Our bodies provide us with so much valuable information, but most of the time, we ignore it. Not intentionally, but there is so much pressure to just keep moving forward, make those deadlines, achieve those goals, that we just push through.

Last week, I spent the week with two friends at Rancho La Puerta, a wonderful health and fitness resort in Tecate, Mexico. I realized, after being there only a few days, that I had become terribly disconnected from my body. All of a sudden, I was IN my body, feeling it, connected to it, aware and listening.

Honestly, it felt great.

But then I wondered, how did I get here? I’m usually pretty good at listening to my body.

This is how:

1. I pushed through a sore arm from playing pickleball and ended up with a pretty severe case of tennis elbow. Ugh. Not my norm, I usually stop when I feel pain, but this time I didn’t.
2. I’ve been in the middle of a book launch. Push through. Keep going. Right?
3. I’ve been focused on other people in my life – rightfully so. There have been family members with various and sundry ailments that needed my attention and/or support. So, my attention has been outward. Not bad, but…
4. I’ve been in denial about a specific issue in my life and how much it’s been impacting me. The release and relief I felt in those first few days brought that denial to the forefront.

None of these things is bad, in and of themselves, except perhaps the denial. But added up, they caused a big disconnect. One that became very apparent when I stopped and spent some time with my body.

The thing is that ignoring our bodies and pushing through pain only creates more pain and more problems in the long run. My tennis elbow is a prime example of that.

And it’s an easy problem to fix – the listening that is.

You can take two to three minutes a few times a day to do a body scan. Stop. Feel your body from head-to-toe. What’s sore? Tight? Uncomfortable? Tired? What’s numb or inaccessible? Those feelings will give you an indication where and when to go deeper. Even if you don’t have time at that moment, you can make a note of it and come back to it before bed or in the morning when you can re-evaluate once again.

Our nervous system is designed to give us a heads up when there’s a problem – physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Listening to your body can point you in the right direction to take action before the problem escalates.

As a leader, you want to be at your best as much as possible. Making a habit of listening to your body is a great tool to help you get there.