Do you heed the quiet in you? It’s a radical act.

Last week I took a group of fierce moms on retreat into the forests of Northumberland County. In those woods, I noticed something unexpected. I noticed something in me. In the women around me. In the stillness of nature around us all.

Into woods…

When I allow myself to feel my body, when I can inhabit it and allow myself to close off the world beyond my flesh, I become who I am…Connecting to it, living it, becoming it for even a moment, I am healed and made more.

Richard Wagamese, Embers

Here’s what I noticed:

1. The answers, guidance and clarity I’m seeking are already inside of me, in the circle of wisdom around me and in nature. (I was just going to write something about this insight being woowoo or obvious but it’s neither of those. You know this just as well as I do.)
   

2. When I pause long enough to feel myself breathe, I get what I’m needing most. At first, it’s the calm. When I pause a little longer, it’s the ease. And when I pause long enough to get beyond the constant chatter occupying my inner thoughts, I get the clarity and insights I’m (often) frenetically chasing after.
   

3. I am not an expert and I don’t want to or need to be. I am a gatherer and a guide and my singular desire is to keep growing. And the extent to which I grow is directly proportional to the extent to which I am willing to let go of the need to feel like an expert.