The Subtle Signal Most People Miss
If you aren’t in tune with your body, you might miss the subtle cues it gives you. Your body tells you when it needs something; it always tries to let you know.
When we don’t understand ourselves well enough to recognize the signals within us, it can lead to challenges in other areas of life.
Have you ever felt anxious and uncertain, only to realize you hadn’t eaten at all that day? Maybe you had a headache and then later remembered that you didn’t drink enough water. We might have days where something feels “off,” but we aren’t sure what it is. Sometimes we just accept this feeling, and don’t try to understand it further.
We could have experiences like these in any number of ways, but the point is this: you need to take care of your body. Be aware of your basic needs. Be open to your feelings and what they may be telling you. Check out: The Mindset Behind Exercise – Show Up for Yourself
When we are paying attention to our bodies and our emotions, we can take better care of ourselves. We also have somewhere to look for solutions when we don’t feel right.
We can catch our dysregulation before it gets out of hand.
When you can recognize how you are feeling and act accordingly, you get better at listening and tending to your needs. Listening to yourself is a primary step in pursuing a closer relationship with yourself.
Recognition is the first step to RETURN to yourself.
What “Off” Feels Like in the Body
How do you know you’re on the right track, or not?
We can check in with ourselves every time to answer questions like this. Take a look at how your body is feeling. Do you have specific sensations? Where are they?
If you feel off because of a need that’s not being met – for example, you need water, or rest – you’ll be able to see that here when you scan your body for sensations.
Equally, if you are feeling off because of something else affecting your mental or emotional health (barring any formal medical illness), that will show up here as well.
You might notice tension in your jaw, your breathing might become shallow, or your shoulders may tense up. You may find yourself not wanting to move or grinding your teeth.
Irritation could show up as low patience, sensory sensitivities, or reacting disproportionately. You might be more likely to snap at your partner for simply being there.
Numbness or feeling “checked out” could look like feeling emotionally flat, feeling disconnected, or as if you are on autopilot.
You might feel an overwhelming sense of urgency. Urgency might show up as the need to fix something, make a decision, or have an answer with absolutely no time to waste. The word I always used for it was frantic. It’s almost like an uncontrollable sense of physical anxiety; your thoughts, breath and actions might move at the speed of light, with no clear direction.
We pay attention to the sensations in our bodies because the body often understands how we feel before the mind does.
What sensation shows up first when something isn’t right for you? Check out: Giving Your Emotions A Name: Moving Beyond “Good” Or “Bad”
Why People Skip Recognition and Jump Straight to Fixing
You might be like many of us who feel that we have to have everything figured out.
There are cultural and societal expectations for some of us to just “be fine” and keep on. We feel the constant pressure to be productive, and successful. It can seem like we are only ever going and running, and all the while trying to keep it together.
However, no one is fine one hundred percent of the time.
So unconsciously, if we feel uncomfortable, we try to resolve it before we even understand why – just get that feeling out of here. The mere presence of discomfort is enough to put us back into “keep going” mode – fix, produce, and continue.
In doing so, we miss the message that our discomfort was trying to tell us.
It can feel as if pausing and taking a moment for ourselves is asking too much from our day, or maybe it doesn’t even occur to us. Check out The First Step to Understanding Your Emotions
Yet if we just take a moment to tune in and listen to how we are feeling, we would never need to consult some “outside authority,” because no one knows what’s best for you more than you.
Next time you feel uncomfortable feelings, don’t simply write them off as a problem to be solved. Question them like information to be understood.
The Cost of Ignoring Your Body’s Signals
If you choose to live your life without this awareness, you’ll miss a lot.
Not knowing how you are feeling or what you need means you are limited in how you make your decisions, because whether you realize it or not – you don’t have enough information.
Small misalignments turn into larger ones, and especially if you aren’t aware of them, they can seemingly come out of nowhere. Decisions made in urgency generally aren’t aligned with a more grounded, conscious choice.
Emotional buildup that never gets tended to eventually comes out on its own as resentment, burnout, or shutdown. Check out How Does That Make You Feel: How to Check In With Your Emotions
You might experience any of the examples above and ask yourself, “Why didn’t I listen to myself?”. Not listening to your body could result in eroding self-trust or continued misalignment.
How Recognition Builds Self-Trust
When you increase your awareness, you also increase your relationship with yourself.
Naming what you feel validates your inner experience. Pausing to check in with yourself interrupts autopilot mode and gives you a choice.
Each time you recognize how you feel and name that feeling for yourself, you show your unconscious, “I can hear myself.”
You build trust in yourself not from always being right, but by always listening. It happens when you show up for yourself consistently and put in the effort. Check out Self-Trust Series: Self-Trust Comes From Staying With Yourself
Consciously recognizing how you feel and what you need shifts you out of reactivity and allows you to respond thoughtfully.
Check-in with Yourself
Take a moment to tune in with yourself. How are you feeling right now? Close your eyes, take a breath, and scan your body. Where are you feeling tense? Where do you feel heavy or uncomfortable?
Awareness isn’t loud or dramatic, and it doesn’t need to make itself known. In fact, it’s actually quiet and subtle. It notices, understands, and puts the puzzle pieces together.
Having awareness of yourself allows you to further your understanding and fulfillment in just about every area of your life. Check out Emotional Regulation – Learning How to Stay With Yourself
It starts with just taking a breath and a moment to check in with yourself.
Closing Insight
So what are you waiting for? Tune in, get quiet, and ask yourself what you need.
What do you need? What would make you happy? Fulfilled? More comfortable?
What do you want? What’s right for you and what isn’t?
Your body will answer all of these questions for you, and then some. All you have to do is listen.
Keep an eye out for the next post The RETURN Method: Explore the Facts with Curiosity. In the meantime, check out the Related Reads, and Sign Up for the NEWSLETTER below!
Related Reads:
Self-Trust Series: Self-Trust in Real Time,
Energetic Awareness and How to Read a Room,
Acting Out of Obligation,
Stop Idealizing People – Why We Put Others on a Pedestal and How to Break the Cycle,
Naming Your Feelings: Build a Better Emotional Vocabulary and Improve Self-Advocacy
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