Giving Yourself Permission to Thrive

Sometimes you know how to thrive in your life, but you just haven’t given yourself the deep permission to do it.

Sometimes, the thing holding you back is not a lack of knowledge. You know what to do. You’re just not allowing it to happen.

So I have a question for you: Have you given yourself permission to thrive?

For me, I know that I need to work on my physical health in order to really thrive. It’s probably the main area of my life that’s not as abundant as I’d like it to be. Last week I had a terrible migraine, my body was aching a lot and my muscles were really tight. I was feeling tired, unwell, inflamed and so, so far from physical vitality.

I know a lot of stuff that I can do to help my body. Like: eat a healthy, non-inflammatory diet; do more exercise; have regular self-care and maintenance like massage, chiropractic, and other healing modalities; work on my mindset; and regularly do things that support my body to heal and cleanse itself.

I know the things. I don’t know everything… but I know enough. So why don’t I always do them?

In the face of the rather unpleasant physical reality that I was experiencing last week, I had to ask myself:

“Have I really given myself deep permission to thrive in my body? And what does that deep permission look like?”

Do I relentlessly compare my physical body to others? Do I feel jealous of the fact that my body is not currently as vital as my fit friend’s body? Do I berate myself for being ‘lazy’ or ‘undisciplined’? Do I blame my pain on being hit by a car while riding my bike when I was 19… and feel helpless about what that might mean for my physical health as I get older? Do I despair of ever feeling vital and well in my body again? Do I not believe that I could ever truly heal?

Is that kind of thinking helping me?

No. That doesn’t feel like permission to thrive, does it? And yet, I have all of those thoughts sometimes. I was having those thoughts last week. I noticed that was happening.

So… after acknowledging my physical and mental reality last week… I decided that it was important to give myself permission to thrive. True permission to move forward from here in a positive way. Not by denying where I currently find myself, but by believing that my experience of my body can be transformed if I’m willing to let that happen.

This permission allows for a few things:

• I don’t have to be perfect. I’m allowed to just be willing and curious about what my physical transformation might entail.
• I can try something, and if it doesn’t work for my body I can adjust or change course. I don’t have to push my body to do things it doesn’t feel capable of, or that don’t feel nourishing to me, just because it’s something that might have worked for someone else.
• I can make incremental improvements. As long as I feel like I’m making progress, that’s enough. I don’t have to get back to full vitality in one day, or one week or even one year. It took longer than that for my body to decline in health, it may take a while to get it back.
• My body is allowed to recover and heal at its own pace, and I give myself permission to really listen to my body’s needs.
• My mindset and beliefs are allowed to support me, and as much as possible I commit to paying attention to that.

Here are the steps I took this week to support my healing:

• Firstly, I am not my thoughts. My thoughts are not a prison that I can’t escape. Once I notice them, I can either let them go or change them. The same goes for my beliefs. They don’t define me. So… I forgave myself for having negative thoughts and beliefs about my body, and I chose instead to focus on fostering a mindset that will support my health. I started regularly listening to hypnosis tracks in order to program my mind for physical wellness.
• I acknowledged what the situation is right now with my body, stopped casting around to find something to blame, and I also accepted that things can change for the better.
• I had a few lovely baths with epsom salts and essential oils. I put candles around the bath and turned out the lights. That felt like the most soothing and nurturing thing to do for my body right now. While in the bath I listened to guided meditations and beautiful music.
• I focused on filling my body with healthy and nourishing food this week. Mostly. (Except for that one ice-cream… and I took the time to enjoy every bite of that too).
• I took some good quality supplements, including adrenal support herbs.
• I used heat packs and a heat massager to ease my tight muscles.
• I did some gentle exercise. Nothing too crazy, only what I felt my body in its current state could handle.

I’m realizing that permission is about saying it’s okay for me to do what’s right for me. Not for anyone else, just for me. And it’s okay for me to have something I’m working towards – it’s okay for me not to be there yet.

I’m realizing that it’s also about giving myself permission to listen. To listen to the tips and suggestions of others, and then decide what feels right for me. And to deeply listen to my body and what it’s telling me.

It’s permission to try, and it’s also permission to not always get it right. To improve, bit by bit. And also to be able to experience the occasional setback and not give up if I do. My journey back to health is going to be a process, one which is not likely to be linear.

It’s permission to believe that it’s truly possible for me to get back to a state of health and vitality, and to trust that I’m being guided to figure out how.

It’s permission to be kind and compassionate towards myself. To treat my body with gentleness, respect and love.

It’s only now, as I sit here writing this post, that I realize I’d previously been withholding these kinds of permission from myself.

Is there an area in your life where you feel you’re withholding permission to thrive?

Scroll down and let me know in the comments, and also let me know if this post has helped you in any way.

To YOUR Abundance,

Julie Ann Cairns