The Body Knows First
Before the mind has a story, the body has a feeling. Listen to the body.
The body knows you are uncomfortable with someone before the mind has a reason. The shoulder rises first. The breath shortens first. The stomach has its small clench before the conversation has even begun.
We have been taught not to trust this. We have been taught to come up with arguments, to be reasonable, to wait until we have evidence. By the time the evidence arrives, the body has been telling us for an hour.
This is not a piece against the mind. The mind is wonderful for many things. But when the question is do I feel safe here? or is this person well? or am I tired? — the body answers first, and more honestly.
A small practice
Three times today, ask the body where it is.
Not in words. Just attention. Drop down out of the head and feel: where is the body holding? Where is it loose? What is the breath doing? What is the jaw doing?
The body will tell you something every time. Sometimes it will be small — a faint tightness behind the eyes. Sometimes it will be loud — a knot in the chest you had been overriding for hours.
Whatever it tells you, you don't have to do anything yet. Just hear it.
You have been ignoring this voice for years. It has been patient. It will speak again.