13 Comments
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Unexpected Values's avatar

Hi, thanks for writing this!

You wrote "I spent so many years of my life trying to live mostly in my head". My best guess is that this describes me currently. I don't really understand the "living in the body" thing yet, but I'd like to, and I'd like to figure out how I can do it too. Do you have any advice? Thanks!

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AS's avatar

wow this is so deeply accurate, I've never been able to put into words the way my brain works, "If you’re okay, then I’m allowed to be okay."

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Carraig Ó Raghallaigh's avatar

Yeah, your body will tell you it would rather die than have to be around someone for another five minutes, but your brain; "these are your friends, why don't you want to talk to them, better yet, here are all the possible things you could say, and now I will pantomime what they might say back, won't it be fun!". Listen to the body.

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sarah's avatar

Wow. This is tooooo relatable. Always seeking external signals for assurance and validation is exhausting and leaves you feeling like you have no identity, no body.

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Richard Ngo's avatar

You might enjoy knowing: a friend sent me the last two paragraphs and it was immediately clear to me that you had written it, just from the style and content. In some ways that's a shame—wish more people were writing like this. But pretty cool that you've carved out such a distinct niche.

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Nour Fakharany's avatar

Reading this gave me goosebumps - what a funny upside down world we live in, where all the answers are always there - written on the walls, and yet we still do not possess the confidence to believe what we feel

Thank you!!

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jessie rose's avatar

loving "when I started living in my body I started feeling for the first time that I could trust myself in a way that extended beyond trust of my intelligence, of my ability to pick up on cues in my external environment"

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Ahsan Gill's avatar

"If you’re okay, then I’m allowed to be okay." ❤

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maxine barton's avatar

thank u <3

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Diordaemon's avatar

Love this. I have really been trying to work on getting more into my body and being able to navigate the world through it. This post is just affirming that I need to work harder towards that. Our bodies are more intelligent than we give it credit for. Thank you

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Doug Toft's avatar

This is so cool. You gave voice to my experience. I tried to capture it in my posts about bodywork as spiritual practice. Do you know the work of Judith Blackstone about embodiment?

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Debbie Konner's avatar

Hey Ava, I’d love to connect and chat. I’ll upgrade to join and maybe we can do it then/ I’m working today but read your post and would love to help/ xoxo ps You and David Gerken is why I decided to join. You’re “let’s be friends” was so adorable and welcoming!

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Tina Foster's avatar

Thanks for this. I've spent decades writing and talking about this very thing and wish I'd had your words a long time ago.

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