Psychologists believe that many of the health issues women experience today stem from our fear-based emotions and false beliefs about ourselves. Like ‘I am not good enough, I don’t have enough money to be successful , I am too fat etc.

As I look back over a few of the more dramatic or traumatic events in my life, there were signs leading up to them. Signals, a sense of something not right.

Really, it was a whisper of the soul and sometimes they were from Jesus as the Lord will speak to us:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27}

And I realize now that as time went on and I ignored this voice, clearer and louder messages followed. But deep down I knew that something was up and I didn’t really know what to do because fear was there too.

And as I continued to ignore these warning signs I was  hit by what some call “a cosmic 2×4.”

I like how Stacey Martino puts it, “God first speaks to you in a whisper, a nudge, a hunch, when you don’t get that whisper, you get a pebble upside the head, then a brick, then finally, a brick wall which is full-blown crisis. And then the brick wall falls down.”

The key is to heed these whispers before we slam into the brick wall.

God has our best interests and highest good in His heart for us and the Lord will throw spiritual breadcrumbs on our path. The more we listen and follow the path the more breadcrumbs show up leading us on to wholeness, fulfillment and truth.

Jesus said:

“I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)

God does not leave us walking blindly without any sense of direction from Him. We are connected. We can hear His voice and know His voice if we listen and trust those “whispers of the soul.”

Learning to listen to the voice that has our highest good and best interests at heart is the key mission of our lives.

But for many of us, like me, we get distracted and the one thing that pulls us off course is our tendency to be people-pleasers.

People-pleasing is one of the worst vices that women must deal with because its impact on the body, mind and soul is so detrimental. We drive ourselves to the point of exhaustion.

But the bigger problem is that people-pleasers are often driven by negative emotions like guilt, shame and even envy.  It is an attempt to fill a void deep within us, but it will empty us and suck us dry if we don’t get control of it.

People-pleasing has been diagnosed by many experts as the main cause for emotional and even physical un-wellness in women. It is a drain on our bodies creating a deficit in the health and well-being of our bodies, minds and spirits and brings with it a perpetual tiredness.

Anger and resentment ends up being the end of the road for women who sacrifice themselves continually and these negative thoughts and emotions affect our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

But God does not want us to go down this people-pleasing path and the Holy Spirit will nudge us — throw pebbles, rocks and bricks on our path — to  get our attention and help us stay on course. People-pleasing is a distraction that causes women to veer away from all that is good for them.

Let’s pay attention and become more aware when we are veering off the path and ignoring the breadcrumbs that have been dropped along the way to lead us to fulfillment, joy and our calling.