Hi Tribe,

As we come back around to Sunday, I hope this week has treated you with gentleness and kindness. I want to chat to you today about the ‘art’ of listening, in the context of learning to listen to your own inner guidance. It might seem like an odd image to attach to a post about listening to your inner voice, but it resonated with me. As a child, I spent much of my life listening to my Pop’s records crackle and croon and watching them in fascination as they spun around on his record player. Having old style country crooners in the background as life unfolded, was a lesson in listening in and of itself.

Personally, I feel like I’m being schooled in next level up listening. I’ve learnt how to listen to my intuition and now, I’m learning how to fine tune it, how to take it deeper and tailor it for me as I am at the moment. I am learning to be more present with myself and to be selective about the outside noise I choose to engage in. I’m learning to focus my listening and use it to my own advantage.

The art of listening to self, is creating an environment in which your body and your soul – all aspects of yourself across your timelines – feel seen, heard and understood. In my life, at the moment, this means acknowledging the calling within me for connection and putting things into action so that it feels seen and heard. It means, being selective about when I tackle my studies. It means listening to what my body needs in relation to fundamental self-care – do I need to stop and allow my body to rest? Do I need to drink more water? Do I need to wrap myself in a blanket and sit by the fire with a steaming hot mug of coffee or Milo? Do I need a good wholesome meal? It means honouring my brain’s call to rest when that slow thinking, tired, foggy feeling sinks in. It means listening to the call from my inner child to draw or to colour. It means taking notice when that little inner voice tells me to slide a fidget into my pocket as I walk out of the door.

If you’re like me, you may find the voice of the inner critic loud and demanding when it comes to listening to your own needs. I’ve started to try and turn that down a little. If I need to take a fidget to work in my pocket, to help me focus for the day and to give my anxiety and outlet, then so be it. It doesn’t mean that I’m acting like a child, it isn’t anything to be ashamed about. If I need to wrap myself in a blanket and sit by the fire for a while after work, then so be it, the jobs and the study and the expectations will still be there when I feel ready to work on them. Not going to lie, removing judgement is difficult and challenging because it doesn’t feel natural. It’s a work in progress. As I continue to challenge it and sit in the discomfort of challenging my inner self-critic, while still consciously choosing to listen and act in accordance with my needs, that voice will slowly fade and become background noise.

I feel as if this relates to boundaries as well, in that, my inner compass is guiding me and showing me where I need to place my boundaries. The critic within becomes louder when it comes to boundaries, because they come with an element of guilt. You are prioritizing your own needs over someone else’s. We learn to put others before ourselves and are conditioned to believe that it makes us a bad, selfish person for doing so. But, I was reminded of something yesterday and it has stuck with me. It’s something that I also want you to sit with – you are just as important!

I’m going to leave you something to ponder – what is your inner voice telling you? What is it that you need right now? What is something you can do to take action on that very thing? And know, that it’s okay to give yourself time and space to listen and to do. What boundaries do you need to put into place for yourself as you are, right in this very moment?