This morning I walked to our local cafe, Off the Rail, to work on more editing of my latest memoir. It’s about a 2-mile walk round trip from my house. I like that I can walk to it as I can get exercise, take in the sounds of nature, soak up some sunshine, breathe in fresh air, get work done, and eat good food. My favorite breakfast treat they serve is the Flying Scotsman Bagel – smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, onion, and cucumber.
There are fun signs everywhere you look within the cafe. Pulling my manuscript out from my backpack I had to try and concentrate without getting pulled into reading all the fun quotes on the walls. But this sign pulled me in and had me thinking more in-depth about it. I made a note to blog about it after capturing this photo.
On my walk back home I thought more about this quote. I often do talk to myself. I’m not afraid to say so. It’s because I’m home most of the day without much face-to-face interaction with others and honestly, there are just some things said out loud that helps me to make sense of something.
Sometimes I talk to my dog, Gidget. She’s a good listener.
I thought more about the line under Of course! I talk to myself, that says, sometimes I need expert advice. I don’t know about you, but for way too many years I didn’t feel I had expert advice to give myself. I was too busy beating myself up inwardly of what I felt I wasn’t doing right.
It was in my early 40s, fifteen years ago, that I made a choice to live more consciously. I yearned to follow a rhythm all my own and not stay stuck in the fast-paced corporate world. It began to feel dizzying to me and felt off.
After contemplating the one sign, my eyes traveled to the one underneath that says “Timeout Place.” I realized how fitting that was to the quote above it.
I don’t know if parents still do this today, but I recall hearing a few years a lot about when their kids were acting out they’d send them for a “time out.” Time in their room, or wherever, just being quiet and settling down.
We do need to take our own advice, don’t we? Timeout is necessary more so I think for adults than kids. Though if adults valued this more, I believe it would be a beautiful example to our children.
It’s those times when the voice inside me that isn’t nice and judges me needs to be still and listen intently to the voice that knows better. It’s also that I need to pay attention to what part of me is feeling not heard, hurt, or triggered by something and having compassion for myself as I search for the why.
And you know that other voice- the intuitive one we tend to ignore and think it doesn’t know anything? But it’s precisely the one that when I take its advice my heart soars, I see things more clearly, and I feel more at peace.
So I say let’s all start talking to ourselves. But most importantly let’s value the timeout we all need in order to thrive and be the best we can be – and trust that our advice when we really tune in and listen, is more often than not, exactly what we need to hear.
Are you with me?
XO,
Barbara
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