"Honey, we need to talk," says your body E-Book

Carola Ramsauer

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 461

Beschreibung

The language of our body - how can we understand it? How can we decode its messages? How can we get back into dialog with it - our best friend - so that we can correctly interpret, treat and heal symptoms of illness? This book aims to provide answers to these questions. The focus is less on theory and more on practice. The author can cite countless exemplary cases from her 30 years of professional experience as a body therapist. She has many insightful, interesting and amusing stories to tell. She takes us on a journey through our bodies. Exemplary body parts are highlighted in order to find out the causes of the most diverse symptoms.

Leseprobe

Acknowledgments

Above all, I would like to thank my two children, Paula and Richard, for their patience with me.

Thank you to all the special guides and teachers, people who expanded my thinking. Trainings and initiations allowed me to learn to understand the human body in its language. I can only share these insights through the fundamental knowledge of my predecessors and my own research based on it. I would like to thank all the patients and doctors who have placed their trust in me.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to finish this book and to all the readers.

Thank you Helmut Kinon, my extraordinary teacher in craniosacral therapy, Dr. Ines Oberscheid, Franz Renggli, Anne Elfriede Gruhn, the author Jürgen Seibold, Thomas Schmidt and all those who have shared their knowledge with me.

Yours sincerely

Carola Ramsauer

Foreword

Dear reader.

Where would we end up if everyone said: "Where would we end up?" And no one would go to see where we would end up if we left.

How are you feeling right now, today and in general?

What do you have to tell?

Now we have time for a break and time for reflection.

Nice to meet you.

Where does it pinch?"

You might point with a big arm movement all around you.

"Everywhere, actually."

"That's good. Let's listen carefully to this pinch."

This book was written in and from my practice.

Foreword

When we understand our body, it is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

"Honey, we need to talk," says your body when it pinches.

Your body is the best fortune teller. No fortune teller or even a medium can give you such honest, concrete information about your fears, needs and possibilities. Trust your friend, your body, and you will walk straight into the arms of an easier and more vibrant life.

With a better understanding of your own body, you can make the future easier and more meaningful. An inherited view has sometimes caused us to be afraid of our own bodies. But this fear is unfounded.

In this book, we look at various aspects of our lives, especially aspects of illness symptoms from the perspective of our body. They make us realize that we are simply perfect. When we know why we are ill, we get better faster.

The language of your body is a declaration of love for you

Let's start like this: I speak on behalf of our body, which often draws attention to itself, but is sometimes not really heard and understood.

It is not uncommon for us to misinterpret or immediately suppress the signs of life that our body sends out. This is because fear is sometimes at the forefront of our minds and prevents us from paying any attention to the signals our body is sending: Fear of lack, fear of pain and, more generally, fear of illness.

Far too often, the gift that our own wonderful body gives us in the form of a symptom disappears unpacked and with colorful pills as an addition in a drawer, where it either dissolves or becomes hard and unattractive.

It is a valuable experience to lose our fear of our own body. We can listen and be curious about our body's cues, listen to its language and trust our inner self.

Of course, the innovations of the pharmaceutical industry are a valuable enrichment. And yet it is possible to almost joyfully say goodbye to the fear of our own body and understand the language of our body with humor. Then we lose our panic and insecurity. This creates new kinds of conversations with our body, our real home.

In this book, I would like to tell you about my daily practice. People often discover that there is more to their complaints than they would think at first glance. These experiences are very individual, because every symptom has its own story and no two pains are really the same. Every body speaks in its own special language. No encyclopaedia in the world or website will be able to break down, paint or show us the many small details of our body. Nor is that the aim of our encounter. Every person is a small universe in itself and every body is unique. The examples in the book can provide an insight into the beauty of our body - and offer an idea of the real causes and the "why" of so-called symptoms and areas of pain.

Our body is ingenious. Even if we unfortunately often insult it and classify its functions as inadequate, our body always means well with us at every second. Like a small baby animal, our body simply tries to survive, to keep up, to be allowed to stay with the pack. Our body does its best to do this and wants to be a helpful support in our physical life. It gives us concrete indications of what we really need.

Have you already familiarized yourself with the uniqueness, the wonderful meaningfulness of your body? Take a look at how stable and at the same time soft the strategically gigantic structure of the bones is and how ingenious the highly complicated and almost inscrutable metabolic processes are. Look at the directing and reacting hormone system. The wonderfully thinking brain, the unerring gut feeling. Feet that carry us through our lives. Hands with which we grasp and shape our lives - every day anew. Arms that can hold, carry, push and lift. Legs that run, walk and make us sit down. Our wonderful stomach, which swallows everything, digests, provides energy. Blood that keeps us going. A heart that pumps, loves and can break.

The little bumps, imperfections, arches and dents, everything is in its place and the way we need it. No part of a person's body reacts randomly with symptoms, appearance, shaping and hypersensitivity. Accidents with corresponding lacerations or fractures do not happen by chance in exactly this now "demolished" place. In order for someone to break a bone in a certain area of the body, certain conditions must be present. There is a very specific softness, hardness, porous area in a suitable area, which of course was not diagnosed before the accident. Why would it be? So-called accidents are often stupid coincidences, rather minor things; like falling off the second step of a ladder. Only if our body has a reason to injure itself does a stumble or slip result in a corresponding wound, disorder or, as we then call it, an illness.

