The Energy of Listening

When the world grows quiet, we can hear what has been waiting within us.

There is a nor’easter moving through the Northeast this weekend. The kind of weather that changes plans, keeps us close to home, and almost gives us permission to slow down.

I actually love the sound of rain. There is something about hearing it against the windows, watching the sky change, and knowing there really isn’t anywhere I need to be that creates a natural exhale.

Sometimes Mother Nature makes the decision for us.

Stay home. Be still. Listen.

And maybe we need that more than we realize.

What Happens When We Get Quiet?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my own next steps—where my work is taking me, what I want to create, and what wants to evolve.

My natural tendency can be to want to figure it out. Make the list. Create the plan. Decide what comes next.

But clarity doesn’t always arrive that way.

Sometimes clarity comes when we stop asking for an answer and create enough space to hear one.

A quiet morning. A journal. A few deep breaths. A walk without our phone. Sitting and listening to the rain.

When we regulate our nervous system and allow ourselves to become still, something changes. We move out of the constant doing, analyzing and anticipating and come back into our bodies.

Back into the present moment.

Back home to ourselves.

And from that place, we can hear differently.

Sometimes the Answer Is Underneath the Noise

I had several new clients come to see me this past week, and there was a common thread running through some of our sessions.

They had tried so many things.

They had done the work. They had searched for answers. They knew something within them didn’t feel settled, but they couldn’t quite understand why.

There was an unknowing.

As we went deeper in our sessions, we began moving underneath the surface—to some of the experiences, trauma, emotions and patterns that had been held within the body and the energy field for a very long time.

And as I sat with them, listening intuitively and allowing the work to unfold, I had one of those moments when I was reminded:

This is incredible work I am called to do.

Not because I have all of someone else’s answers.

But because sometimes we need a space where all the external noise can fall away long enough for what has been buried underneath it to finally be heard.

The Mirror

There was something else I noticed this week.

As I encouraged my clients to listen more deeply to themselves, I realized their sessions were also holding up a mirror for me.

I spend so much of my work listening.

I listen to what someone says, but I also listen beneath the words. I listen to their energy. I listen intuitively. I pay attention to what comes through, what the body may be holding, and what wants to be seen or released.

And I found myself thinking:

Am I giving myself that same space to listen?

Maybe instead of asking, What should I do next? I can ask:

What am I hearing when I stop trying to figure it out?

That feels very different.

There is less pressure in that question.

There is more trust.

Silence and Stillness Are Not the Same Thing

We can sit in a completely quiet room and still have tremendous noise inside of us.

Our minds can be making tomorrow’s list, replaying yesterday’s conversation, solving a problem, worrying about someone we love or trying to predict what happens next.

That isn’t really stillness.

Stillness begins when we come back into the body.

Take a breath.

Then another.

Feel your feet on the floor.

Notice your heart beating.

Allow your shoulders to soften.

Give your nervous system the message that, in this moment, there is nowhere else you need to be.

This is one of the reasons I believe learning to regulate ourselves is so important. When the nervous system is constantly activated, everything can feel urgent. We look outside ourselves for answers because uncertainty feels uncomfortable.

But when the body begins to settle, we create space.

And in that space, our intuition becomes easier to hear.

You May Already Know

We spend so much time searching.

We ask other people what they think. We read another book. Listen to another podcast. Take another course. Search online. Ask for another opinion.

There is nothing wrong with learning or receiving guidance. I believe the right teachers, practitioners and experiences can appear at exactly the right moment.

But eventually, we also have to come back to ourselves.

Because sometimes the answer isn't something new that we need to find.

Sometimes we need to become quiet enough to recognize what we already know.

What feels expansive?

What feels heavy?

What are you continuing because you believe you should?

What keeps gently returning to your awareness?

What idea keeps whispering to you?

What part of you has been asking to be heard?

We don't always need to act on the answer immediately.

Listening can be enough.

This Week’s Practice: Ten Minutes of Listening

Find ten minutes this week when you can be completely undistracted.

No phone. No podcast. No music. No guided meditation.

If it’s raining, sit near a window and listen to it.

Take several slow breaths and allow your body to settle.

Place a hand over your heart if that feels comfortable and ask yourself:

What is asking for my attention right now?

Then open your journal and write.

Don't edit. Don't judge what comes through. Don't try to make it profound or spiritual. And don't immediately turn what you receive into another list of things you need to accomplish.

Just listen.

You might receive an idea.

You might recognize an emotion you've been avoiding.

You might realize you're tired.

You might feel inspired to create something.

You might hear absolutely nothing.

That's okay too.

The practice is simply creating the space.

Coming Home

Eventually, this storm will pass.

The rain will stop. The wind will settle. Plans will resume. Phones will ring. Emails will arrive. The calendar will fill again.

The world will become noisy.

But perhaps we don't have to wait for another storm to become quiet.

Perhaps the deeper practice is learning how to hear ourselves even when the world around us is loud.

To take the breath.

To regulate.

To listen to our heart.

And to come back home to ourselves.

Because underneath all that noise, there may be a quiet voice that has been speaking to us all along.

We just needed to become still enough to hear it.

With love,

Laura