Ever feel overwhelmed by the "voices?"
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What do I mean by the "voices" you ask? Good question. I'm talking about the constant internal monologue which bombards your conscious life. The "voices" are the thoughts that are constantly telling you that you should be doing something, working on something, building something, planning something. The great American psychotherapist Albert Ellis called this thinking MUSTerbation.
Most of the time, I am able to ignore the "voices" and their insistence disappears.
Lately, however, the "voices" have been much more aggressive, harder to ignore or even accept. At the moment, I am in the beautiful little beach town of Sayulita, Mexico. I am here with my good friend Mariana of Maxi Career Coaching.
I can't think of a more relaxing, laid-back place on earth. I am in an environment that truly nourishes the soul. The perfect place to both have fun, as well as work on our various creative projects.
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I am not relaxed. The "voices" will not allow relaxing and just be present in this beautiful place. You see I am spending much of my time listening to the "voices" which are telling me that I am behind in my book project or I am not spending enough time marketing my coaching skills. I signed up for various email marketing tips from various popular marketing websites. Every day, I get inundated with these email marketers. I read them, research and cogitate about them. The "voices" increase.
Recently, I found out that I was in the path of Hurricane Patricia. The hurricane has passed over us now and is headed north. Luckily, here in Sayulita, we sustained very little damage. In fact, the sun is coming back out and people are headed back to the beach. During the storm, however, I had to evacuate to a nearby mountain town in the jungle, I had no internet access there. It was rustic and amazing. The sense of peace I felt was indescribable. In the midst of this potentially severe natural disaster, I felt more focused and alive. The "voices" ceased for once."Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify."
-Henry David Thoreau
Due to the hurricane, I was only interested in survival, nothing else mattered, not marketing, not branding or "building an audience." In the jungle and the mountains, the silence was all around me. Nothing could be heard except the occasional patter of rain, it was beautiful. After this event, it occurred to me that I have to set aside time in my week, EVERY WEEK, where I am engaged with my environment and nothing else.
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No internet, no electronics, no distractions. This is what I need to quiet the "voices" in me. It seems so simple, doesn't it? Put down your laptop, your smartphone, your tablet and engage in everything around, embrace that inner silence.
What do you do to quiet those voices in your mind during the week?
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