As with most things in life – less is more – and I found this brief and succinct verse to be most profound and touching in its simplicity and connection to the truth of our reality.

I invite you to claim your space for the next few minutes, settle in and read the verse below. Read it with intent. Read it with purpose. Read it without the need to rush onto and into the next activity of your day. Allow it settle within you and around you. Allow it to wrap you up like a huge blanket and give you permission to get to know you.

To find you.

To be you.

To honour you.

THE VOICE 

There is a voice inside of you

That whispers all day long

“I feel that this is right for me,

I know that this is wrong.”

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

Or wise man can decide

What’s right for you – just listen to

The voice that speaks inside 

By Shel Silverstein

Now – I ask you to just sit once more with those words. Let them fill you up to the brim – overflowing with support and acknowledgement of who you really are.

Let them pour into every crevice of your being.

Let them flow into the very ends of your fingertips and down into the soles of your feet.

Let the words penetrate your mind, expand your heart and pour into your ears.

And now – read them once more.

Feel the clarity moving through every inch of your body.

Feel the energy starting to move.

Allow the thoughts, feelings and passions that represent your true self to surface and make their presence felt within you.

Acknowledge what matters to you.

Let those thoughts, those wants and those desires poke their heads up and get your attention.

Take 10 – 15 minutes to sit quietly with this verse and your thoughts and just observe what comes to your mind. See what rises to the surface, bubbling up to greet your new awareness of what lies within. What desires and passions have been lying dormant within you – waiting to be invited to the surface?

What thoughts flashed through your mind as you read the verse?

What longings did you feel in your heart?

Now – read it again. And again. Really let it float about within you and resonate.

Now – close your eyes and sit with it for another 10 minutes or so.

Okay – open your eyes.

Are you surprised by what thoughts came to you during that process?

Sometimes it is so difficult to clarify exactly what it is that we want in life, but the truth is that our most desired self is right there within us. Like a little gift- wrapped present just waiting to be opened.

But we can not open a gift if we refuse to see it waiting for us on the table.

And it is the all consuming fear of other people’s expectations, or society’s expectations or our parent’s expectations that can cut us off from this voice within and leave us feeling directionless. Empty. Lost. Hopeless.

Like a boat without a rudder.

A person without a purpose.

There is nothing worse than feeling that you can not live your life in line with your own values and beliefs. And it is these values, thoughts, beliefs, passions and interests that lie within our soul waiting to guide us to a life of purpose and contentment.

They are all a gift – a treasure – just waiting to be found and opened.

The truth is that we all know where our heart lies, if we are honest with ourselves.

We all know the topics that light a fire within and call us to action.

It may be scaling Mount Everest.

It may be baking cookies for your friends.

It may be setting up a new business.

It may be writing a book.

It may be finding bargains online and sharing them with others.

It may be spending time with family.

It may be working as an activist or advocate for an issue close to your heart.

It may be lying in the sun drinking cocktails.

It doesn’t matter what it is  – it just matters that you connect with your inner voice and acknowledge its guidance.

I believe with 100% conviction, that much of the disharmony in the world today is caused by people not being allowed to live their lives in line with that “little voice within”. There are so many people who feel “bullied” into living someone else’s life.

Living a life to someone else’s standards and ideals.

The life of an accountant may not be at all compelling or rewarding for someone who desires from their heart and soul and their little voice within to be an artist.

The life of a dancer may not be at all compelling or rewarding for someone who desires from their heart and soul and their little voice within to be a stockbroker.

The life of a Corporate CEO may not be at all compelling or rewarding for someone who desires from their heart and soul and their little voice within to be a social advocate for political change.

The life of an entrepreneur may not be at all compelling or rewarding for someone who desires from their heart and soul and their little voice within to have a regular job with regular benefits they can count on and little responsibility.

The key here is that what is right for one person may not be right for another and our happiness and contentment, rest in the acknowledgment of this fact and in our ability to recognize and utilize this Voice within.

This wonderful barometer of our soul.

This wonderful call to action.

This wonderful resonance that stamps our individuality and our true calling across our entire being and existence, with the ability to bring us a sense of peace and fulfilment regardless of our exterior world.

The irony of life on the Planet Earth, as we know it, is that despite having this wonderful tool as close to us as it could possibly get – right there within us – few people are actually aware of it and even fewer use it to facilitate the life they have always dreamed of.

But the key to this door can be found in the profound words of the little poem presented to you today. Once again I invite you to unlock the door and walk through to a new and exciting existence where you honour the truth of who you are.

Not your parent’s truth. Not your teacher’s truth. Not your friend’s truth. Not your preacher’s truth. Not your mentor’s truth. Not my truth.

