I’m packing my bags today and preparing to take myself – just me! – someplace peaceful and quiet for the long weekend. This will be my first time away from my son since his birth, so it’s a big deal.

I’m a combination of excited and weepy. It’s a benchmark moment for the entire family, and one that I know is going to truly serve everyone in beautiful ways.

But that’s not the truly daring part of what I have planned for the next 3 days. The real unexpected part of my weekend is that I intend to listen to and honor the healthy and natural urges of my body the entire time. If I want to sleep, I’m going to sleep. If I want to move my body, I’m going to move it. If I want to stretch, eat, drink, take a hot bath, laugh just because it feels good or cry because I want to… I will.

We live in a culture where over-riding the wisdom of the body is not only the norm, it’s expected. Too tired? Reach for something to pick you back up. Something hurts? Take a pill for that. Hungry? Grab whatever is fast and easy to make the hunger go away.

Your precious body takes the brunt of your fast-paced, high-stress life, and you might not even think twice about it, until your body starts telling you that it’s had enough.

I’m going to listen and follow the wisdom of my body this weekend, and see where it takes me. It may sound simple, but I know this weekend is going to be a game changer for me, and I can’t wait!

Finally, I want to remind you that your body is always communicating to you. It never lies, and it is so wise. It’s also deeply connected to your soul, and as such your body can act like a very wise GPS system for you, guiding and directing you toward your highest and most beautiful destiny.

So, for instance, you might be feeling a bit obsessed (perhaps for the 987^th time) about your body image and weight right now because the warmer weather is here and that means you’ll be exposing a bit more flesh when it comes to your seasonal wardrobe choices. Maybe you’re even holding on to a bit more weight than you’re used to, and you can’t figure out why.

Perhaps you’re doing all of the “right” things, eating all of the “right” ways, exercising, and more. But that number on the scale and your pant size are just staying the same, or even going up. There are so many reasons why you might be holding on to extra weight, many of which have little or absolutely nothing to do with what you’re putting into your body, and how you’re expending your energy.

That extra weight might just be a message from your soul, a symptom and an invitation to look more deeply at why your body is doing what it’s doing.

This has been, and continues to be, part of my journey right now. I am humbled by the incredible wisdom and love my body has for me, and I am so grateful for all of the ways my does everything it can for my well being – even if I still can’t fit into a lot of my clothes from before I was pregnant with Ocean.

I know this extra weight is here for another very good reason. Rather than fighting, judging, punishing and hating it, I’ve gotten curious about it. I invite you to get curious about what your body is communicating to you, too.

And if you are holding on to extra weight and you’re ready for some insight into what that might be about for you, click here to be taken to an article I wrote about the 50+ reasons you might be carrying extra weight right now. I think you’ll be surprised, amazed, and perhaps even a bit relieved!