Checking In
Photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash
How often do you check ingredient lists, expiration dates, the weather app, your email or social feeds? How about checking the air in your tires or glance at the fuel gauge?
Now, how often do you look in the mirror? Checking your teeth, hair, makeup, nose? Has that red spot turned into a zit yet?
Checking in can become somewhat obsessive.
But the big question is how often do you check inward to see how you are? How often do you listen to the language of the body?
Maybe the answer is never. Maybe occasionally. Or maybe you ask, “Why, for heaven’s sake?” Good question.
When we consider our checking in habits we may notice many are outwardly directed. We scan the environment for information (because our brains like that). What’s happening? What do I have to take care of? What do the children, the spouse, the parents, the boss need from me? What should I do next?
Yet one of the most important check-ins is one that we often miss. The inward-facing one.
How am I today?
What am I feeling now?
What is happening in my body?
What do I need?
Inward facing check-ins don’t require a 20-minute mindfulness meditation practice. They can happen as you linger longer under the covers in the morning, while brushing your teeth, waiting for the coffee to brew or sitting at a stoplight.
To be clear, checking in is not an attempt to fix yourself. It’s noticing. The tightness in the jaw, shoulders creeping toward the ears, tightness in the belly, shallowness of breath. Maybe there is a sense of ease, energy, excitement, contentment. Any and all are okay. Checking inward is analogous to checking the weather, what should I wear today? An umbrella would be a good idea.
Our bodies are continually offering us information. We often fail to stop long enough to hear what they are communicating.
Throughout the day, we receive an enormous number of messages from the outside in. Incoming information from news, advertising, social media, friends, partners, family, all trying to influence who and how we should be.
Inward-facing check-ins reverse the directional flow of information. Instead of asking, what is the world telling me? We inquire, what is going on inside of me? How do I want to show up?
This inward view matters, because the more familiar we become with our own inner landscape, the easier it is to recognize what we truly value.
Checking in also helps us get to know ourselves. We know when things feel aligned and when they don’t. We learn our inner language of trust.
The process creates pause so that we might choose what to do, say or even how to be in the world, moving from an authentic source of self.
We don't need to constantly check ourselves. But every now and then, before checking the weather, the news, the mirror or the phone, it might be worth inquiring:
How am I now, really? And then staying present long enough to hear the answer.
In-joy the check-in.