How High or Low is your BQ tm ?

Life is not meant to be an out of body experience.

But often it is. Sometimes we get so busy and caught up in our thoughts and our efficient multi task machines that we forget to check in and see what our body is doing or saying to us. Here's a test to inform you and raise your body awareness quotient or BQ for short.

1. How often do you notice the quality of your breathing? Right now, are you aware if it's shallow, deep, relaxed, short or choppy? Take a deep breath.
2. How often do you consciously pause from what you are doing to take a few deep, full, relaxing breaths?
3. How often do you scan your body to connect with how you are really feeling? For example do you check to see if your belly is relaxed or if your shoulders are crunched, or to see if your jaw and hands are relaxed, etc?
4. When you feel an uncomfortable sensation, pain or emotion in your body is your tendency to tune into it for a length of time and listen to what it may be telling you or do you ignore or try to get rid of the feeling immediately?
5. Would you say you have a body friendly vocabulary or do you say things like, "I could just kick myself for doing that," or, "That guy gives me a head ache," or, "This job makes me sick and is a big pain in the neck?" Or, do you ever say harsher things like, "I hate my body?" If you do say them, are you aware of when you say them or is it mostly an unconscious habit? Do you say things like that often or once in a while?
6. Are you aware of how congruent your words and body language are? Do you notice when your mouth is saying one thing and your body is communicating something completely different? Do you actually stop to notice how you're feeling when you're telling others how you're doing? How often do you catch it or do you not even notice how you are? Do you act "fine" or even cheerful when you feel your stomach is nervous, your chest is tight, or your jaw is clenched?
7. When you make decisions, whether they are small or large, do you take a moment to consult with how your body feels before you decide, or do you just use your mind? For instance, do you check in with your gut or heart or a "feeling" or mostly just use your brain ?
8. On a scale of one to ten, how comfortable do you generally feel in your own skin? How consciously connected are you to your body, its signals, posture, habits and messages that it broadcasts?

Based on your answers to the above questions, do you think you have a high, medium or low BQ?

What did you learn about your relationship with your body?