Once the symptom is there, the first reflex is to want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. There are as many strategies for avoiding pain as there are grains of sand on the beach. People are very adept at not wanting to perceive pain as an opportunity or as an experience to be lived through. It is certainly unpleasant, nobody doubts that. I don't mean making light of the situation either. I mean paying attention to your body in the here and now and not DISregarding it. Yes, I know it's not easy, but it's valuable and helpful for the current life situation.

Of course, it's easy to pop a tried and tested tablet when you feel a pinch or twinge. Drink plenty, wait a moment - and the pain is gone. The latest medical research and developments allow us to carry on quickly despite aches and pains. And advertising suggests to modern people that we can go to the movies in a good mood, even though we were on the verge of saying no to a friend because of an annoying headache. All we have to do is swallow the headache pill and everything is back to normal. But thoughts of fear attract illness. And fear makes you ill. Illness is just a reaction of life.

Our modern medicine is now so advanced that it is even common to define healthy people as asymptomatically ill.

The desire to truly heal sufferers from illness is as old as mankind itself and has been the driving force behind countless discoveries and achievements. Supposedly harmful bacteria can be destroyed, leprosy cured, fractures wired. Many thanks to all the thinkers who have spent nights and nights, at first highly covertly and sometimes in self-experimentation, doing everything they could to provide great help to mankind. Many thanks and respect to all emergency physicians, midwives, cardiologists, internists, general practitioners, surgeons and anesthesiologists. Not forgetting the wonderful nursing staff, who usually go above and beyond to ensure the well-being of patients. Thanks to all the therapists, psychologists and rehabilitation facilities for their patience, strength and commitment. Millions of people owe their lives to them all. However, a changed awareness of one's own body, of being healed, of one's own life, makes recovery under treatment much easier and faster.

First of all, ask yourself what your body means to you. Personally, I see my body as my house, my chassis, my feeler, seer, listener, my action potential. I can read, write, think, earn money, find a partner and do everything imaginable with my body.

When I visit the "Body Worlds" exhibition, I enjoy listening to other visitors comment on the specimens on display:

"What was that again? ... Is that the liver? ... How big is it actually? ... Where is the spleen, left or right? ... Is the left side now in my body or is it not always documented in top view, as if the doctor is now facing me? ... What and where is the meniscus? I've already had surgery on that. ... Oh, that's what a hand looks like from the inside. How interesting! ... And the origins of the finger muscles are largely in the forearm? So that's why my hand trainer is called a forearm trainer?"

There are also several models and skeletons of the human body in my practice. When my patients look at these, I point out very clearly that the figures are the original size. "A model like that is actually you. Hey, that's you, that's what you look like on the inside, it's not something strange, peculiar, it's you!"

Sometimes people are frightened because this brings the reference to possible fragility, injury and change closer into focus. Suddenly it becomes clear that everything is also finite. The skeleton becomes a direct part of one's own body perception.

The same effect is often felt when looking at detailed anatomy images in all variations and representations. Approaching one's own inner life still seems to frighten many people. Most people have a cookbook and tax rules to hand, but an anatomy atlas is less common. Yet this would be a very important book in every household. It's worth browsing the internet for pictures of fasciae or individual organs.

How about a little phone call to our body? When a friend needs us, we call more often to show that we are thinking of them. Sometimes we do something together or make our friend happy with small gifts. Our legs, for example, are such loyal friends. They have carried us for many years. Always exactly the way we want them to and exactly where we want to go. So let's ring the doorbell of our legs. First with one, then listen to the other. How are our legs feeling right now?

"Hello, dear leg, how tall are you? How strong are you? Maybe more or less ruined or battered? Maybe you are fat, thin, with varicose veins, so you have a lump hanging from you, or maybe you are very fine and thin-skinned. You, my dear leg, allow me to sit, stand, walk, crawl, hop, jog, sit children on my lap. Thank you for always being there for me."

Oops, there's still a lot that our legs can do. When things aren't running smoothly, we notice immediately. But when nothing hurts, we often forget about them. Let's give our bodies our undivided attention on a regular basis, just as best friends should.

Through him, and only with him, are many opportunities and sensual pleasures made possible for us. In this context, it can be funny to watch Otto Waalkes' sketch "The Human Body" again: "Spleen to eye: I see something you don't see. Eye to spleen: You don't believe that yourself, you blind nut!"

Thousands of times, patients tell me that they didn't realize how great the restrictions in everyday life would be if this or that part of the body no longer worked.

But do we really want to ignore the possibility of growing through painful experiences? Is it really the case that people can only learn through suffering?

Every little thing in everyday life is special and is then called a coincidence. Something only comes to you when you need it. Sure, we all have our areas of knowledge and preferences. Few people deal with the human body, unless they have to do with it professionally.

An operation is not just a repair or replacement of a functional unit. In the end, the body needs time to heal, flow and thrive. We need care, love, patience and attention to ourselves.

If the patient takes on some of the responsibility for themselves, the healing of the body is made considerably easier.

