The inward journey

The opportunity that self-isolation is giving us

CORONA19 is quite revealing. So far it has shown me one stark fact. I put a lot of pressure on myself.

Anyone else waking up each morning with so much to do? I have no yoga classes to teach, but my god have I come up with a litany of things that I probably wouldn’t achieve in a year.

Become an online yoga teacher. Create a YouTube channel. Write about self-care tips to help people. Write about meditation. Write about yoga. Do yoga, do meditation. Start jogging every day. Update my website. Do my accounts. Clear out my wardrobe. Learn new recipes. Read all the books on my shelf. Get more sleep. Exercise more. Swim in the sea. Hike. Plant and put up shelves. Bake a cake. Learn Spanish. Read the Bible (don’t ask).

Instagram isn’t helping either. Every time I look at it, I get this feeling I should be doing more. The pressure I am putting on myself is more intense than ever. And I have a sense that this is not what life is trying to teach me at this very moment.

I think this is an opportunity to go inward. It is something that we don’t get a chance to do often. We love external activity and we love a good busy day. I’m so busy is our modern day anthem. I have no time, my personal mantra. This week is mad. I was on the go all day. I haven’t had a second. I’m wrecked.

We love focusing on other people and seeing what everyone else is up to. Looking outside in the world is sometimes easier than looking inside.

I took a big pause yesterday. And decided I would do nothing until whatever action needs to arise will arise.

“In silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves” RUMI

This is the opportunity we have here. A golden opportunity to sit in the silence and listen to parts of ourselves that we usually can’t hear. The parts we silence with busyness. The parts we don’t want to hear. Our wounded, ignored and silenced selves. What does it want to say? If we continue as normal, outward facing and busy, we will miss this opportunity.

If I listen to myself, go inward then I will have more to give to others. I am learning, in life, that the inward has to happen first; before the outward can be effective and meaningful. We can help each other more, if we help ourselves first.

So that is the plan. I am being guided fully and solely by my heart from this week onwards. Until everything resumes to normal and then my mind and business-self will need to jump into the driver seat so that I can make a living again. But until then, heart you are leading the way.

I’ve never gone fully on an inward journey in Dublin. There’s usually too much distraction. This is why I run off on solo adventures. They are heart-led adventures where I can listen to just myself. I go alone so I can hear me. I go away to different countries so that I can be guided by my inner compass. These adventures have been the most beautiful, enriching and deep learning times of my life.

I can’t run off to Asia, or charge across Spain for the next month. So I am going on a little adventure here in my apartment. I am going inward and listening. I am checking in with my life path and seeing if my soul is happy where things are at. I am listening for ideas, creativity and new ways of doing things. I am testing out new patterns.

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Very nice Sarah. And how does one do that? Well, that’s for each of us to figure out ourselves. And we have the opportunity to do just that. It will be different for each of us. I’ll write about the things that work for me and maybe they will for you, or maybe they won’t.

There is no one-size-fits-all in getting to know yourself and developing deep internal listening. You might like some thigs I write about and adapt them to your own way. Or you might mentally dump them in a bin you’ve labelled ‘wellness garbage’. You know the way to listen to your heart. This post is just a reminder to myself, and to you, to start doing that more.

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Have a great day folks. Stay calm, stay safe x.