Your truth.

There is a voice inside of you

That whispers all day long

“I feel that this is right for me,

I know that this is wrong.”

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

Or wise man can decide

What’s right for you – just listen to

The voice that speaks inside

Thank you once more Shel Siverstein.

Discover You. Love You. Be You.

It really is that simple.

- Christine -

Turn off our laptops.

Turn off our televisions.

Turn off our i-pods, play stations and radios.

Turn off the lights.

And just be.

It is quite incredible the peace and centred-ness that can be found simply by turning off all the external “stuff” that we are constantly bombarded with each and every day.

To simply be is an amazing feeling.

The sounds of nature that you can tune into – even when living in an inner city suburb is quite overwhelming and beautiful. The connection is profound and totally different to that of connecting to a television programme or radio show.

They say silence is golden, and this is so very true if you just turn everything off.

To sit and reflect in this way can be a truly magical start to your day.

A time when your energy just settles into a beautiful rhythm.

A time when you can set your intentions and expectations for the day.

A time for reflecting upon what is important and of value to you for the day.

A time to create the feeling that you want to stay with you for the rest of the day.

I sometimes wonder at the value if sitting in front of the television before setting off for our day. In fact I rarely do these days as I have chosen to unplug at the beginning and end of each day instead.

But I do think that perhaps it is not surprising that people are so wound up and anxious on their way to work, University or school when they have had the day’s events, which tend to always be portrayed as rather negative, blasted at them for half an hour or so prior to leaving home.

Where and when can the connection and magic in your day take hold, if your morning has been spent being blasted by news and the negativities of the day?

A usual morning dose sees murders, road accidents, politics, diet products, cleaning products and stories about every other crisis or dilemma facing the world. Day in and day out it always seems to be the same. Nothing seems to change in the news cycle. I sometimes doubt we would miss much if we skipped it.

So why not do just that?

Is this morning and evening dose of negativity really informing us in any beneficial way? Is the news cycle telling us things we need to know or things that we can actively change? Is it really giving us news at all or is it really just social commentary designed to make us buy stuff to make us feel worthy, beautiful or safe as we go about our day?

Am I suggesting that you cut yourself off from the world.

No I am not. Not at all. In fact some of you may need to be abreast of world events for your work.

All I am suggesting is that a few times a week, for just a few moments you choose to

TURN OFF. UNPLUG. AND PLUG IN.

Just try it out and see how you feel.

Even as a family, you could sit for 15 minutes at the start of one day a week and just think about the day you would like to have that day. Simply sit in silence with your eyes shut. Feel your energy expanding around you. Listen to the birds and whatever other sounds pass by and think about the day you plan to have. How you plan to feel for the day.

Take a few deep breaths.

Open your eyes.

Onto breakfast.

Have breakfast around the table and discuss the day you plan to have. Feel great about the day you have planned.

And without listening to any of the reported doom and gloom of the hour simply go out into the wonderful, fun filled, productive day you have envisaged.

At the end of the day, the same thing can be really amazing.

Once you have had your dinner and the day’s activities are over.

Turn everything off.

Laptops. Computers. TV. Radio. Mobile phones. Computer games. I-phones.

You can even turn the lights out and just leave one small light on.

The sounds of the crickets and cicadas seem to reach in and grab you and you may be surprised at how early you are able to go to bed once all the artificial stimuli is gone.

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Perhaps there is some truth to be found in this well -worn proverb?

If you are a regular visitor to this Blog and A Bridge To You, you will notice a flagrant use of the words maybe and perhaps in much of what I write.

This is because it is not my desire to tell people what to think.

Or what to do.

Or how to act.

But merely to present people with options and allow them to take the road of their choice.

We all have our own journeys and paths to take and no doubt you will find your own unique pathway too. But I can suggest, from my own experiences, that a few days a week of turning off all the technology and allowing yourself to re-connect to you and your own energy, can be a really rewarding thing to do.

In fact, I now turn off at about 6:00pm most nights and then do not turn back on till  about 9:30am the next day. It is not a rigid plan and sometimes I am up late working. Sometimes I watch a bit of TV in the evenings.

But most times my phone is off from 6:00pm till about 9:30am every day.

Does my world still turn?

Yes it does.

Most family, colleagues, business acquaintances and friends know that they need to make plans with me outside these times. Just like the good old days really, when you would not have dreamed of calling someone at their home after 6:00pm or before 9:00am any day of the week.

And as for emails – they are always sitting there waiting for me whenever I am good and ready!

I know that some people find this sort of suggestion quite shocking.

