What Is Your Body Trying To Tell You?

Are You Listening?

Your body communicates with you all the time, yet if you’re anything like me, it may have taken you a while to listen. When I was 26, I had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix and intestinal blockage. I’ll spare you the details which my friends and family have patiently endured listening to over the years. Suffice it to say that once I recovered and looked back in time, I realized that my body had been trying to get my attention for years prior to that climactic event.

Last year and a few months after moving cross country, my body sent a few new signals to heed, this time with less drama. I took the opportunity to take care of myself in a new way, integrating a more holistic approach into my health regime. I am learning to pay attention to smaller signs on a daily basis, so that I can listen to what my body needs without having to get sick for that to happen. What a concept! Are you listening to your body?

Your Investment Returns

Everyone agrees health is of the utmost importance; however we often subconsciously behave as if the investment of our time, money, or attention to our health is not worth the trade-off. Ironically, whenever we take care of our health, the investment returns are many times over.

I’ve noticed one positive by-product of coaching is that many of my clients become more dedicated to their health, as they work on their primary goals that brought them to coaching in the first place. The realization eventually hits that whatever you are trying to accomplish in your life, you need your body in order to do it! The great thing is that it’s reciprocal; once you start tending to your body more consciously, a level of confidence and energy spills over into your work, your relationships, and other areas of your life. As Henry David Thoreau puts it:

“Good for the body is the work of the body,
good for the soul the work of the soul, and
good for either the work of the other.”

What Do You Need?

Rather than wait for frightening wake-up calls, decide right now to pay attention to a specific sign your body is giving you.

This Week:

• What is your body telling you it needs?
• Decide what you will do about it.
• What are the specific measures that you want to improve: your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, flexibility, strength, aerobic capacity, energy level, other?
• Take specific action right now to head in this new direction: make a call, schedule that appointment, sign up for a class at the gym.