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Selecting Your Silence

1/20/2018

1 Comment

 
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Dear Friends,

You haven't heard from me in a while.  There is a lot of noise coming at us. And new media channels suggest that we always need to be seen and heard. Sometimes these channels add important momentum to our collective voice. Often they amplify what should be muted. 
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I imagine you've also had times when words feel like an unnecessary label you choose not to slap onto your experience. 

Others may observe you as quiet in these times, yet it can be loud on the inside, when your silence is rooted in fear, desire, discontent, or shame.  A perfect setup for the writer to write.  It's been the seed for many of my blog posts.

My silence is different this season.  
It’s more like the silence of a starless night.  
It has edges,
that hold me safely.
Not allowing me to step into busy thought.

I have been placing more focus on wordlessness rather than words.  It’s a beautiful space of mindfulness that must be cultivated.  It’s a place of observation but also of direct experience.    

For example, this week I came upon a hawk during a walk.  I sat down at the base of the lamp post it perched upon and we stared at each other for fifteen amazing minutes.  I didn't chat or narrate.  I didn't want any words to come in between us and our experience.

When words break through the surface tension of silence, I’ve been cautious in choosing what I pay attention to.  I do know the words that I am called to capture and share always rise up from this place of stillness.  Nowhere else.

Step out of your house tonight before bed.
Into the origin of silence.
Where wind whistles.
Animals may call.
Where we are reminded of the ground of silence we were born into.
Without words, yet whole.

Blessings,
Amy

Photo Source: Potential Project
1 Comment

Finding Harmony

1/17/2015

2 Comments

 
We were about to head home.  It had been a sweet excursion for my sister and me: a day of adventure and play at a full day yoga festival.  It was one of those backdrops that made you feel free, happy, a bit younger, definitely more alive.  After hours of yoga, good food, top-notch people watching and plenty of giggles we headed toward the exit signs but were pulled to a doorway releasing lovely music into the night air.

Inside we found an intimate setting of just a few folks sprawled out on a hodge podge of oriental rugs, sinking into the delicate guitar notes of a promising performance.  Both musicians seemed to have that unspoken language that many siblings hold, that gave them a natural ebb and flow.

Right as we settled in they stopped abruptly, asked for an adjustment to one of the amplifiers, tried it out and started the song over.

Happy to hear it again, we listened with new familiarity, as the two women started to add lyrics.  But again, it only took a few moments before the artists slowed to a stop and asked for more vocals and less on the guitars.

Jill and I decided, since the audience was small, that we should encourage them with our big smiles and head nods, to continue with the show.  They sounded perfect to us.

But our laymen ears and enthusiastic swaying wasn’t enough.  Again, they couldn’t get through the song.  Both frustration and sympathy bubbled within me.  Their lovely voices teased us. Even during their fine tuning, their harmony lifted the spirits in the room.

It started to feel like a late night skit.  As we stood up to leave one of the artists spoke into the mic, “We are Ma Muse.  Please come back at 9 for our concert!”

Unknowingly, we had showed up for their soundcheck session! 

With a newly purchased CD and fresh laughter we listened to their beautiful harmony the whole way home.

Now there are two possible morals to this story.  I will let you decide which one is for you.

For those feeling discord in life, harmony is an exercise of paying careful attention to both the highs and lows, the light and the dark.  You cannot race to harmony. It is worth your time and scrutiny to find that sweet balance of notes that will bring you fulfillment and peace in life.

For the perfectionists, the world may be on the edge of its seat, waiting for you to stop your soundcheck and to share your voice, your talents, your contribution. 

I'd love to know which ending you are drawn to.  
Enjoy sinking deep into harmony with Ma Muse. 
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Finding Your Voice

2/7/2012

0 Comments

 
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How comfortable are you using your voice? Speaking up.  Articulating your gifts, your value, your needs, your opinion, your fullest, wisest self?

Today I was asked to articulate my expertise, along with twenty other women.  We each tried it.  We stumbled, mumbled, and tried again. 

The most amazing part of this exercise was the gift we gave each other . . . one by one, the group was able to reflect back, with beautiful clarity, the fullness of each of our gifts which we were uncomfortable to claim ourselves.

What greatness inside of you do you need help embracing?   Try this: 

    I want . . .

            I know . . .

                    I am  . . .

                            I can . . .

Let your thoughts unfold.  Let your words flow.  Do it with a smile.  Feel a little uncomfortable.  Then read it.  And re-read it.  Maybe put it in a stamped envelope addressed to yourself, mail it, and open it again in three days.  Be that someone else who believes in your full beauty, strengths, and gifts.  As this part of you unfolds, know that the world is waiting to receive You.

And then do it for a friend.  Let her know what you see in her.  Give her the nudge to embrace her fullest self.

Sometimes our greatest truths are the most vulnerable parts of us.  This truth wants to be heard.  It needs a voice.  And it needs to know that the universe is waiting with compassionate ears. 

What would you like to claim with joy and sureness? 

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    Amy Tirion
    About Me
    Advocate for Stillness, Seeker of Inspiration, Playful Mom, Lover of Creativity, Still Learning, Believer in Women,  Founder of Delight for the Soul

    Check Out My New Book Knowing Beautiful:
    A New Bedtime Story for Women

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    Becoming
    This blog is an invitation to stop.  Breathe.  And tap into the part of you that craves more space, inspiration, and nurturing.  It captures the writings from my Delight for the Soul Newsletter.  They are personal moments of reflection, inspiration, and questioning that focus on Being rather than Doing.  It's a direction we are all invited to go in, as we live deeply and do less.  The more we focus on being, the more delighted we become . . . and the more becoming we are.


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