Talking to your heart: a first attempt to get closer to yourself

Have you ever spoken to your heart? Why don't you try it this way?

"What do you look like, my heart? How big are you? You, dear heart, have been beating for me for so long, second by second. You keep everything going, tirelessly, regardless of whether I'm awake or asleep, sad or happy. You, dear heart, are always beating. Actually, you deserve at least a manager's salary, plus a Christmas bonus and the 14th month's salary because you never take a vacation."

Embrace your heart lovingly and honestly in your thoughts! Or listen to your partner's or child's heartbeat for a few minutes - put your ear to it and listen. This sound, this regularity, creates humility within us. Talking to your heart is so important: "Hey, how are you? What do you need?"

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry summed up the secret best:

"You can only see well with your heart. The essentials are invisible to the eyes."

Our heart begins to beat on the 20th day after implantation of the fertilized cell in the womb.

Here I am not committing myself to the exact day, because on the one hand different figures are given in the research, and on the other hand these facts are based on laboratory tests. The pulsation of the heart is caused by the rhythmic emission of electrical impulses. Later, the sinus node takes over this function and, also via electrical impulses, gets the heart's rhythm going. This is why, by the way, I think it is very unwise to carry cell phones in the left breast pocket. At the tender age of 3 weeks, we definitely decide that we want to live here on earth.

That's what our heart says. With increasing age, the little heart is then forgotten; it becomes an organ, a unit of measurement, used to measure the so-called state of the body. In the end, we all die of heart failure, regardless of what preceded it.

Our heart is much more than just the pump that pumps our blood through our veins and eventually stops beating. Joe Dispenza writes in his book "Become Supernatural": "In 1991, J. Andrew Armour showed that the heart literally has a mind of its own. It has a nervous system of up to 40,000 neurons that functions independently of the brain and is known as the heart brain. Today there is the scientific field of neurocardiology."1

Our heart determines the way we think in our childhood; we cry, laugh and play with all our heart. We touch great people with childlike warmth. Forgiveness, too, can only come from the heart. With our minds, we are able to rethink and accept events from the past. But true forgiveness can only be initiated through a reconciled heart.

Sometimes I sit in front of people and can't immediately empathize or understand their stories. I have gotten into the habit of thinking the following sentence: "I love you so much."

As soon as the sentence is thought, a new, loving feeling towards the person I'm talking to arises as if by magic.

Why not give it a try?

You are talking to another person and can't quite agree with their opinion intellectually. Then you think this sentence to yourself: "I love you so much."

And then you will experience in the flesh that your feelings change immediately and that you have developed compassion from the heart.

When in doubt, listen to your heart, not your brain. It is ancient wisdom that the heart always knows the right way.

A friend recently told me that she had measured her blood pressure by chance and the reading was too high according to conventional medicine and the scale. She had no symptoms or pain. But she was worried because, according to the table, the quantity was high. When I asked her what was going on, what she needed to be able to "keep going", she told me that her job sucked so much that she wanted to drop dead. Well, of course the heart says: "My dear, that's not how it works, we still have a lot to do, we're needed. So, before you fall into a state of lifelessness, I'll give your heart a quick boost and pump a little faster, harder and with a little more pressure, because that's a great way to maintain our body's overall system."

But what did my friend do in her learned fear? She googled for heart medication, including beta blockers. Now let's imagine this from the body's point of view!

Her heart is currently enabling her to cope with the current situation and, in her old habit, she is looking for medication to stop her heart's emergency program. Fear can build up in such a case. Once we have a fear of stroke, cerebral apoplexy and a wide range of delusions of various clinical pictures, our heart reacts with all its loving kindness and continues to pump hard against it until the owner perhaps understands and realizes that all the cobwebs are only temporary and yet everything is actually fine.

The heart knows nothing of the fact that there are all kinds of horror utopias on Google and co. that people see as the only truth.

My practical experience has shown that problems with the heart very often have to do with cordiality and the demarcation of territory.

Questions such as "Who is stepping on my personality?" or "Who is massively overstepping my boundaries right now?" should be allowed here. We talk about matters of the heart, send warm greetings, our hearts break when we are heartbroken. If someone looks depressed, they have something on their mind.

If someone wants to talk about their feelings, they pour their heart out to us. When someone says what they think straight out, they wear their heart on their sleeve. When someone gets scared, their heart drops into their pants. If someone is relieved, a stone falls from their heart. Someone can have a heart of gold, a heart of stone or a heart for animals. Our vocabulary is full of expressions that describe a connection between emotion and heart. It is now also clinically recognized that a broken heart syndrome shows altered cardiac current curves in the ECG.

We do everything that is close to our hearts with joy and enthusiasm. This makes our heart our most intimate confidant. We listen to our heart's path and should also be a giving friend to our heart.

1Become supernatural, Dr. Joe Dispenza.

What can make us ill

We are now subject to the mass suggestion that illness is normal. We have been taught and persuaded for centuries that we ourselves cannot influence our bodies. However, health is the normal state of our body.

If you are holding this book in your hands, you are probably someone who is curious. Someone who wants to understand connections and who suspects that there could be more behind pain and discomfort than just an isolated symptom.

