Into the Silence

Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If

you're uncertain about what you really want or unsure how to be

a force for good, you know this world craves, then this is the

show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding

clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner

wisdom, access our highest self and unleash joy. As we raise our

vibration we heightened the collective consciousness and

that my friends, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in. Hey,

joyful journey yours I need to Adams here your host of the

joyful journey podcast and today I want to talk about going into

the silence. Before we dive into this topic, though, I'd like to

shout out one of our listeners a spicy meatball 33 for your

fabulous review who tells me I'm a natural thank you and says I

love this podcast. You're inspiring and your passion

shines through. Thank you so much spicy meatball 33 I so

appreciate you and I love your username that puts a huge smile

on my face. All right into the silence. We go. As an

entrepreneur, and work from home mom for 20 plus years, finding

moments of silence was a rarity. Life with the Addams Family was

big, busy, and boisterous. Meditation was seldom on the

agenda back then. And the idea of going for a walk in the woods

by myself was almost laughable, who has time to meditate, and

why on earth would I want to go for a walk by myself. That was

an extremely foreign idea. As I've shared in other episodes,

everything shifted when the pandemic hit, and to deal with

my anxiety around all that was happening in the world. In my

business with my family. I found myself walking in the forest by

myself every single day, a challenge that was issued by by

business coach. And I fell in love with the silence. Because

in that space, I began to hear the whispers of my heart, my

soul voice and I began to understand who I really am. And

what I really want. With that understanding grew with

confidence, a deeper love and respect for self. And well, a

lot of joy. Then I started this podcast and I tell you, my dear

listener, go forth and walk in the woods and there you will

find the answers to all you're looking for. There is absolute

truth. In this statement, you will find your answers when you

step away from the noise of your busy life and tap into the

stillness within. However, I also recognize that what I'm

asking you to do go for a walk by yourself in nature, may be

extremely uncomfortable for a lot of people. What I've

discovered is that this discomfort rests primarily in

being in silence. So let's explore our feelings around

silence and start by doing a quick assessment on a scale of

one to 10, with one being very uncomfortable being in silence

to 10 being very comfortable and even craving silence. Where do

you stand on the scale?

What was the first number that popped into your head? If you

landed on five or below, then going for a walk in nature by

yourself without any music or other distractions filtering

through your ear buds is a big ask, and it's unlikely to

happen. If you landed on six or above, you are more likely to

invest time in nature. But are you? Are you intentionally

carving out time for this activity? How often do you do

it? And how big of a priority is it for you? If you're in this

group, we'll come back to you. First, we're going to explore

what's potentially going on for those who landed in the five and

below group and what you can do to increase your comfort of

being in silence. If you fall into this group. I suspect when

you were on your own, you fill the space with noise, be it

listening to music, listening to a podcast or even just playing

the TV in the background. For those of you who constantly fill

the space with noise, are you aware that you are doing that or

is it a subconscious action a habit to turn on the radio The

news, the podcast as soon as you get into the car or walk through

the door at home, ask yourself why? Why do you want to fill the

space with noise? Are you trying to avoid something? It's

entirely possible that you simply love music and want to

fill every waking moment with it. Are you hunger for knowledge

and have discovered the depth of resources available through

podcasts and audiobooks. But there might be something else

entirely going on. A friend of mine recently revealed and

courageously so that she is uncomfortable with silence.

Because she does not want to be alone with our thoughts, which

often turned dark. I've come to understand that this is a common

reason for avoiding the silence. Unfortunately, those dark

thoughts still have a way of seeping into our life, no matter

how much noise fills the space, and they will hang over us like

a turbulent cloud. The only way to truly dispel those negative

thoughts and the energy they carry is to acknowledge them by

being fully aware of their presence. The silence enables

this awareness to build your comfort of being in silence.

Start by carving out just five to 10 minutes a day for the

silence in an environment that is comfortable, say in your

living room, on your balcony or in your backyard. If sitting in

silence is too much to ask then start by doing the dishes in

silence or folding the laundry in silence or driving to work in

silence. Eventually, the goal is to work our way up to being

comfortable doing nothing for longer periods of time in

silence, doing nothing but observing. Be the observer of

all that's around you. Most importantly, observe how you

feel. If dark thoughts come, imagine yourself as a third

party non judgmental observer and treat those thoughts and

accompanying feelings with curiosity. Ask why, why do I

feel this way and further observe what emerges. Gently

probe and knowledge, the feelings. I like to share a

simple exercise you can do at this point one that has helped

me immensely. Put one hand over your heart, one hand over your

belly and say, I've got you repeat the statement a few

times. I've got you. I've got you. The only thing you are

doing here is being fully conscious of your feelings and

accepting yourself lovingly. You're not trying to change

anything you're not trying to deny, reject, suppress, argue,

you are lovingly accepting what is

if this exercise of sitting in silence, and being an observer

of what is happening around you and with in you is triggering or

too painful, then I would like to gently suggest that seeking

professional guidance to release this pain would be a great idea.

It takes courage to ask for help. And we all need it.

Sometimes. We all need it. Once we start building our muscle of

being comfortable in silence, the next step is to practice

this in nature. Because as I've expressed before, nature is a

portal to our highest self. One way of building our comfort

level of being in nature on our own is to invite a like minded

friend to go for a walk and take five to 10 minutes to walk in

silence together, but with little a little distance between

you to avoid the temptation to speak. And then once again, pull

out our observation skills to notice everything in our in our

environment using all of our senses. What do you hear, see,

smell, feel, taste even. And notice the feelings within as

well be that curious observer. And these little ways we begin

to build our comfort for being in silence and in the process.

We make space for our sole voice to emerge. Now if you identified

as being a six or above on our side That's Comfort Scale, then

your job is to find more opportunities to unities for

solo silent time, be it in meditation, or doing the dishes

without music or the TV playing, and carve out time to get into

nature every day. A Walk in the park, or around the neighborhood

will suffice if you don't have easy access to a more wild

environment, make this time a daily non negotiable. the busier

you are, the more important it is to make that time to do this.

Trust me on this. Better yet, take the 30 Day Challenge. I

recently made an experience for yourself how stepping into

nature every day for 30 days will transform your life. This

is meant to be time on your own being present with your

environment and yourself. You will feel calmer, more grounded,

you'll become more productive. You'll find creative solutions

to challenges you'll sleep better. And this is just the

beginning. The list of benefits for being in nature to tap into

the silence are vast. For in the silence, you will discover your

strength. You will find the answers to all your questions

and you will awaken thank you for joining me today my fellow

joyful journeyers I look forward to next time. Thank you for

joining us today on the joyful journey podcast. If anything

resonated with you, please visit our website at joyful inspired

living.com Sign up to receive a free download of our three

guiding principles to inner wisdom and become a member of

the joyful inspired living community. For a deeper

spiritual dive. Check out our retreats we offer both in person

retreats on beautiful Bowen Island in British Columbia as

well as online retreats that you can do from the comfort of your

own home. And finally, if you liked our show, please leave a

review so more people can find it and learn how to access their

highest self and together will raise the collective