Knowing your body (Ch. 6)

Throughout our lives, our bodies learn and know how to change within our flesh. Whether we're learning how to keep balance when we take our first steps as babies, or when we become adults and we're on the computer typing and knowing exactly where each key is. We continue to learn about our body through constant practice and experience of small are large tasks. This is best described through body epistemology and body identity. For us to better understand these bodily functions, we must first understand what our body is telling us, what our bodies are telling others, and how other's might react to what our bodies are telling them through time, space, and touch.

To better understand our own bodies, we must pay attention to what it is saying to you. Whether you're lacking sleep, not eating enough or eating way too much, or even getting your daily dose of exercise. For me, if I eat way to much, I start succumbing to "The Itis." The itis is eating an abundant of of comfort foods (Carbohydrates, meats, fried foods, etc.) which soon after consuming makes you very sleepy or lazy, and makes you want to do absolutely nothing or just go to sleep. For me, when I do these things, my body is telling me a numerous amounts of thing the next day, such as: "Why the hell did you do that?" "How you feeling today, not so great, huh?" "Get up FAT-ASS!!!!" (You know, the encouraging things). My biggest down fall, for myself at least, is constantly going one hundred miles per second and ending up burning the candle at both ends. It's so funny that we think we know our bodies limitations, until we hit that wall and realize that our bodies can only handle so much at a time.

Next, I always find it interesting how our bodies can lead others to understand or misunderstand what we're trying to prove. Through these non-verbal cues, this can lead to so many distinctions of who we are and what we stand for, and can get lost in translation. Whether we have tattoo's all over our bodies, men that shave there arms and legs, people with different body piercings are all ways that shape who we are on the outside. But, it doesn't necessarily mean who we are on the inside. Even as young teens or young adults, and the way we dress and how other's perceive us in a negative or positive way can effect the way of thinking about ourselves. This can lead to the mind and body to work inextricably together to shape how we actually think about ourselves. This can shape us to think about how we talk about ourselves, how we move, or even how we imagine ourselves in the future. This can be dangerous for both positive and negative factors.         

Lastly, It's interesting how we perceive time, space, and touch as nonverbal communication. Throughout different cultures or even different parts of the world, we find these things to have different meanings. For time, as we talked about in class, island time means we get there when we get there. There's no set schedule (I find to be pretty AWESOME), but in other places time is everything. Like the saying goes: "Time is money." Now think about that....hopefully you came to some sort of conclusion about the saying. But, I find that to be one of the worst sayings a person could use and live by. To me, time should be cherished and intertwined with your own personal quality of life. Not just money, that just shows how greedy a person is (remember, this is my personal opinion, so don't take offense). I also find space and touch to be quite interesting. We all have our own little bubble that we like to stay in, and when someone starts to step into our bubble by touch or being at a really close range, it can either freak us out, or we can embrace it. For touch, for example, a 30 second hug can show so many things. How much we have missed a person, how happy we are to see a person, or even to show empathy or sympathy for someone or to even just show how strong someone can be. But, for those 30 seconds, how would you usually feel? Me personally, I love hugs! They're freaking AWESOME! (Again, I will Capitalize AWESOME!) It gives me a sense of protection, a barrier that no-one can get past. My body and mind tells me to embrace the affection, that it isn't a symbol of weakness, but a symbol of strength with the hugs we give and receive. Wow, I really went on about giving hugs! But, it's a great nonverbal gesture!