If you asked your body right now to give you a status update, what would it say?

Would you hear something along the lines of ‘Happy today, feeling good with pretty toes!’, or perhaps more like ‘Tired sluggish blah want some more coffee or a nap’? If you haven’t given this matter much thought recently, or have the idea that it isn’t up to you, that it’s out of your control, you may want to sit up and take notice of your body.

Your body’s attitude and energy at any given moment has a lot to do with you, and you have enormous power to help and heal your own body.

What if people sang out loud, just because they felt like it?

What if this was a normal thing to do, to express one’s feelings with music instead of judging whether one was ‘good enough’ to be allowed to do so?

What would it be like to hear ‘hello’ from every stranger you met?

What if cars had no alarms?

What if leaf blowers were never used?

What do you say to yourself, and how do you say it?

Do you speak to yourself as if you trust and value you? Do you listen to your inner voice? Are you kind to yourself? Can you sing out loud, tell yourself jokes, and reassure the timid, scared parts of you that you’re okay? Or do you judge yourself for being less than you think you should be?

Are you even on speaking terms with yourself? Or do you go for long stretches without remembering that you have an inner voice? Do you tell yourself that you love you? Do you compliment yourself for doing something well, and thank yourself for being brave?

Nobody knows you better than you know yourself.

If someone tells you they know you better than you do, they are misinformed. They might be saying that they know who they want you to be, who you are 'supposed' to be, or who you want them to think you are. Meanwhile, the actual truth of who you are might be hidden and protected down deep, under a surface of demands, responsibilities, beliefs, agreements, and other people’s energy.

Your truth might be so well hidden that even you are having a hard time seeing it. You might not know yourself, the real you, at all.

Has your heart been calling to you? Have you been listening, or have you blocked its calls?

Did you turn your heart’s volume down, put out a ‘do not disturb’ sign, or invalidated it as being unrealistic? Perhaps you’ve believed those who insist that the pursuit of career, money, status, and power are better choices than listening to one’s heart.

Have you gotten to the point where you can no longer ignore its message? That truth speaking from deep within your heart won’t be silenced. It’s telling you something is amiss, and that you are ignoring your deepest dreams.

I come from a long line of busy people. It’s possible that you do too.

‘Idle hands are the devil’s playthings’ or however that phrase goes, could have been stamped on the wall of the house I grew up in.

Except it would have gone more along the lines of ‘mom’s coming, look busy’. Being engaged in the act of listening to myself didn't count. Maybe this is why meditation became so important to me as an adult.

At a young age, I learned that adults do not like to see a kid sitting around, doing nothing.

Your energy vibration has a lot to say about what you are able to create.

Consciously or not, your energy is set at one vibration or another right now. You might be vibrating at a happy peaceful energy, or you could be caught up in a more challenging vibe of fear, resistance, and pain.

Deep listening is an art.

The ability to listen deeply is more than simply hearing the noises of the city or your office or home. When you take the time to listen to yourself, your body, the earth, nature, spirit, other people, you receive information that helps you understand and grow. Listening deeply brings awareness.