to be quiet

Can you hear the quiet?

I used to resist it, be afraid of it.

My dear cousin, Liv, is compiling a book. She asked me to contribute by answering this question: "Tapping into your unique strengths and gifts, what is the one thing that young women need to know how to do, and how can they actually do it?"

The phrase that I immediately voiced was "how to be quiet".

Many people have written books on this exact subject but how to sum it up in one page?

All I remember is there was one point in my life when I was fearful of being still, fearful of what I might hear, fearful of what I might remember. There was a point in my life where I couldn't even sit down for a moment without getting up to pick up a piece of lint on the floor.

Some of us may be afraid to stop and listen. It may seem overwhelming or frightening. Be gentle with yourself. I don't know you but I already believe in you and this practice. Sit quietly for a very short amount of time. Start with five minutes.

From as long as I remember, I always tried to make BIG movement, BIG strides. I am not sure if I was born this type of person or if this was something that I learned. What I have learned over time, however, is that the consistent baby steps I take are SO MUCH more powerful. As water drops on a rock, consistently year after year, eventually making an indentation, a large bucket splashed on a rock on occasion doesn't make much difference at all.

When you begin, let the loud voices inside make their voices known. Eventually these voices will stop. They are the fearful voices: the voices of an unkind world, perhaps, the voices of "expectations", the voices of all those "shoulds" and possibly, the voices of guilt or shame. These are such terrible voices but, ironically, they are always with us. It's the noise and our bustling busy-ness that keeps them at bay. The only challenge with this is in order to not hear these voices, we need to keep one step ahead of them. Why not give them a platform from which to speak? Why not listen and then decide to let them go....for a lifetime.

Eventually, over time (and many baby steps), the only voice you will hear in the quiet is the soft, gentle soothing voice of your own, unique beautiful soul. The beauty of the quiet is that this is where our most powerful selves live. One finds that something they were spending so much time searching for "out there", is all inside "right here".

I started small with hearing the quiet. I showed up for it for a small time everyday.

I challenge you to hear the quiet. How powerful we all could be! I challenge you to create the space in your life for five minutes a day where you are quiet. Soon, you will begin to hear the kind, gentle, encouraging voice of yourself. I guarantee this.

I live to hear the quiet.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

-Seneca