Why we don’t move more often? Part II
When we ended last time we had just started to get to the good stuff. The meat and potatoes of why movement/moving is so important and has such an impact on the pain we can experience in our bodies. I alluded to the fact, or at least my perception, that we are built to move. The structure of our bodies is highly adaptable and allows us to perform a huge variety of tasks not only for basic survival but also for fun, exploration and play.
One of the first things we have the urge to do is move. We want to find out what this new world we’re in is all about. We’re naturally curious. To go out and explore we must learn how to move. We can’t stay stuck in one place and learn anything about our new digs. In response we teach ourselves; with the help of some instincts, reflexes and observations, to move. We go through a progression of rolling over, creeping, crawling, sitting, standing, walking… Aw we can move more we see more of our new world and that sparks more of our curiosity and encourages us to learn how to move more. We also are experiencing our bodies and senses becoming more familiar with how they work and what that means for us.
Movement, learning to move, is essential for our physical development. It is also essential for our cognitive and emotional development. As we keep trying to move more through trial and error we problem solve. When something we do doesn’t get us the results we want we try something different until we get what we want. Sometimes it takes just a few times and a small amount of time. Sometimes it can take a day, days, a week or more. That leads us to emotional development.
We develop the qualities of persistence and resilience because it is a learning process. We feel emotions during the process. If we’re having difficulties finding the right strategy we can feel frustrated and even mad. We may feel afraid when we get into a situation that we didn’t expect. We also experience a feeling of confidence and mastery when we succeed. This can be accompanied by excitement, happiness and joy. These emotions also reinforce our desire to move more.
When this process is encouraged and supported it can last a lifetime and provide a lifetime of physical, mental/cognitive and emotional growth and development.
That sounds like a good place to pause for today. Hopefully, that will inspire more curiosity and impressions. Let me know what comes up for you below. See you next time.