listening from the inside out

Listening from the inside out is different than internal dialogue.

Internal dialogue is mental.  It can kill the mood or turn us into pompous asses at any given moment. U s u a l l y, internal dialogue is mean spirited.  Why do we allow it? I once read a great quote regarding that. It went:
"If we talked to our friends the way we talk to ourselves, we wouldn't have any friends."
So, decidedly, internal dialogue is a nasty beast much of the time and we definitely need to learn to tame it.

Listening from the inside out is physical.  This is something we don't always do because we get caught up in the moment and forget to pay attention to little changes internally in our movements.  This is always important, and moreso when you're holding a buttload of weight on the barbell, or performing high reps with a kettlebell, etc.

It's also a factor in your rest and recovery.  CrossFitters are told from the start how important R&R is to your general health and wellbeing.  But this is where it's important to be accountable.  Coaches can wag fingers at athletes who are WODding too much (and yes, I've been known to do this :/ ), but if you, as an athlete, WANT to WOD multiple days in a row, then listen to what your body is telling you and  just don't WOD at 100% every day.  That is extremely hard to do, but can be done.  Listen.  Feel the "tap tap tap" of messages your body is sending you.  Don't let it get to the point where the "tap" becomes a boulder crashing down on you. 
Conversely, if you feel the need to take a week off every now and then, just do it! 
We all respond differently to everything in life. Guidelines are important in that they can help us lay out our own outline. Ultimately, however, only you know what is actually going on from the inside out.

After the Games last summer, I took a week off.  I did that because I was listening to what people were saying I should do, when in fact, I felt great and wanted to WOD.  Big mistake!  I should have listened to myself and WODded because when I did go back after that week off, I felt like crap and it took a while before I regained any sort of CF rhythm.  If I had felt like crap after the Games, I would have gladly rested.  It didn't help hearing this arguementative internal dialogue all that week, and all because I wasn't listening to my own body.  Lesson learned.

We definitely need to hear both messages, but listening from the inside out will be far better for you physically than just relying on that pesky internal dialogue.