When you look back, how would you describe your relationship with your body in recent times? Have you perceived it as a friend? Even if it is a little worn in some places? Do you love it the way it is? And does it get an extra portion of attention, care and undivided attention from time to time?

It is desirable that an intimate relationship with your body, full of joy, lightness and mindfulness, develops from pure use - from an acquaintance of convenience.

How do you deal with my book? You can think of the first part as a big jigsaw puzzle.

Every section, every area and sub-area is a piece of the puzzle. Pieces of a puzzle that I have collected over the 58 years of my life and 30 years of professional experience and kept as a treasure. Some pieces consist of experience, some of what I have learned. Some pieces are the knowledge that has always been there, and in between there are what I would like to call pieces of knowledge.

As with a real jigsaw puzzle, I first tinker at a certain point, then I complete another spot. Then I start with the sky line. Then I discover a piece of the puzzle that belongs to the left edge. And so I work my way forwards and inwards, piece by piece, until I reach the last free puzzle square.

Together it makes up the big picture. The last piece I put in the gap is my realization, my essence:Your body loves you with all its heart.

You can see the book as an invitation to join me on a journey of discovery. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle: suddenly you have the right, matching piece in your hand. We practise paying attention. If you have worked your way through the first part of the reading book, I am sure that we will share the same realization. Everyone can say: My body loves me!

In the second part of the book, I describe symptom stories that I experience in my everyday practice. I have called this section "Chats from the sewing box". The observations are suitable for browsing and looking up and can be a potpourri tried and tested in everyday life that will give you plenty of opportunity to smile. You will be able to say "Aaahaaa" in your mind quite often.

May I introduce: your body

If you start to get to know your body with an open mind and a new perspective, you will experience it from a completely new angle. You will become acquainted with a body that will seem new and wondrous to you. Perhaps you will feel as if you are getting to know a new person who tells you exciting and interesting stories every day. And with whom you will fall in love more and more, sometimes at first sight.

You may also experience your body in a completely different way. Perhaps like a loving mother. A mother who gives everything for her child, who watches over her child, supports it, strengthens it and protects it with all the powers at her disposal.

Or your body feels like a landscape that you can travel through in your mind. With hills and gorges, warm and cooler regions, difficult, perhaps painful areas and others that simply feel good.

It is interesting that many ideas about our bodies actually come from outside and have not been felt by ourselves. There is a beautiful story aboutrethinkingandadopting new perspectivesthat inspired me a lot:

The competition of the frogs

Three frogs compete against each other. They want to hop up a mountain in a race.

The frogs gather to watch the spectacle. They cheer and cheer on the frogs in advance. But shouts are heard again and again: "This bet is impossible. The climb is too difficult for frogs. You'll see, no one can do it." The competition starts the next morning and the three frogs climb to the foot of the mountain.

Their path becomes steeper and therefore more arduous. At midday, the first frog gives up, it has become too weak and hops back down. "Oh, my," say the spectators. "You did well, but we knew from the start that it was too hard for frogs."

An hour later, the second frog gives up.

The people expected nothing less, because this undertaking is simply impossible, and they also give the second descending frog loud, appreciative applause. Everyone shouts to the third frog: "Come down, stop hopping, it's too difficult, you won't make it anyway!"

But the third frog climbs and climbs and is full of strength and courage until he reaches the top of the mountain and waves to the frogs. The spectators are speechless.

Then he also starts to descend and when he gets back down, the others ask themselves: "Why did he keep climbing? Why didn't he notice that we were shouting for him to stop?"

It turns out that the frog is deaf and has not heard the cries and fears of the people.

Conclusion: First of all, listen to your own feelings and not so much to the opinions of others.

Like a chameleon, we have to adapt to our environment even as children - a survival strategy. We adopt the feelings, habits, clothing, posture and characters of the people around us. Even as adults, we change colors every day, depending on who we are with and what situation we find ourselves in. The result is a mishmash of colors. Most of it doesn't even belong to us.

Is it any wonder that many people reach their limits with increasing stress at work and in their private lives? At some point, the organs, the back or the body say: "Stop!"

Whether it is a metabolic disorder, allergy, organ weakness, so-called hyperactivity or impaired performance in arithmetic or writing - everything has a purpose for us. If we find the real reason for the behavior or illness, we can immediately begin to rethink and change our way of thinking, which is a great relief for our lives.

If illness had a different name

Thoughts have a much greater influence on our health than we can imagine.

Our normal state is health.

If illness is not to cause immediate fear, we first need a different name for what our body is currently doing. What if we gave the wordillnessa different name? If illness was simply calledwisdom?

Close scrutiny helps to get to the bottom of the real cause of illness. This becomes clear when we take a closer look at the use of the word stress, for example.

The word stress can also have many meanings. We often feel stressed and tired because we have too much on our plate at the moment. When people say they are stressed, my first question is always what exactly the stress is.

I ask, for example:

"Are you pressed for time?"

"Are you worried about the family?"

"Do you have too much unfinished business on your desk?"

"Are you in financial trouble?"

"How does your dissatisfaction affect your family and other teams?"

