We travel upwards and on to the sixth System of Health – INSIGHT. Welcome to the place where your intuition, imagination, dreams and visions live! This is the system that includes eyes, sight, moods and sleep.
The main organ of the INSIGHT Aspect is the Brain. And the hormonal gland is the Pituitary gland. This master gland, together with the Hypothalamus (which is responsible for the production of some of the signaling hormones, that tell the other hormone glands what to do) oversees and orchestrates the show of what’s happening in the rest of the endocrine system.
The pituitary gland is made up of two parts, of the anterior lobe and posterior lobe. The anterior lobe produces and releases hormones. The posterior lobe does not produce hormones per se—this is done by nerve cells in the hypothalamus—but it does release them into the circulation.
It is the Pituitary gland which tells the other hormonal glands in the body what to do. This includes growth hormone, Thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH), Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which in turn stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the stress response hormones. The Pituitary gland also affects and stimulate Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) which works with the Luteinizing hormone to ensure normal functioning of the ovaries and testes. Luteinizing hormone (LH). LH works with FSH to ensure normal functioning of the ovaries and testes. And finally the Pituitary gland has something to say about Prolactin hormone which is the hormone that stimulates breast milk production.
So this System is about hormones that affect the rest of our body. And it is about what we can see with our eyes, about the information that we take in, and how we use our intellect to process this information.
However, INSIGHT is also very much about what’s within. The inner wisdom that we all have, yet so easily brush aside, or struggle to trust…
Have you ever had a “hunch” about something? Perhaps you just said yes to something that simply “didn’t feel right”, but since it looked and seemed fine you went ahead anyway, only to find out afterwards that your intuition was right…
I sure do. One major life event, from many years ago now, that still stands out in my memory was when I went for an interview for a job. It seemed to be an excellent proposition on paper. An fabulous opportunity to further my career, decent pay and reasonable hours. I was moving on forward and upwards. Or at least so I thought. The interview itself went well, I got the job, we set a start date I and went back to hand in my notice for my other job. However, I can still recall the very subtle notion I had when leaving after the interview that something was not entirely right, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. So I pushed it aside and forged forward anyway.
I was going to write that this was a BIG mistake, and in many ways it was. The following months turned into some of the darkest days in my life. It is so many years ago now and I rarely think about that time. It was a brief moment in my life, though I am convinced that if I haven’t managed to pull myself together enough + having the support of some caring people at the time to sort out some logistical stuff, I’m not sure I would have made it as I was feeling worse by the day.
Now looking back, it was perhaps a mistake to not listening to my intuition at that time, however it also turned out to be a major learning opportunity. Since then, I’ve had many more great learning opportunities, and each time I get better and better at trusting my intuition.
So we access our inner wisdom by listening in. As well as reflecting on our life experiences. It’s only in the last few years I’ve come to realise the power of self-reflection, coupled with an attitude of openness and curiosity. Dropping any judging when doing any kind of reflecting is important, otherwise we just get stuck in a negative spiral, but when we approach it with an open mind, everything and everyone becomes our teacher.
Like my dear friend Marihet says “we hold the mirrors for each other”.
And when we turn inwards we will “see” that we already have all the knowledge within…
So how does the INSIGHT Aspect play out when it comes to Food, Eating and Lifestyle?
Let’s have a look and see, what ways you can strengthen your own INSIGHT!
1. Food – Any food that will affect our moods and cognitive function belongs here. So things like caffeine, cacao and berries are all good foods to strengthen your brain function and memory. Recent studies have shown blueberries to be particularly good to protect the brain against neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
We often forget about the healing powers of spices. Yes they are amazing to add to any meal to make it taste great, but they have very potent medicinal actions all by themselves. Just ask any herbalist! My own favourite ones are Turmeric (really strong antioxidant, anti inflammatory spice), Cinnamon (great to balance blood sugar and support the cells insulin sensitivity) and Cardamom (which is great for digestion, congestion and metabolism).
So up your intake of spices and aim for variety, eat more blue / purple foods and do indulge in some high quality high cacao content chocolate from time to time!
2. Eating – Start practicing using your intuition when it comes to making food choices. This may sound scary, difficult or even impossible. And for sure, it requires a hefty dose of trust, mixed with some practice. One of the arguments when people here the words “Intuitive Eating” is usually: “Oh if I ate that way I’d be huge, I’d be living on chocolate cake”. The thing is, maybe you would, for a little while. But our bodies are so much more intelligent than we give them credit for. However if we have spent a long time looking outside for answers, then it is going to take some time to “tune in”.
Going with our intuition requires a certain amount of surrendering. It is a bit like if you are having a conversation with a friend and you are too busy thinking about you’ll say next, so you don’t pay much attention to what your friend is actually saying. Before you can become really supportive you need to pay attention and listen.
The same goes for your body. Start with simply listening too what it has to say. Then in the beginning of this practice, if you still feel the need to override your intuition with your intellect, go ahead. (Just like I did when changing jobs…) It will be a really valuable learning experience!
3. Lifestyle – Make sure you get enough sleep. We need sleep, this is the time the body detoxify and restore. If this is an area of your life that you are struggling with, look at what you can do to improve your sleep routine and sleep hygiene.
Try adding some guided meditations and visualisations to stimulate your insight and your imagination. Visualising can definitely help us access the possibilities, whether for healing or creative pursuits. As the saying goes “If you can dream it you can do it!”
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