“If you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper.”
~Unknown
There was a commercial years ago that used the phrase ‘if you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper.’ I long ago forgot what was being sold, though the phrase stuck in my head and has rattled around for years. You know it’s true. The local coffee shop or grocery store, any place where women gather. If two women start whispering, there will be others instantly hushed and straining to hear snippets of what is being shared. I grew up in a raucous house with seven brothers and sisters. The moment we would lower our voices to a whisper, my mom would call out from rooms away to say she heard us. It was an amazing mom feat that always kept us on our toes. We all have an inner voice that whispers to us. That quiet, loving, wise voice deep within is poised to guide, nudging us towards our true path. However, it’s the one voice where that theory does not seem to apply. It’s our truest, most loyal friend. It never waivers or falters or fails us. And yet, most of us go to great lengths to distance ourselves from our inner whisperer.
We have a bad connection.
We have so many ways we muck with the connection. One favorite is busyness. We pack our schedules with unrelenting activities. We are a society that fears downtime. If we keep running we won’t have to listen. Stillness is almost unbearable. And yet, we crave it.
We strive for perfection. In our striving, we often relinquish our own power to listen to others. We pay a lot of money to have others tell us how to eat, to sculpt the perfect body, to find the perfect partner, to raise our children so they’ll get into the perfect university, to be happy.
We numb ourselves so that we can tune out the whisper. A glass of wine to take the edge off, a cup of coffee to build artificial energy, our ever-present technology so that there is not a moment when that inner voice might touch us. We try to stuff ourselves with food, drink, activities so that we don’t have to turn inwards and face the emotions and feelings we’ve stuffed away for far too long. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be comical. Think of the old Roadrunner or Sylvester the Cat cartoons, always trying to outwit the opponent and never succeeding.
Turn down the noise to turn up the volume.
Dear sweet reader, stop. Stop running from the whisper. In truth, it will become a roar if you avoid it. It will capture your attention one way or another. Stress, weight gain, illness, money woes, unfulfilling jobs, broken relationships and despair are some of the ways it gets our attention.
Clear your calendar, and your family’s. Unplug from non-essential commitments for a while. Try a technology fast. Yes, it can feel scary, and also very liberating and powerful. Establish a sabbath, a day of rest. Create an hour each day to foster the most important relationship in your life: the one with your inner whisperer. It is your soul. It will never, ever lead you astray. This relationship can only be built in quiet communion with yourself.
Why is a nutritionist writing about inner voice? When we start listening to our inner whisperer, we connect with our body’s innate wisdom. We fall in love with and cherish the human vessel that houses that voice. Choosing foods to honor our body becomes easy. We nourish our lives in beautiful ways that support our health and allow joy to flourish. Listen for your whispers.