First of all, it is very important to narrow down your symptoms.

What exactly is going on? The body gives us specific details about the current situation. Suppose your complaint seems to be based on the fact that you have an unhappy boss at work, but your body shows you symptoms in your left hand.

In this case, I would think again about whether you are perhaps worried about your daughter and whether these worries are perhaps a much more stressful problem. That would be just one example of a more precise localization of the cause.

If we already knew the cause of our imbalance and had solutions ready, our body would show no symptoms and no pain. It is only when we attempt the wrong solutions that our body warns us in the form of pain and injury.

Until now, we have viewed illness as a deficiency. The question now is: are we able to allow a new, different way of thinking and recognize symptoms as a benefit and valuable advice from our body?

Let's think about the WHY.

Our practices of illness and health

Imagine you go to the doctor and say: "Hello, doctor, my body is giving me back pain and a fat liver. What, doctor, is the wisdom of my body trying to tell me? I don't understand it promptly right now, please let's see together what is needed!"

The doctor might look at us a little strangely. Perhaps because he is used to patients coming to him with a consumer mentality and wanting to get rid of symptoms and pain as quickly as possible with medication.

However, if the doctor takes a holistic approach, he will agree with us.

Because the body gives us everything we need most urgently, and sometimes it shows us what is important and necessary with a so-called illness.

Unfortunately, we misinterpret our body's signals time and time again. We have been taught since childhood that illness is something bad that needs to be eradicated as quickly as possible.

Around a thousand years ago, people began to dissect the human body in order to inspect the individual organs. Examining the human body was a progressive measure at the time, as many interesting details had already been discovered when dissecting animals for food. This laid the foundations for understanding the human body.

However, the really advanced findings were still a long time coming because the individual components of the body with their ingenious functions and connections to neighboring organs were considered in complete isolation from one another. Unfortunately, we humans are still only at the beginning of our understanding. How fantastic it would be to be able to really see and grasp the connections from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet.

We operate on a single organ and are surprised when other organs react and the disease is still present. This is then suppressed with medication. So what if the disease was renamed?

Illness automatically implies in our minds: This has to go quickly! This is bad! That's wrong, and someone else, i.e. a doctor, has to help me get rid of it. Some of my patients hardly have any time left for themselves, for traveling and hobbies, because they have doctor's appointments almost every day. How sick is that? It is also firmly anchored in the minds of the "cheap is cool" society that the high health insurance premiums paid in up to now have to be utilized.

This is similar to a life insurance policy, which promises to pay out the premiums at some point after many years of payment.

So what if we casually write off these contributions as social security contributions and turn our attention to what really matters: language and the wisdom of the body? Illness in the sense of social security law is a "disorder of physical or mental well-being". Wikipedia states: "Illness [...] is a state of reduced performance that is based on functional disorders of one or more organs [...]."

The origin and the original meanings of the word "crancheit" get to the bottom of a real cause better than an X-ray. Because the x-ray shows the result of the illness and not its cause. This leads to the question: "Where have I stumbled? Where do I feel defeated? Why do I now need the longed-for bed rest and what can I achieve with my current break? What is the ulterior motive, the underlying reason for my prostration? Can I trust my body, i.e. myself?"

Now you know: The time has come for an honest conversation with your body.

Our very personal development

Our brain is already very old. Let's start with a few facts and figures.

Our earth is around 4.5 billion years old, the first bacterial colonies emerged around 3.7 billion years ago.

It is now assumed that the evolution of man began around 8 to 5 million years ago. Around 2 million years ago, the first forms of humans with a "human brain" emerged, the so-called prehistoric man.

There are millions of years of development and adaptation in intergenerational human life. MILLIONS!

The first species of Homo habiens, the skilled human, lived in East Africa. The known finds of humans to date have been dated to an age of approx. 2.1 to 1.5 million years.2Our ancestor Homo sapiens had all the anatomical characteristics of modern man (Latinhomo sapiens: understanding, intelligent man). The so-called early man lived around 40,000 years ago - i.e. 160,000 generations ago, if one generation is considered to be around 25 years. Only later species were referred to as hunter-gatherers.

We are therefore talking about a period of several million years.

The time specifications are handled very differently in science. There are still countless inconsistencies here. It is only important for us to develop an understanding of the huge time intervals we are dealing with here until the simpler nervous systems of organisms became the most complex structure in the universe: the brain.

Even though technology has advanced very quickly, our body physiology is still far from being adapted to today's high-tech, fast-paced world with its wealth of information. Evolution takes time. Biological adaptations to environmental conditions develop very slowly. We have not somehow miraculously caught up with this time in recent years.

At the moment, 2023 years have passed since the beginning of our era. In the following consideration of time periods, I don't want to stick to numbers, but rather open our eyes and ears to the relations and create an awareness of the short period of time in which we are actually operating.

If we imagine the development of the earth up to today's humans in the timeline of a year, interesting comparison parameters emerge.

The dinosaurs lived around October. We humans came into being around midday on December 31. Calculated over a year, measured in a timeline like this, we are just half a day old.

