Your body. It talks. No, not just your mouth. Your whole body. To you. Yes.

Not in language out loud like we talk to each other. Silently. In whispers. In ideas. In thoughts, images.

If you don’t listen, it escalates its cries for attention. It’s simply trying to tell you what its spidey sense already notices: That you’re headed for a health crisis if you don’t change your ways.

So, first, you get that idea. Maybe I should take a break. I’m sort of tired. I wish I could take a nap. What do you do? Often, you push on.

Okay, your body makes it harder and harder for you to push on. You continue pushing on.

Next, you get actual physical symptoms. Perhaps a headache that makes it really hard to focus on what you’re trying to do. Aches and pains. More than a little tired. You continue. What else are you going to do, right? Everyone wants something of you, and you have demands, responsibilities, needs, have tos.

The ante ups. Now you may be facing actual illness. Whether relatively minor or increasingly serious, your body is demanding your attention. You have no choice now. You’re laid out in bed. You CAN’T keep pushing on now. You have to figure out how to recover to anywhere near normal, and then you’ll still have to figure out how to keep that new normal.

Please – listen to your body. The sooner you listen, the less time you’ll have to spend course correcting. It’s not something you can push off. Either you do it now – with maybe a short rest. Or you’ll do it later – with perhaps months of illness and then recuperation … if you’re lucky.

Listening – or tuning into your body – is a key to wellness. It’s a crazy busy world out there. Don’t let it be a busy world in you as well. Pay attention to those tiny, small thoughts or symptoms, and you’ll be rewarded with the time and energy to enjoy life on your terms.