When to stop.

When did you last take a few minutes to just stop, breathe in and out, and truly listen to the language of your body? You know, the signs it sometimes just throws at you while you are working, and getting so busy with daily life.

The signs will always be there, but it can only be read when we are listening, and listening can only happen when you are not talking or thinking. You are just there, hearing the other person out. But... Do we truly listen?

I know the world is filled with a lot of grinding spirit and hustles, but that shouldn't stop us from listening to our bodies. The food we eat, the drinks we take, the air we breathe, and our surroundings. They play a vital role in our lives, and our body gives us the signal with the sixth senses to tell us when things are going wrong or have gone wrong but in a way that can still be fixed at its early stage.

I saw a post from Twitter a few days ago where a lady spoke about the smell in her apartment. According to her, the smell wasn't that strong, but still, she checked what it could be but found nothing, so she just put the thought away and went to the market to get things to cook.

However, when her neighbour came to knock, asking if her gas was on while she was cooking, she remembered her oven, checked it out, and saw that she didn't close the oven gas tightly.

Imagine cooking in a place exposed to gas? Very dangerous, isn't it? If her apartment had blown up, it wouldn't just affect her alone. That's what happens when we fail to take the signs in life seriously.

The sign was there, and the sign will always come, and it is left to you and I to work with it or not.

Speaking about our body, those headaches, little tiredness, sneezing, little cough, little pain in the chest, rib, and abdomen, irregularities in period(for women) are messages our body wants us to just stop and take a look at. But because we are busy, we'd just rather take a pill or two and just continue with the grind until the body decides to just knock us off our feet.

These little things we feel may just require taking a nap, cleaning your room, putting on a sweater, eating more healthy meals, doing a little bit of exercise but because we fail to stop, the pain accumulates to the point we won't be able to even stand or walk ourselves.

Self-control is sufficient in everything we do. Learn to take a break and when to stop thinking. It happens to me, especially when I am alone and not too busy. I know I need to sleep, but that's exactly when my mind starts with a story or some random thoughts to keep me awake. The thoughts just drop in like a well written and acted trailer from a movie, and...the rest gets me salivating and makes me fight off sleep in the glee of wanting to know how the story construction goes.

However, I have found ways to just help me focus and truly rest. Whispering my name quietly with the chant -"You need to sleep"- has always worked for me, especially at night. It gets me to relax and wake up to a rested morning.

Also, speaking about life in general, there are times our instinct just tells us things. Those times our surroundings, and the weather, speak to us. They give us those signs, and all we just have to do is stop and listen.

Now, to you, do you know when to stop when those signs speak to you? How do you do it?

While writing I couldn't help murmuring the lyrics from Westlife some, Fool again and I also added Harry Styles, Signs of Times to the list.