For a better understanding, we often calculate in generations: Previously, a generation was calculated as 25 years from the birth of a parent to the birth of their child. Nowadays, the generation span is calculated using a factor of 31.7. For the sake of simplicity, we will stick with 25 years here. The examples themselves are impressive enough.

All these figures are rough estimates because the focus here is not on the numbers, which can vary depending on the source and study. Rather, the chronological classification should lead to a better understanding of our own, now living body and its language.

Five generations ago, 125 years ago, the majority of people lived from farming. The daily routine was determined by work in nature. So after working in the fields and having dinner, people went to rest.

In winter, people were busy with handicraft necessities such as tying brooms, mending, sewing, knitting clothes or ribbons and stuffing straw sacks.

People talked in the evening, solved spoken riddles, made music themselves, sang and danced.

In summer, people went to bed at 7 o'clock in the evening and got up again at 3 o'clock. In winter, people went to bed at around 11 pm and got up again at 6 am.

People walked a lot, drove carts or rode horses. Getting around was generally more difficult. Marriage partners were usually arranged and a love match was not necessarily expected.

And the children?

The children officially came from the Kindlesbrunnen. Well, it wasn't that simple back then either. The women who had just given birth went back to the field immediately after the birth of their baby or had their children in the field. Back then, however, women still supported each other. A fixed division of roles was essential for survival and commonplace.

Every woman was a family doctor, nurse, worker and mother at the same time and knew all about medicinal herbs, bandages, compresses and various remedies. The women had the task of keeping their family, i.e. their own pack, together and ensuring that everyone stayed healthy. They provided security, cohesion and the survival of the family.

Only four generations ago, just under 100 years ago, our ancestors, who we can easily find in the family tree, did not have regular electricity.

Most families lived by the light of the day and the fire, using oil lamps and candles for illumination.

It was only after the First World War that industrialization began on a grand scale. War invalids shaped the image of societies and families. The war necessitated the rapid development of medical care outside the family.

Industrialization suddenly forced large sections of the population to work in factories outside their village environment. Artificially created divisions between different areas of life. Agricultural and craft businesses were often run as family businesses over several generations. The family usually lived together on the farms. This has now changed.

Industrialization and the machine production of mass products forced people to separate themselves spatially for the duration of factory work. A pair of opposites emerged: Work versus leisure. The more prominent distinction between work and leisure also created the additional need for even more consumption and vacations, which in turn boosted the economy.

In contrast to today, news transmission was manageable. The daily newspaper brought the latest news from society, politics and the economy to the breakfast table at most once a day. The paper newspaper was often read by the light of a candle, as most households still had to make do without electricity: It was only between 1925 and 1930 that the number of households supplied with electricity rose from around 27% to 76%.

Why am I telling you this?

Because we humans always assume that we are, or have to be, even approximately adapted to today's technology and thus to the changed daily routine. This is by no means the case. We always have our cell phones in our jeans pockets, are available around the clock, do mindfulness training and yoga to cope with stress, read quotes from Confucius and actually believe that we can manage our working day if we just maintain a good work-life balance.

However, in order to counteract a collective sickness in society, an awareness should be created of the time periods required to adapt to new circumstances. Human evolution has spanned millions of years, and now we actually believe that we have fully adapted physically to new technologies in less than 150 years?

Here, my dear reader, I am somewhat disappointed.

From a purely developmental and physiological point of view, we are still Stone Age people. Even according to the current state of evolution, our bodies are still in harmony with natural law, and I would like to awaken an understanding of this. We are normal when our body reacts with irregularities to adapt to a completely new technologized everyday life. Today, however, we call this change and regulation or suffering from the circumstances illness.

I would like to help us learn to understand our bodies. This means working with it and not constantly picking on it and describing changes as deficiencies.

Bringing together the achievements of the individual fields of knowledge and at the same time understanding the ingenuity of our body is a valuable, healthy and helpful goal of our encounter with ourselves.

Let's now take a closer look at the centerpiece of our life puzzle.

2Friedemann Schrenk, Ottmar Kullmer and Timothy Bromage: The Earliest Putative Homo Fossils. Chapter 9 in: Winfried Henke and Ian Tattersall: Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg 2007, pp. 1611-1631.

Our brain

I deliberately want to keep this chapter very simple. Our brain is as ingenious as our entire body. This is only intended to provide a very rough understanding of the connections between thoughts and the body.

Simply put, our brain has two distinctly separate brain areas or centers.

The first is unconscious reaction and the second is conscious, controlled thinking. Only 10 % of our actions are conscious.

This can be illustrated as follows: In an assumed distance of 1000 m, we only think consciously for 50 m. This means that 950 m run unconsciously in our head.

The part of the brain responsible for the 50 m conscious thought steps is called the neocortex or cerebral cortex. This is the area of free will, willpower, active determination of action, consideration of perspective situations and targeted, "thoughtful" actions and conscious action. This is where we can deliberately evoke images, breathe consciously and carry out motor actions in a targeted manner.

We can temporarily lose our consciousness when the neocortex is switched off. I am still alive and breathing, but I am not in the here and now. The neocortex evolved after the midbrain. Through concentration, we reach our focused world of thoughts in the neocortex.

