Cravings

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In many conversations during this pregnancy, after the initial: “how are you feeling” inquiry, the next that follows is often, “any wild cravings?!”

I love this question, because the answer is - yes! It’s been so good to eat after early months of well, doing more of the opposite of that. Moreover, I have had some funny food cravings: from Starbucks breakfast sandwiches, to buckets of cantaloupe, to cucumber lemonade, to veggie tacos of all varieties and much much, more.

But the far more interesting cravings have actually had nothing to do with food and everything to do with attuning to my intuition and this growing being’s needs…

An early and unexpected craving was to watch Star Wars Movies. All of them. In rapid succession. While I’ve always appreciated an ahead-of-its-time George Lucas film, I’ve never been this excited about these intergalactic journeys before. Re-watching, however, changed things; I listened a bit more closely to the wisdom of Yoda and the messages contained in each film. Since then the watching cravings have shifted to Indiana Jones movies and Baseball classics like Field of Dreams. Suffice it to say the hubby and I are both happily surprised and may be expecting quite the little adventurer.

Then there was that period I couldn’t stop listening to an old John Mayer album. It was almost medicinal in its soothing sounds. And contrast that with the continuing reality that I couldn’t be more annoyed by almost everything on the radio. Even new fun pop songs that I’ve enjoyed from time to time feel grating. I have surely annoyed many a rideshare driver in the process of kindly asking him or her to turn the radio down (or off!) pretty please.

A few weeks ago I felt a strong aversion to continue attending the childbirth course we had signed up for. While we made it about halfway through, and it was an non-refundable investment, I always dreaded attending and walked out of class feeling worse than when I came in. I felt so much of the energy of each session was laced with fear instead of empowerment. Constantly going over and over what could go wrong, instead of (of course) ensuring we’re aware of it, but focusing much more on how to make things go as well as possible. Luckily Taylor agreed and we found another course that is educational and detailed, but much more in the vein of preparing for a natural childbirth with reality and mental confidence.

My latest and perhaps most healing craving was a gut-feeling desire, seemingly out of the blue, to find old hula videos of the Polynesian and Tahitian variety. I could actually feel the baby moving with excitement at the music as soon as I pressed play. Moreover, I’m also certain that this particular desire (mercifully) gifted me a personal chiropractic adjustment as what had been loose and uncomfortable in my low back began to quite literally snap into place with a gentle swoosh of my hips.

And while the food cravings still persist and I’ve had to talk myself out of ordering Seylou’s millet and chocolate chip cookies on Post Mates regularly, the far more powerful and beautiful cravings have existed beyond the realm of food.

So, why do I share this with you?

Because these visceral and helpful intuitive pulls have woken up a whole new trust in the guidance I believe is around and within us all.

Pregnant or not, our bodies, minds, and hearts are always trying to tell us what they need. Yes perhaps now I have a heightened sensitivity and amplification of my baby’s asks too - but this is something we all experience on a regular basis. And the more we listen, the clearer, louder, and far more fun this guidance becomes.

So here’s to following all our cravings, even the wild ones, to a life of more healing, clearer intuition, and Jedi mindsets. May the force be with you.