What Is Your Body Telling You?

Hi everyone, 

Recently, I’ve been reading When the Body Says No, by Gabor Maté. It’s a great book that explains the ways repeated stress can manifest physically as a way of forcing us to pay attention to things we otherwise wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately, I have not been reading this book just for fun. 

A few weeks ago I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that I was genetically predisposed to but was also likely triggered by the stress of my mom’s passing. Thankfully, it’s very treatable, and I am mostly just grateful to have an identified cause for the symptoms I had been having.

But the whole thing has got me seriously thinking about my health and the ways our bodies speak to us. And this leads me to this month’s reflection question:

What has your body been telling you?

In our fast-moving world with a lot of options for distraction, avoidance, and false productivity, it’s easy to ignore the needs/wants of our body in order to continue doing whatever we are accustomed to doing. 

I have often had therapists who ask me where I feel something in my body, because the body helps us connect to the emotion that might otherwise go unregistered. If my experience over the last couple months has taught me anything, it’s that the body is an important ally in our work as leaders. Recognizing its needs and responding to them will only pay off in the long run.

So I want to ask again, What has your body been telling you? Then stay still for a bit and listen.