“Your life is always speaking to you. The fundamental question is: Will you listen?” Oprah
Last week, I declared 2018 the year of authenticity, outlining five things that need to be present for someone cultivate authenticity: listening, gratitude, acting out of joy instead of obligation, being vulnerable and avoiding comparison to others.
Authentic means being real and true to your design. But how do we actually practice the things?
I’m coming to believe you can’t practice any of them without first listening to yourself.
And in order to listen to yourself or anyone else, you have to find quiet. The noise has to be turned off.
I’m sitting in my home office, watching the very beginnings of the sun rising. Everyone else is asleep in my house. It is quiet, still, peaceful. I’ve found that rising early is about the only time I can find literal quiet. But in finding the literal quiet, I have been able to find inner quiet more throughout the day since beginning some practices that cultivate the ability to listen to myself.
Some ideas to help you listen to yourself include:
- Practicing meditation. Here is a great beginner’s guide to meditation.
- Practicing yoga. Yoga is similar to meditation in that it guides you to focus on your breath, but different in that it is an active practice that can be viewed as a physical workout as well as a mental and spiritual one. I like Yoga Zone videos if you’re a beginner. If you also run, I like Runner’s Love Yoga although her flow and tone is less peaceful than the Yoga Zone instructors.
- Exercising. Speaking of running, you can combine it with meditation. If this is of interest to you, you might find Another Mother Runner podcast: Mindful Running with Author Mackenzie Havey valuable.
- Journaling. I’ve found that combining a gratitude list and a prayer list in my everyday journaling exercise to be what speaks to me the most to tune into myself each day.
I don’t know about you, but with so much going on during the day, if these things don’t start off the day, they don’t happen. Seeking to rise early allows these things and therefore the quiet that I need to be able to listen to myself so I can better hear throughout the day.
If you are seeking rise early as a practice, here are a couple of good resources to consider:
7 Morning Habits that Make People Happier
Oprah’s quote tells us that we always have an inner voice that needs to be heard. If we listen, it guides us to better living. Authentic living.
Another quote from her helps us know when we’ve found it:
“You’ll know you’ve found it when every cell in your body vibrates with your own truth. When you’re filled up by what you’re doing instead of being drained by it.”
Be filled today.