For some it is inconceivable.

But if you see some merit in the suggestion.  Give it a go.

You may just like it!

- Christine -

As someone who also finds it difficult to “hold her tongue” so to speak, and as someone who has an opinion on nearly everything, it does strike me as quite ironic though, that these three little words hold such a dear place in my heart.

As with many proverbs, the origin of this phrase is obscured by the passing of time, though there are reports of it dating back to as far as Ancient Egypt. The first example of it in English is said to be from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German in Sartor Resartus , 1831, in which a character expounds at length on the virtues of silence.

There is also reference to this proverb being used in relation to women in the 16^th Century with Silence being described as a “ woman’s finest garment”. As you can imagine, this third reference would not be one that I would be promoting in any way shape or form – but there it is regardless to taunt me in the writing of this article. I can only be grateful that I was not around in the 16^th Century to marvel at this type of thinking, as I do not think it would have ended well at all, to say the least.

But now, to the proverb itself and the importance or value I feel we can garner from it in the 21^st Century.

First and foremost, I feel that perhaps these wonderful three words can guide us to look inward for counsel, and encourage us to seek wisdom in the depths of our own silence. With the constant “buzzing” of our modern world coming at us from all angles and in all guises  – constantly and consistently – perhaps these three tiny words hold the key to our salvation in a world of madness and noise and confusion. Perhaps these three little words can pack a powerful punch if we take them at face value and literally and truly appreciate a little Silent Time each day.

Perhaps it is through this silence that we can hear our most treasured secrets and innate wisdom. And perhaps we have to take the time to stop and really listen. Perhaps we need to pause, and make room for the silence to expand and engulf us, to really soak up it’s true benefits. Perhaps we need to let the Silence speak to us. We need to give it time to breathe and be. We need to give it time to elaborate upon its nothingness, in order for it to show us the complete intricacies of it’s ‘everything-ness’?

This Silence is not something to be rushed, for it is in its expansion and timelessness that its true virtue can be found.

Perhaps in this space and time we need to recognize that this Silence is truly Golden.

A Golden Promise leading to our true selves.

A Golden Light shining in the darkness of our man made delusions and confusions.

A Golden Treasure waiting to be found and cultivated.

I encourage all of you to seek out this Silence and enjoy its full possibilities and promise.

In fact – take a moment right now to just sit in this Silence.

This beautiful, resounding, all encompassing Silence.

Let it eat you up and consume you. Let it take you away to another world – your Inner World. A world of peace and quiet and possibility and presence.

When you are ready – open your eyes –  regroup – reconnect -  and continue onward.

Now consider making that a regular and special part of your day.

The other aspect of this proverb that really speaks to me, is in relation to our interactions with other people.

So often, when in a conversation, we are listening to the other person speaking, but not hearing them at all. We are too busy thinking about our response. Too busy formulating our answer. Too busy figuring a way to sway the other person to our way of thinking. Too busy coming up with a witty comment to display our fabulous intellect or a way to Segway to a topic of our expertise.

But again we forget.

Silence is Golden.

If we can just silence our minds from our inward chitter chatter and silence ourselves from having to speak – perhaps we may find out something fascinating and intriguing about the other person that we did not know.

Perhaps, in giving them the time and space to speak and hold the floor, we may truly hear them and our interactions may be all the richer for the genuine attention and presence we have given to the other person in the conversation.

As I say these things however – do not think for a minute that I am an expert in reigning in of my own chatter. I am notorious for “not listening” to people and drifting off to some other place when others are speaking.  Unfortunately for me, my face is quite expressive and it is not too difficult for people to tell that I have no idea what they have just said when this occurs.

As with most of us – this distraction seems to reveal itself mainly when I am conversing with family.

Why I do not know?

With friends, acquaintances and clients I am known for being the exact opposite. 100% fully engaged and committed to the conversation. But put me with family and I can suddenly drift off into another time and place, looking blankly at a pillow or a wall.

So the point here is that we all, most likely, have some times, places and people with whom we can exercise this proverb and activate our own silence to the betterment of the situation at hand.

For our betterment and introspection when engaging with ourselves and our Inner World.

For the betterment of those around us to allow them to be fully heard when they are trying to communicate and share themselves with us.

In the end, I think perhaps that much can be learned about ourselves and about all those around us from taking on the role of Observer.

Silent Observer.

Silent Listener.

Silent Seeker of this Golden Treasure.

So once again – I invite you to take this concept and run with it in your own life.

See if it works for you.

Be aware of You and how You are in the world and in Your space.

Wishing you lots of nothing-ness and everything-ness.

Discover. Love. Be.

- Christine -