The 60-second check-in only works if the person already believes the signal is worth checking. Most people override it not because they lack the technique but because decades of external metrics taught them the body is unreliable and the data is the truth. The practice has to be preceded by something harder: learning to trust the signal in the first place. Without that, the check-in is just another item on the list.
YES! People can quote their sleep score down to the decimal but genuinely can't tell you if they're tired. The trust piece is foundational, absolutely. The technique stuff lands so much easier once that's in place. Thank you!
The gym story is so painfully relatable — the brain already doing leg day while the body is still in the airport.
The gap you name between detection accuracy and actual confidence is the part that stuck with me. It's not that people ignore the signals. They genuinely believe they're reading them correctly. That's a harder problem than discipline.
And the tracker point — that external rules quietly replace internal signals until you can't tell the difference anymore — I see the same thing happen with desires and goals. Not just with bodies. Years of external benchmarks for what success looks like, what you should want, what the right timeline is, and suddenly you genuinely can't tell what's yours and what was installed. The signal gets replaced so slowly it doesn't feel like a replacement.
The body doesn't shout. Neither does the thing underneath all the noise, apparently.
You are so right - the assumption that we all innately can "listen to our body" is so wrong. It's a skill you can learn (and quite an interesting process it is too!)
The world is full of people giving out pithy advice that it appears you can instantly follow, without being honest that in so many cases, it's a training rather than an instant decision. Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's innate or easy. My own bete noir in this regard is the admonition to "be present".
Exactly Will! So much of this gets framed like a switch you can flip, when it’s really a skill you build. On "be present", I'm writing a piece on mindfulness and I feel that if it passes your bullshit test I'll have done my job!🤣
The 60-second check-in only works if the person already believes the signal is worth checking. Most people override it not because they lack the technique but because decades of external metrics taught them the body is unreliable and the data is the truth. The practice has to be preceded by something harder: learning to trust the signal in the first place. Without that, the check-in is just another item on the list.
YES! People can quote their sleep score down to the decimal but genuinely can't tell you if they're tired. The trust piece is foundational, absolutely. The technique stuff lands so much easier once that's in place. Thank you!
The gym story is so painfully relatable — the brain already doing leg day while the body is still in the airport.
The gap you name between detection accuracy and actual confidence is the part that stuck with me. It's not that people ignore the signals. They genuinely believe they're reading them correctly. That's a harder problem than discipline.
And the tracker point — that external rules quietly replace internal signals until you can't tell the difference anymore — I see the same thing happen with desires and goals. Not just with bodies. Years of external benchmarks for what success looks like, what you should want, what the right timeline is, and suddenly you genuinely can't tell what's yours and what was installed. The signal gets replaced so slowly it doesn't feel like a replacement.
The body doesn't shout. Neither does the thing underneath all the noise, apparently.
This is so good Maria! And exactly, it’s not that people ignore the signal, they genuinely think they’ve got it right
My go to phrase is pee when you have to pee… for years I overrode this … it took time to learn to listen to the signals…
Yes!! This is such a good example! It sounds so obvious, but so many of us learn to override even that?!?
Such a simple request from our body.
Another really interesting piece.
You are so right - the assumption that we all innately can "listen to our body" is so wrong. It's a skill you can learn (and quite an interesting process it is too!)
The world is full of people giving out pithy advice that it appears you can instantly follow, without being honest that in so many cases, it's a training rather than an instant decision. Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's innate or easy. My own bete noir in this regard is the admonition to "be present".
Really interesting read! Thanks lots!
Exactly Will! So much of this gets framed like a switch you can flip, when it’s really a skill you build. On "be present", I'm writing a piece on mindfulness and I feel that if it passes your bullshit test I'll have done my job!🤣
Fantastic! Will look out for it. As you might imagine, have many opinions on mindfulness. Perhaps too many. And more each day. :-)