Ground Into Your Inner World

I have a practice for you today: a consumption cleanse.  For the rest of your day, I'm challenging you to cut out media, reading, TV - all of it.

Each time you log on to social media, watch the news, or even read a book, you put your energy in a position to match what you are consuming. The information you expose yourself to can sway your emotions, alter your opinions, or inundate you with new knowledge to be digested.

Adopting a habit of unconscious consumption or mindlessly engaging with new information for hours each day can easily and sneakily drag you into cycles of numbness, overwhelm, and disconnectivity. The temptation to keep consuming easily becomes an automatic habit of capturing as much of your attention as possible. That is unless you take the reins.

I’ve used others’ words as sedatives, too. I’ve found myself sucked into stages of reading, watching, and scrolling to the point that I could feel my eyes glaze over and my inner light dim. I was deep into my self-growth journey, seeking clarity through courses and books and finding solace in social media. Really, my over-consumption was consuming me.

I was distracting myself from the most powerful part of myself: my voice. I wasn’t creating the space for it to come to life. The world buried it because I let it be, even though I had no idea. Through this consumption cleanse practice, I realized that I couldn’t recognize what I needed or wanted to do until I created a quiet space to hear it.

The medicine of calming the mind, body, and spirit  was reinforced to me in Ryan Holiday’s book “Stillness is the Key.” Holiday emphasizes that “this idea of stillness is not some soft New Age nonsense or the domain of monks and sages, but in fact desperately necessary for all of us.”

Stillness “sharpens perspective and illuminates connections. It slows the ball down so that we might hit it,” he explains. “It generates vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob, makes space for gratitude and wonder.”

It’s a beautiful part of the world; how much is out there. No matter your interest, there is countless information to take in. In this way, this is a drastic practice, which is why it’s even more necessary.

Connecting with your inner genius is impossible if you fill every minute of your time with distractions, even if you learn and grow from them. It is not a waste of time or an act of selfishness; it is the basis for everything you do.

Most of you immediately thought about why you could not do this today, but this practice is even more essential now if you feel massive resistance.

Begin by writing down all the things you can do with this time that you enjoy, need, or desire to do. Ask yourself: what activities can keep me off my phone and technology for a while? Some activities I prefer include journaling, exploring a new place, spending time with friends, or cleansing my space.

After today, see how you can take it further. Make it a few days, a week, or more. Play with how you can become more immersed in your senses through activities that make you feel fulfilled. You will see how much presence and awareness stillness can bring you.

Stillness is more powerful than anything. It supersedes any inspiring quote you’ve read, new knowledge you’ve learned, or any movie that clicks with you. It is what brings you the connection to being content as you are. It connects you to knowing that you don’t have to chase anything external because you already feel enough internally.

This is just one practice to welcome stillness into your life, but it’s a powerful one to start with. I can’t tell you precisely what you will find, but I promise it will guide you closer to your truth.

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