The cerebral cortex - the new area of our brain that has been added during human development - controls conscious thinking, forward planning and complex thought processes. The associated mind is therefore also part of our mature personality. Without the work of the neocortex, we are unconscious.

The neocortex enables us to speak fluently, read, calculate, categorize what we hear, compare the familiar with the unfamiliar in our conscious perception of images and structure things. Because the "new" part of the brain has only recently been added, we still use it very little. It takes time for a new developmental step to be fully integrated: many thousands of years must pass before newly acquired parts of the brain are embedded and can be used to their full extent.

The central brain, cerebellum and brain stem

These regions govern the subconscious and therefore correspond to the 950 m in our example.

This is where our body's survival functions are controlled. In humans, these areas of the brain are the same size as in all mammals. So basically, we tick to a large extent in exactly the same way as our dog.

In evolutionary terms, the midbrain is many millions of years older than the cerebral cortex.

This central nervous system roughly consists of the topographically lower brain structures. It extends from the head via the spinal cord in the spinal column and is responsible for sending and receiving impulses.

In order to be able to react appropriately and immediately, the central brain needs information from the body, which is collected via a huge network of nerves and sent upwards.

Put simply, the facts we feel about the current state of our body are transmitted upwards as a message from the outer to the inner nervous system.

For example: "I'm cold."

This message is sensed by the body and sent up to the brain so that the body receives appropriate regulatory instructions. To trigger a physical reaction, the brain needs the various pieces of information from the body. Muscles and organs are immediately set in motion to ensure our survival.

A reaction in the body is now triggered and controlled by the midbrain and the lower brain structures via corresponding chemistry and various impulses. The term "lower structures" means that these structures lie anatomically below the cerebrum and not that they are worth less.

This whole chain of reactions happens just like that, on its own, unconsciously. And that makes sense, because if we were constantly thinking about the chemistry of our body, we would be incapable of acting. Unconscious bodily processes include our heartbeat, our digestion, our independent breathing and the reflex-like control of our enzymes and hormones.

However, we can also influence our heartbeat and digestion by consciously regulating our breathing and motor skills. Through visualization, meditation and self-hypnosis, the so-called vital functions can be consciously influenced in addition to movement and posture.

All mammals have this very large and important part of the brain - the midbrain.

We react to everyday difficulties that are perceived as a danger in the same way and unconsciously as animals in a herd. The unconscious is simply infinitely faster than logic. In the case of physical and sensory perceptions that are perceived as a threat, we always react in a way that preserves life and ensures pack cohesion. So when I see, hear or feel a danger, I react immediately and unconsciously in a flash.

The midbrain is our emotional brain, so to speak, and has a major influence on our behavior. Because this area is so vital and also forms a self-regulating control system for the body, it is also conveniently subdivided.

Here too is the short version: there is a sympathetic and a parasympathetic nervous system.

We automatically react sympathetically to an emergency situation. In dangerous situations, the body is immediately prepared for flight, activity, high performance, fight, aggression or even the death reflex, freezing. This energy remains in the body for longer.

An example of how the sympathetic nervous system works: if a supposed perpetrator of violence is after you, your body is instantly programmed to flee. Your legs and arms are immediately supplied with blood and your muscles are activated. This allows you to run faster than usual. In addition, your blood pressure rises, your breathing becomes faster and the laboratory in your brain releases a large portion of adrenaline, among other things. This cocktail accelerates the body massively and reduces the perception of pain.

The parasympathetic nervous system can be seen as an opponent. It ensures rest, sleep, digestion, regeneration and reproduction. With the help of the parasympathetic nervous system, we store supplies (for the next attack), regenerate, grow and recover. When we human beings have safely escaped an attack, i.e. our escape has been successful, our body needs regeneration, rest and growth. Our parasympathetic system takes care of this.

However, the level of technology that permeates our everyday lives today is very different to that for which evolution has prepared us over millions of years. The flood of never-ending information, which often simply hits us virtually, permanently puts our body on alert and puts it into a flight and fight mode from which it can no longer escape - unless we actively give it its well-earned rest.

Social media fuels the pressure to perform, compete and conform, especially among young people, but also among many adults.

The small screen of smartphones, in whose limited frame the whole of life seems to take place and be reflected, strains concentration, the neck muscles and the optic nerve, which is directly linked to the central nervous system.

This means that our body is predominantly under an increased adrenaline level. If we use digital technologies around the clock, for example, like the so-called "digital nomads" and across all sectors - namely for private communication, work, entertainment and news - an artificial hormone output floods our cells almost non-stop and thus ensures a permanent neurohormonal stress response.

The constant tension of the sympathetic nervous system in turn leaves little room for recovery, regeneration, growth and cell renewal. On the contrary, the overstress even damages blood vessels, cells and the immune system and makes us weak and susceptible to illness in the long term.

When you realize the huge impact that conscious and unconscious thoughts have on our entire existence, it becomes interesting.

This chapter is about the importance of our unconscious thoughts, which have not yet been sufficiently examined and structured by the neocortex in the rush.

We actually still organize the majority of our everyday lives without using the cerebrum. This means that the center of our main action strategies in daily behavior still lies in the midbrain. In everyday life, the given situations with old experiences, adventures, survival strategies and the need for security and peace are governed in a flash by the lower brain area.

