The Memory Layer - What Your Body Remembers
The Body's Secret Ledger
"Your body keeps score in ways your mind can't override. That shoulder tension? That gut feeling? Your cells are trying to tell you something your thoughts haven't figured out yet."
You're doing everything "right." You've cut the sugar, ditched the alcohol for almost two years, and gone full carnivore-ish. You've lost 43 pounds, your knee pain vanished in a month, your mental clarity is sharp, and your energy is steady all day.
But that stubborn belly fat? It's clinging on like it's got something important to protect.
Welcome to your body's memory bank, where every stress, every sacrifice, every "I'll handle it" moment gets stored in your cells like files you forgot you downloaded. This is the layer where your body keeps its own secrets, one peel deeper than your conscious mind.
When Your Body Writes Its Own Story
Working for my father's company, I developed a shoulder impingement that wouldn't quit, and a quarter-size bald spot appeared on the back of my head. Alopecia, the doctor said. My body was literally rejecting the environment I was in, one follicle at a time.
The kicker? Within months of resigning, the bald spot grew back. My body had been keeping a scorecard I didn't even know existed.
Fast forward to now: five years in building our tech company, 3 years reinvesting everything back into growth with devs and operations to keep it all going. All three main execs are doing our parts at full throttle while raising our one-year-old and watching my wife work her 9-to-5 to keep us afloat.
My body's response? It packed on weight like it was preparing for a famine. Even after going carnivore and losing 43 pounds, my midsection holds on tight. Not because I'm eating wrong, but because my cortisol levels are writing checks my metabolism couldn't cash.
Here's the thing about stress weight: it's not vanity fat. It's armor. Your body is saying, "This human keeps putting us in survival mode, so I'm going to store everything I can."
The Body's Ancient Wisdom
Your body remembers things your mind filed away as "handled." Peel back this layer, and it remembers the first time you felt responsible for everyone else's success, when love came with conditions, when being valued meant being indispensable.
My shoulder impingement wasn't just bad posture—it was carrying weight that wasn't mine. My stress belly isn't poor food choices (well, kind of—I'm a fatty at heart or a former fat bastard)—it's my nervous system believing we're under threat, even when we're making progress.
Your body is trying to protect you from patterns it recognizes. That tight jaw during calls? Your body remembers what happened when someone else's emergency became your crisis. That stomach knot checking bank accounts? Your cells are preparing for uncertainty; they've learned to expect it.
But here's the beautiful part: your body also remembers every victory. When I hit the gym, which I was still going to, but with carnivore, my body remembered how good strength felt, the weight coming off, and the best part, all knee pain gone. When I spend uninterrupted time with my son, my nervous system recalls what peace actually feels like.
Your Body Memory Scan
Your body has been keeping score not to punish you, but to protect you. It's holding onto patterns that once kept you safe, even when those patterns no longer serve you.
The most radical thing you can do is tell your nervous system, "We made it. We can rest now." Take a day or two, or a month—you'll know what's right if you pay attention.
Your body isn't betraying you with that stubborn tension or weight—it's trying to keep you safe from a stress pattern it remembers. But maybe it's time to let your cells know that the old threats are gone, that you're strong enough now to handle what comes next without staying in constant preparation mode.
Sometimes healing isn't about fixing what's broken. It's about updating your body's operating system to match who you've become, not who you had to be to survive.
"These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb." — Najwa Zebian
What story is your body trying to tell you that your mind hasn't been willing to hear?
Being Coached Layers: The Issue in Your Tissues
This week, Dr. Goodman says that the story your body tells reveals the root of what you're holding onto. Referencing NET (Neuro-Emotional Technique), he explains that "the issue is in your tissues" and that healing begins when you access that memory. By identifying the specific "what, when, where, and who" held within your body, you can embrace the memory instead of running from it.
Dr. Goodman notes that your body's fat is not a curse, but a gift; it's your mind and body trying to teach you essential life lessons. When you embrace and learn that lesson, the memory has served its purpose, freeing you to move on to the next one. This peeling back of the layer allows the "fat to melt away"—without the need for shortcuts like Ozempic—as you update your nervous system and release what no longer serves you.
Bookshelf Peeled - The Body Keeps the Score
I was immediately reminded of Bessel van der Kolk’s seminal work, The Body Keeps the Score. Van der Kolk argues that trauma and stress are not merely psychological events; they are stored as physical sensations and memories in our nervous system. This is a profound echo of our Memory Layer, where our body holds onto patterns and information that our conscious mind may have forgotten.
He details how our nervous system gets stuck in a state of hyper-arousal, constantly on alert for a threat that is no longer present. This is exactly what happens when our body's cells pack on "armor" or manifest as chronic pain, even after the initial stressor is gone. It's the physical consequence of a mind-body disconnect. Just as an onion's layers store its entire history of growth, our body holds the score of every experience, demanding that we finally listen to its story so we can update its operating system and release the patterns that no longer serve us.
The Body Keeps the Score
Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma Paperback – by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. (Author)
Design Rebel: The Body's Scorecard
A muscular, beer-bellied onion delivers wisdom on the body's score-keeping theme, with a special guest voice of Burt Reynolds by ElevenLabs. Animated with images from Leonardo.AI, script by me, and refined with Gemini, then edited and produced in Wondershare Filmora. This is my longest video to date.
The Rebel Belly Onion work in progress.
Weekly Inspired Insights I liked or found useful this week:
Interesting and informative talk on your body’s response to stress: spiking cortisol.
P.S. If this resonates with you, share it with someone. I'm dedicated to helping fellow explorers—or anyone who found this page—uncover their authentic self with humor and insight. We're all in this together, finding the courage to truly live from our core essence (or as close as we can get!).
The Adaptive Layer: Shape-Shifting for Survival (Tentative Title)
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