There is more reason in your body . . .

. . . than in your best wisdom.
                                      -Friedrich Nietzsche

Isn't that the take-away of the whole barefoot idea?  More on that in a bit, but first let's discuss:

I know it's not what Nietzsche had in mind when that was written, but I'm not the only one who may have taken those words out of context.  I found that quote from another blog (Glydle) discussing a research paper written about that gut-feeling.  The gut-feeling in this case though is actually how your gut actually can make you feel about life in general.  The short of it is that the scientist had fed some mice some probiotics and that made them feel less stress in stressful situations than the control group of mice that weren't given the probiotics.  Read her blog, it's a bit more detailed and informative.  She also happens to be a beginner barefooter.  She's going all out, completely nekkid (foot that is).

Going back to that idea of what you take in, can make your feelings come out . . .

From my personal experience, I completely agree with it!  Before I started this whole bettering-myself quest, I ate horribly and didn't do anything to make my body the temple it was intended to be.  I reacted horribly, though many of my friends would say otherwise.  That was just my outward self.  I can remain physically calm in really bad situations.  But inside I'm like, WTF!!  Oh Shit!!! FML, it's OVER!!!!!

Then I'd get over it and try to resolve whatever needed to resolved.  Now I'm like, WTF, and get down to business.  I don't think many people have noticed the difference in outward behavior, but I believe I'm more productive in the stress department.  I have to be.  The people I work with have a tendency of overreacting at the smallest bit of stress.  They can be like the cliched headless chicken.  I've learned to be firefighter.  When shit is blowing up and burning down, I'm the ghostbuster because I'm the one who's called.  Fires start up everywhere all the time 'cause that's just the way it is where I work.  Most are preventable and are.

I can stroll in the fire and think about it calmly because of the changes I've accustomed myself to over the last several years.  I'm eating SO much healthier.  I'm actually getting more excercise than the FDA recommends (or whoever recommends health stuff).  I think 150 minutes of brisk walking or 75 minutes of jogging/running minimum a week.  Plus a couple days of full body workouts.  Check the link, it has the details.  But I'm doing more than that a week (at least the aerobic part).  I've still gotta include the full body part of the RDA for exercise.

The point is, the eatin' and the movin' are helping with stress levels.  And even before I included the movin', I was eatin' better.  And I immediately noticed my sleep improved which in turn reduced my stress levels.  I was now an effective firefighter.  Cool.

Now with the movin' and the gut-feelin' combined, life has been SO much better.  I'm more of a people person now and involved with my godson and the daughter more.

I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person.  Thank God for givin' us the brains to do what must be done when He slaps the shit out of us to make us see what we fucked up on.  No disrepect to the Lord, it's just the way I feel and gotta love Him for making those alarm systems our body's have.  But again, the alarm systems are no good if no one's home.

Which applies to the quote in this post.  As Nietzsche stated, our body tells us when things are wrong most of the time.  Our feet are on our body.  It's covered in alarms.  They tell us when shit's going down . . . or when we stepped in shit.

Same diff. 

The point is we react to what our feet are telling us is wrong.  It's veeeery difficult not listen to our feet.  Though I've not gone nekkid yet, I do feel I'm getting closer to that point.  I'm really getting a kick outta my Bikila LS VFF's and Speed VFF's.  I'm looking forward to getting a pair of the Merrell Road Glove next spring if not sooner.  But once I've worked out all the kinks, I'll go nekkid!

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check