getting to the point where she needed some help to explore what was really going on. So her mind was preoccupied, trying to make sense of some complex emotions and behaviours and she was feeling mentally out-of-sorts.
We realised that she had been doing a great job of trying to avoid addressing the unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, and when we looked at her physical health alongside her mental health, we noticed a pattern.
Does this still sound familiar?
In fact, she came to the conclusion that her physical self was a representation of her mental self. It hadn't mattered how much nourishment she'd given her physical self to help her body work effectively. She hadn't been nourishing her mental self. She'd been withholding nourishment by avoiding exploring those unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. So her mental self seized command and manifested its displeasure through her body.
I know I can identify times in the past when I've done this. Maybe you can identify those times and behaviours as well?
Maybe it's because we can't see the impact of withholding mental nourishment in the same way that we can with physical nourishment. I know when I have a long hard look at my physical symptoms or cravings, I notice they are symptomatic of something unresolved. And that requires me to spend time and energy exploring - or nourishing - a resolution, so that my body and mind can work more effectively together and propel me towards life, health and growth.
