In our culture we believe that doing, taking action, and making the effort are the most important ways to get out of a crisis. What if the opposite is true? What if you give yourself permission to simply be and rest in order to find peace and solutions to your current confusion? Learning to listen requires two things: a practice that facilitates quieting your mind, such as meditation, prayer, or communing with nature; and an understanding or discovery of how you receive answers.
When you’re in pain and suffering through a crisis, you want to fix it. You’ll do anything to get out of the misery of the experience. I’ve often joked that I should invent a Rip van Winkle pill. You take it and wake up when your crisis is over and all your lessons are learned. But what if this crisis is really asking you to sit with the pain and listen to its message? What’s really going on? What is the experience trying to teach you? If you can get to the heart of it, you’ll prevent it from coming back in another form. So before you take action, be still and listen within.
I read an article recently about best-selling author and management consultant Jim Collins. He recommended creating what he called “pockets of quietude” in your schedule. These can be small periods of time marked off on your schedule for self-reflection. It’s an appointment with yourself to find an inner calm, tap into your center, and find time creative solutions to difficult problems.
Pockets of quietude can also take the form of a day off, or several days off, when you need creative inspiration and self-reflection. Collins blocked these “white spaces” on his calendar. “I set them six months in advance, and everyone around me can see them. It’s not that I’m not working, but absolutely nothing can be scheduled on a white space day.” He also suggested that creating a “not-to-do list” is more important than a to-do list. Things on this list might include not attending a certain meeting or taking on a huge new project. His comment may sound overly simplistic. Yet how much of your day is spent in time-wasting activities that are inherently draining?
Taking those pockets of time can simply be a moment of brief prayer and contemplation. In my work as an Intuitive, I tell my clients to ask themselves questions such as, “What’s the most loving response to this situation?” or “How could I view this issue from a more spiritual perspective?” I tell them to pay attention to any response that makes them feel more peaceful or clear. That’s their own intuition giving them wise direction.
What about you, how do you find those wonderful moments of calm and clarity? I’d love to hear your ideas!
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