The body knows

There is one rule that I would love everyone to follow: "You are the expert on yourself". Of course, this doesn't mean that you can't learn from others and from the continuous stream of experiences that you encounter every day. But from what I have seen in the past several years, it's all too easy to relinquish our power of decision-making to someone who appears to have all the answers, to someone whose credentials are beyond reproach.

According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, people tend to follow the economic advice of the experts who express themselves with the most authority and assurance, regardless of their track record. We seem to want to follow someone else's opinions on the difficult questions, relieving the burden we feel concerning the issue and being able to move on to something else. The danger inherent to this method is that we are no longer in charge of ourselves and may submit to the temptation of not taking full responsibility for our decisions.

How many times have you read the results of the latest research on food, only to be confused about the seeming contradictions between all the different studies? How can it be possible for so many conflicting outcomes to come to light on a single topic? The answer, I believe, lies in the inherent differences between every single individual on this beautiful planet. Just like no two fingerprints will match, neither will one solution ever fit universally. Generalizations are very useful since we all share the same basic biology, but refinements must left to each one of us.

If we keep to the subject of food for the moment, here is a tool that I've used quite successfully and have shared with a number of others. If you want to know whether or not your body wants a particular food, follow the steps below:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and keep your eyes open;
2. Make sure you are straight over your center of gravity;
3. Hold the food item in your hand (preferably your dominant hand) and place it against your stomach (actually the solar plexus);
4. Ask if your body wants that food right now;
5. Observe the result.

If your body resonates with the food item, then it will try to move toward it, resulting in a feeling that you are "falling" forward. However, if the body is rejecting the item, it will try to move away from it and you will feel as if you are falling backward. As it turns out, you can ask any question that pertains to you and obtain a yes/no answer in this manner, by holding the intent of the question in your hand instead of a food item. A few additional observations about this method:

a) Make sure you are ready to accept whatever the answer is. If you want a particular answer very much, then you could influence the result.
b) Your question must be very clear and precise.
c) If you are sensitive to this type of energy response, which can happen after a bit of practice, you may distinguish between weak and strong responses. Strong responses are clear, whereas weak ones tend to represent a "somewhat" rather than a "yes!". If you get no response at all on a question, and you have received responses in the past, then it's usually that you are not asking the right question. Either rephrase the question, or allow your intuition to feed you a better question.
d) The answer pertains to *now*. For example, your body may be quite excited at the prospect of eating an apple right now, but it may want something entirely different tomorrow. So if you test negative on a substance, it doesn't mean you have to throw it out! It simply means that it's not the best thing at the moment.

The bottom line is that I encourage you to listen to what others have to say and then decide for yourself if you wish to take it in, using your own body as a feedback mechanism. Judging new information based on past beliefs alone may not always be best given the limitations that beliefs normally impose. But your body can help you gauge the direction that is best for you.

Remember, you are unique. Like a snowflake, you come into this world with your own particular representation of perfection. Embrace your beauty, and enhance it with tools that allow it to shine forth.

Helene