Human thoughts and actions are often compared to an iceberg, of which only the upper tip is visible and the underwater part only reveals its true size. In this metaphorical comparison, the largest part of the iceberg under water represents the subconscious. The conscious mind, on the other hand, only accounts for 5%. 95% of daily events are triggered by a completely unconsciously controlled chemical cocktail in the brain. This determines which emotions we feel and how our body reacts to them.

A remnant of our evolution is the so-called unhooking. Our cerebrum sometimes unhooks itself from the midbrain, usually in a completely inappropriate and unprofitable way. When feelings such as anger, hatred, fear or even infatuation are too strong, the cerebrum unhooks itself. We've all heard the saying: "I think you (or I) have a problem." Yes, that is indeed the case.

What is absolutely essential for the survival of flight animals does not always really benefit us modern humans today. Because then we are only controlled by our emotional brain and have no access to considered and diplomatic actions due to our disconnection from the cerebrum. In such a case, we only react - from today's perspective - without sense and purpose. However, our ancestors still urgently needed this kind of action and unhooking in order to survive.

Practical example:

The mere thought: "Too bad my girlfriend isn't coming to visit me today as planned" immediately mixes up a chemical cocktail and makes you feel sad. Your posture adapts to this state in a matter of seconds, you slump your shoulders, your head is bent down a little. You let your ears hang down. You may feel cold and powerless. When you suddenly get the news that your girlfriend is coming today after all, a new cocktail is mixed. You immediately feel relieved and cheerful, your body is exhilarated and feels looser and more flexible.

This connection gives you the opportunity to actively influence and trick your body. How can you do this? Try the following: For about a minute, deliberately change your facial expression to a smile. Simply let the corners of your mouth move upwards, even if you have no reason to actually smile. Even if you are only faking a smile and the result looks more like a grimace, the tension of the muscles in your face triggers pressure on the fifth cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve. After 60 seconds, the brain thinks you are happy. And what happens? You actually feel much better. Just give it a try. Smile deliberately for a minute in the morning, shape your face accordingly and the tension in your body will be reduced and you can start the day in a more relaxed way. A friendly "Good morning" in the mirror increases your good mood.

Practical example:

You go for a walk on the beach and see that there is garbage lying around in the dunes amongst the beautiful seaweed. How do you react?

You can give in to your anger and get upset about the garbage, collect it, stop your walk and complain to the hotel reception.

Or you can concentrate on the beauty of the moment despite the fluttering paper:

The sand, the water, the shells, the wind in your hair and the wonderful coastal landscape. If you focus on the pristine beauty of nature, the chemistry lab in you will react immediately. Maybe you will pick up the paper, but you will be able to enjoy the abundance of nature that surrounds you with gratitude.

Our unconscious thoughts control our lives on a daily basis and create habits and postures in the body with short and long-term reactions. If we concentrate daily on expecting dangers in life, we will also find many sources of danger and our body is constantly on guard. The body needs all kinds of adrenaline in its chemical cocktail for this. In the long run, it becomes exhausting and we get sick more quickly. If my attention is focused on beautiful things, I will notice something that makes me happy more often. I perceive a feeling of happiness and thus have a completely different body chemistry and posture, which in turn strengthens my immune system because I feel at peace and secure.

This is because we still have a special part of the brain - the frontal brain - directly behind the forehead, with which we are able to actively control our consciousness. This allows us to consciously and purposefully influence our thoughts and even be creative. In this context, I find the term "narrow-minded" very interesting. People who are not good at rethinking and are not very creative are called narrow-minded. In this case, the frontal brain is constricted.

According to previous findings, it is precisely this aspect of consciously thinking up creative solutions that distinguishes us from animals. However, I believe that we underestimate animals. Our conscious new thinking triggers the corresponding chemistry in the brain. This in turn regulates our body in its entire structure, in its chemistry, in its functioning.

We can change our thoughts through our bodies. Imagine you are exhausted and tired and adopt a corresponding posture. This happens automatically because your body listens to you and feels what you feel. Your shoulders slump, your head sinks down, you sit hunched over in a chair with a corresponding facial expression. Your eyes look dull, your cheeks are pale, the corners of your mouth move towards your chin or knees. "I'm sooo tired ..."

Now consciously and deliberately straighten your body, stand up straight despite being tired, put your shoulders back, tummy in, bottom out. Make your face glow, you are beaming and smiling. Imagine you're standing on a stage and being cheered! Hold this position for five minutes, give it your all! Just to try it out, even though you're tired right now. Try it out for your own sake: What happens?

The corresponding hormones are released immediately, your chemical cocktail in the brain and therefore in the blood is adjusted and you feel much better. When you feel like a respected winner or a proud person, you are simply less likely to feel tired, listless and listless.

Conclusion: By actively changing your motor skills, consciously changing your posture and muscle tension and correcting your facial expressions, you can also initiate regulation in your brain and therefore in your chemistry. We can therefore consciously change and direct our attention, our thoughts and therefore our feelings. We can think up what we want to think. Because we are not remote-controlled by our body and mind, we have the choice to control our attention, we set the tone.