Tag Archives: #breathe

Sit Quietly. Listen Loudly.

When I started down the path of practicing and exploring the world of Zentangle in 2013 – I did not imagine that it would open up so many opportunities and gifts – primarily reinforcing the benefits of sitting quietly and reflecting, of breathing deeply and allowing my mind an opportunity to rest from the constant input, busy spinning of thoughts and a way to help myself relax. This practice, and reinforcement of my awareness benefits me by helping me keep calm when life throws curveballs and shows me the importance of quieting my mind to allow myself an opportunity to process the events of a day.

Through my own journey and experiences, I have enjoyed sharing the benefits and importance of slowing down in my classes, through my podcast and in conversation with friends, family and even random encounters of people on their own path.

I am very happy to extend the philosophy and wisdom of slowing down in these distracted times with my new book: Sit Quietly. Listen Loudly.

A copy of Sit Quietly. Listen Loudly. and a journal.

Sit Quietly, Listen Loudly. The instructions are simple, the practice takes time. Small doses of wisdom sprinkled through this volume look at the quest for understanding in our daily lives, with encouragement and wisdom about the practice of quieting the mind and slowing down enough to pay attention. Within each of us lies the wisdom we need to guide our journeys. The noise of our time often drowns out what we need to hear to feel calm and at peace.

Sit Quietly, Listen Loudly offers a nudge for your own exploration into the history and knowledge you hold, encouraging you to find the time in a quiet moment to reflect and process the experiences of your day.

When you learn to listen, there is a softening of your thoughts, a connection of the experiences you have encountered and a balancing of the emotion that you may react to. Sit Quietly, Listen Loudly. There is peace in the world and it starts with a simple observation, it is shared with a kind word, it is spread through the acknowledgement that we all need space to breathe. In this world of constant inputs and streams, we need to rediscover how to process our understanding and experiences.

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TanglePod 31 Days of Breath and Focus Day 3 Striping

Join TanglePod for a month of finding the ways to slow down with breath and focus with each of 31 different tangles.  We are focusing on the specific cadence that you can find, and how to use each one to encourage your practice to slow down and be in the moment.  Juliette and I often find different approaches to tangles, and in these short conversations will provide tips on approaching each tangle with focus in mind.  Use your journal, tiles or scratch paper and play with these exercises to see how you can find your rhythm too.  

Listen and see the step outs: Tangle Festival: Day 3 Striping | TanglePod (podbean.com)

The Quiet Side: Calm

Calm: a state of tranquility

I know very few people who spend part of their day feeling calm.  There is much to do, go, see and accomplish in our lives.  The act of just being, never mind feeling calm gets lost as a nice to have, wish I could or when I am on vacation…

Why does the feeling of calm elude us on a daily basis when we may all feel, act and treat each other better without daily agitation, competition and stress? We don’t need to wait for vacation to do the things we love. Slowing down does not signal that you are opting out. Sometimes we just need to catch our breath and spend a moment of quiet stillness.

Try This

It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or planning to create a space of calm. Find a moment, close your eyes and take a deep breath in, really fill your belly with the air around you, then slowly release. Repeat. You can do more, take more time next time – but for right now this is a starting point.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire