The Secret to Deep Inner Peace: Harness the Life-Changing Power of Silence

KATHLEEN: Hello everyone and welcome to the Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV network. The purpose of the show is for you to help you realize that you are not alone and that you are in control of your life. It doesn't matter where you came from or what your circumstances are.

KATHLEEN: We've all experienced pain, suffering, hurt. Abandonment, loneliness, and hopelessness. This show is here to help you turn those dark moments around and create a whole new you. Despite your success, have you felt lonely, angry, frustrated, or even suicidal? Do you long to be supported, recognized, and respected for who you are and not just for the awards and accolades on your walls?

KATHLEEN: You want to be known and identified or remembered in a way that doesn't feel fraudulent because you have achieved things out of obligation and not passion. Do you find yourself sitting quietly at lunch, listening to what lights you up only to feel shame, fear, frustration, and resentment?

KATHLEEN: Your inner turmoil and limiting beliefs surface, making you feel not good enough and afraid of doing something different. You've read the books, attended the seminars, and practiced new concepts and principles, yet you still find yourself in the same rut. The lies you tell yourself perpetuate a cycle of disappointment.

KATHLEEN: You say you'll change, but your self-limiting beliefs keep running the show and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a certified coach, I empower you to become your authentic self. My Soul Journey program aligns with you and your true self and guides you to find your soul vision, helping you discover your purpose in life.

KATHLEEN: I provide tools to help you step into your track, true magnificence, and remember who you are. And if you're interested in learning more, contact me at bravetv at KathleenMFlanagan. Com. Each week I start the show with a tuning forks that brings in love, happiness, and balance to set the tone of the show for both myself, my guests, and you. So let's begin.

KATHLEEN: Today I wanted to talk about the power of silence and what happens when you disconnect from the noise.

KATHLEEN: I know that silence can be very frightening, but it is one of the most profound, powerful tools for transformation.

KATHLEEN: I remember I didn't like when I first started when I was younger, and probably when I was still probably maybe 19, 20 years old, I didn't really, excuse me, I didn't like being alone.

KATHLEEN: I didn't like being with my thoughts. Because I didn't like what I would always hear in my thoughts. And I remember when I first started meditating, and that was probably the biggest thing that scared me, was meditation because I was quiet and alone with my thoughts.

KATHLEEN: But what I found during that time, and this is long before the gurus were really out there doing things, that type of thing, I decided that every Sunday from, I don't know, two to four or something like that, I would just meditate. And I struggled a lot because at that point, I was trying to just stop the head noise because there were so many thoughts that came in that just was like, oh my God.

KATHLEEN: And I just, I bared with it. I stood by it. I let them the thoughts come in and go. And then, and it was probably, I don't think it was very long thereafter because I was very disciplined and diligent on doing it. It just became silent in my head.

KATHLEEN: And I've done a lot of different types of meditation techniques. And the one that I think was probably the most profound was it was contemplative prayer and it was through the Catholic Church. And I took this and I was probably in my 30s at that time, early 30s, late 20s.

KATHLEEN: And the one thing that they said is you're just on a boat and just visualize this if you meditate and you're really struggling with the noise. Is you're just on a boat and you're just on the water and you're bobbing along and a thought comes by and just watch it come by and swim away and just keep doing that.

KATHLEEN: That was probably one of the most profound things because a lot of times when a thought comes in, we get into the thought and we go down a rabbit hole with the thought. But when we're meditating, we just want the thoughts to go by. Another meditation that was really good to stop the noise and the head trash. Was also just doing so hum.

KATHLEEN: You breathe in on so, you hold it and exhale it on hum. And that so, that vibrational sound inside the body just puts you in a very deep state of relaxation. And it's also stopping the noise because you're doing something like you're taking your head trash and the noise and you're turning it off by using so hum.

KATHLEEN: And those are two real positive techniques. That if you want to start, but you don't want to deal with all of the head noise, because I know that everybody I've ever talked to always said, I just can't stop the thoughts. Candle exercise, I talked about last week a little bit where you're just staring at a flame of a candle for five minutes.

KATHLEEN: You set the timer and you put on, you just take a pencil and every time a thought comes in, you Mark it because you need to know what's going on in your head, but eventually that stops. So these are... every single one of these exercises I did when I first started. First of all, I could see that the noise in my head had dropped when I started the candle exercise. And now I just love silence.

KATHLEEN: Because when you're in the silence, we're feeling fear. We're feeling that it might be associated that we're lonely or there's a discomfort that comes in. But silence isn't empty. It's full of answers. That's what I found over the years of when I would go into meditation or I would just sit and quietly listen because that is where everything came in.

KATHLEEN: We struggle with silence a lot is because we have all this distraction. I mean, there's digital overstimulation through social media, through TV. We're constantly being notified. I know that I get guilty of this and I really don't. Do a lot of TV watching or social media. I go out and plug in for a little bit.

KATHLEEN: But the one thing I know is when I'm on my computer and I'm doing something and an email comes in and I'm not disciplined enough to just wait for it, I usually do it, answer it, and try to get rid of it. That's the one thing that I'm still working through is getting rid of that. But we're not alone.

KATHLEEN: And I know that we fear our thoughts because we have so much head trash of our limiting beliefs coming in or egos trying to protect us or we think we should have people around us. But have you ever walked into a room of people and you still felt alone and isolated? I know I have.

KATHLEEN: And it's like I'd rather be alone and feel that than be in a group of people and feel the same way. It's because you're disconnected from yourself. And we... As a society, put on a lot of faces. I did it myself and I don't put those faces on anymore because it's not worth the time. We're also into being conditioned by busyness, productivity, success.

KATHLEEN: I know that there are times when I have trouble shutting myself off. If I get a hit of what I need to do for my business, I go out and do it. I'll work more on the weekends than I will during the week because it's quiet.

KATHLEEN: It's like the world is quiet and I can get so much more done and see what I need to see that I can't always see. And then I'll take maybe two or three days off during the week if I'm working the weekend. And I'm finding that I seem to be more effective. And sometimes it's just about finding what's working for you when you want to shut down the noise.

KATHLEEN: When you start shutting down those noise, the external noises drops, drowns out our inner wisdom. Because we're so busy doing everything that we don't hear and listen to what we're saying. Because the mind becomes reactive instead of receptive when we're too busy. We do emotional avoidance where distractions help us to suppress our difficult emotions and constant engagement blocks deep reflection.

KATHLEEN: So what happens when you disconnect and you embrace the silence? The first thing that I noticed when I started doing that is I had a heightened sense of clarity. By removing the external inputs allowed my intuition to rise. I mean, the first thing that I did, and this was probably in my 40s, is I stopped listening to the news. Because I started to realize that the news was just telling me what...

KATHLEEN: They wanted me to hear not what was really going on in the world. And so they're promoting death and destruction and war, and you've got to hate this person, and this person did this. And we don't know if it's true or not, because the news is more about sensationalism and getting viewership up than reporting the news. Back in the 1960s, they actually reported the news.

KATHLEEN: So if you ever watch anything from like John F. Kennedy's assassination, that is what news reporting was. They told the story. They didn't elaborate. They didn't put their opinion in it. And that's the one reason why I stopped listening to the news was because they were filling my head with fear and garbage. And I didn't want to listen to that anymore.

KATHLEEN: On the emotional side, you start unprocessed emotions start releasing and they surface and release. And sometimes we need to look at those three. Those emotions and what we repress, because a lot of times it comes from our childhood. When we're going through this, it's about just being present with it. And sometimes it really does suck when you're allowing emotions to come up.

KATHLEEN: And the more you do it, and I can promise you what comes up when you first start this process is nothing what will come up later on in the process when you're really getting into a deeper rooted part of who you are. And I found By doing this, I felt lighter. A lot of the anger started to go away. There were answers that were coming up through this.

KATHLEEN: It also increased my creativity because some of other ideas were born in the stillness. I remember when I knew I needed to exercise, but I hated to go to the gym. It was like, well, what do you want to do? It was dance. I love dance. It was a suppressed memory because I gave up dance pretty much when I became an adult. I mean, I danced all the way up until I was, what, 18, 19 years old.

KATHLEEN: And the only other place I knew where to go dancing was bars, and I wasn't drinking at the time, so I didn't want to go to the bars to dance. And so I got into ballroom dancing because of it, because I always wanted to try that because I did jazz, I did ballet.

KATHLEEN: I did modern dance, but I never tried ballroom. And so this was a great opportunity. And I always thought that being a ballroom dancer, I had to have a partner and I could never find a partner. And then one day I discovered I didn't have to have a partner to go do ballroom dancing. So that was really cool.

KATHLEEN: And the other thing that I discovered was my patience and my mindfulness came into play. It became stronger that I, instead of reacting to things impulsively, I started reflecting and sitting back and observing. Like I talk about getting off the stage. So when that water loss happened in my house, normally I would have reacted to it and I would have been all upset.

KATHLEEN: And I just got off the stage and I put the screen in front of me and I said, okay, what am I here to learn about this? First of all, I don't know how to fix this. I'm not sure what to do. I've never had this experience in my life and I didn't know what to do. So I just sat there and I waited for the answer to come.

KATHLEEN: And I asked for the answers to come. The answers did come. And over a period of, what, a year, I had so many different answers that came up and reflected my growth, what I was about, a death of a friend came up out of this whole deal, because that stirred up a whole new set of awarenesses about a friendship, because she was a close friend of mine a long time ago, and just what that, and how she died.

KATHLEEN: Was what got me the most was the way she died and what that did for me on the inside. And I just sat there and I was with it. I felt it. I experienced it. And I looked at a lot of things in the timeline of my life and how much I had changed and grown. And that's what silence does. That's what reflecting does.

KATHLEEN: That's what being patient with yourself does. I mean, Spirit even asked me in the last six weeks that... To stop moving. And I said, but I need to make money. It's like, we don't care. You're okay. And I'm like, okay. And I did. And it was the best thing that I did. And I still worked. I didn't stop working. I mean, I was going out doing big trainings.

KATHLEEN: I'm doing all sorts of things that I probably wouldn't have done that I'm getting out there in the world more by doing alignment trainings, doing, getting on podcasts, that type of thing, which was really exciting because that was getting me more into dialing into my direct message. And we're going to go ahead and take a quick commercial break and I'll see you when we get back.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back everyone to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the bold, brave TV network. So what I was talking about before the break was in the last six weeks, even though I was still working, I was still being quiet. I was listening. I wake up in the mornings and I just drink my coffee and I'm just in the quietness.

KATHLEEN: And a lot of times what happened in the last six weeks is that spirit was like the moment I woke up ready to get out of bed, spirit would say, check this out, do this. And they even got into tech stuff, which really surprised me because I've been trying to fix a lot of broken things that I didn't even know were broken on my website.

KATHLEEN: And I've gotten that all done and resolved and it took time and that was okay. Because I know that things are getting ready to shift in a huge way and I just need to have my foundation set properly. So I know where I'm going and what's happening and I don't have the machine fall apart like I'm built on sand.

KATHLEEN: And when you're doing, when you take that time in that silence, you're listening because you're in alignment. You're in alignment with this, but you're also in alignment with spirit. And that's the one main thing about the silence that when you really understand silence and you study the books or whatever it is you want to study, that's what brings it in because ultimately you want to study who you are.

KATHLEEN: You want to know who you are and you're co-creating with spirit. And we don't always think that way, but we are because God is not outside of us. Spirit is not outside of us. It's who we are. And when we can make that connection. And then we're listening to their help because spirit can see, our guides can see ahead.

KATHLEEN: They don't have the boundaries and the limitations that we have in time and space. So they can see where we're going. And if you're listening, they can pivot you a little bit. And I know that I used to argue with them all the time, but I always succumb to it. But I always argued. I'm not arguing anymore.

KATHLEEN: I'm trusting my divine guidance. And I'm finding that life gets easier when I...

KATHLEEN: Listen to spirit that way. And the only way it could have happened is when I would just shut up long enough and do the work I had to do on myself and start growing and get my mind quiet. I love alone time. I love quietness. Even Sal asked me, he says, why do you never listen to the radio when you're in the car?,

KATHLEEN: I said because I love the quiet. Because when I'm driving, and I do a lot of road trips for work, when I'm driving, I get messages. I love the silence. I enjoy the scenery. I look at that. I mean, there's a gratitude that comes when you start doing that.

KATHLEEN: Nervous and some of the other physical and energetic benefits is your nervous system gets to reset. The silence reduces the cortisol and stress hormones.

KATHLEEN: I think that's very important because I know that when I wasn't doing this, It was weight gain. That's the one thing. And then you're running on this nervous energy, which makes you crazy. And then I'm sure your blood pressure is going up and all the bad health effects that go on with it.

KATHLEEN: It deepened my breath awareness because my breathing slowed down and it led to relaxation. And that was one thing I noticed last night when I went to bed was my breath. I kept noticing my breath. And it was like, wow, it seems kind of rapid. And then I would go deeper and deeper. And it wasn't rapid.

KATHLEEN: I think it was just a deeper breathing that I had not really ever noticed that I'm breathing deeper instead of shallow. And if you're breathing deeper, that means there's more relaxation coming in. You're using your body and it's more of an overall dopamine release in your brain as well. And I think that's why my intuition got strengthened too, is because it enhanced. My spiritual connection.

KATHLEEN: I know that every night when I go to bed, I'm always saying my gratitude when I go to bed. I'll say gratitude in the morning. And if I have questions, I ask spirit for the answers. It's like, I need help with this. Can you help me with this? Can you guide me here? Whatever it is, I will ask because they can't help unless you ask.

KATHLEEN: And then when you improve your sleep, oh my God, especially when you're going through menopause, the last thing you want to do, I mean so many women after menopause say they can't sleep. And I started that way. I don't, I'm not that way anymore because I do sleep through the night and my energy levels are back to where they should be.

KATHLEEN: I don't have near the mental chatter that I used to. And I, when, if I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, my brain's not going a hundred miles an hour like it used to, like I can get up, do what I have to do, go back to bed and fall asleep. And I couldn't do that years ago.

KATHLEEN: I couldn't do that. Even when I was in my 20s and 30s, I couldn't do that because my brain always was on. It just never shut up. And so I got some more clarity on that today too, but it was wanting to just be able to rest and feel rested. And I do now because I've learned to really quiet that mind.

KATHLEEN: Then the spiritual waking... Awakening happens into that leads into a higher level of consciousness. So the silence is the gateway to your spiritual downloads and divine insight. Now, nobody ever told me this back then. I just did it because I just wanted to shut the mind chatter down. But this is exactly what happens. And it's about feeling safe and protected when you're going through it.

KATHLEEN: It's going to strengthen the connection that you have with your higher self, your guides and the universal wisdom. And that's the one thing. I remember the most was I had a friend of mine say, well, you know, if you're struggling with this, Kath, why don't you just ask for who's ever on the other side that was a guru in whatever, say marketing or something, who are the gurus in marketing?

KATHLEEN: What did you do and how can you help me? And I thought, well, that's a really great idea. I never even thought to do that because we think we're so limited in our thinking a lot of times. And it was such a great expansion of awareness. And I think that's partly why the tech. Guides are coming to me.

KATHLEEN: I mean, they couldn't come to me 20 years ago because we weren't that techie yet and they hadn't died. So now it's like, I think they're coming to me because all of a sudden I'm having tech guides come to me. And I think that I get such a kick out of it because it's true. I mean, I asked for them, who's out there who can help me with this stuff? And they come up and they show up.

KATHLEEN: And the other thing that's really cool is that the void becomes the sacred space for transformation. I mean, we all talk about the black hole and that's what we feel like we're going into when it's really quiet. But it's in the quietness and that peacefulness that you get into the universal flow. You can hear the music spheres of the universe. I love when I get to hear the sounds of the universe.

KATHLEEN: They are so calming and restorative. And I've talked to a few people that... They say they can hear the music of the spheres and it's like isn't it amazing and it is And they are like the tuning forks. And I do have the music of the spheres and the tuning forks. I have the Solfeggio tones. But when you get to hear that or you get to hear the voice in your head tell you something.

KATHLEEN: And like I said, I think it was last month when I thought I was a failure with Sal because he was out on workman's comp and nobody was helping him and I was so frustrated. And I felt like a failure. And the first thing I heard in my voice, in my head was, you have so much evidence to prove that wrong. That was the first time it wasn't, yeah, we know, and here's why you're a failure. It was like it flipped it.

KATHLEEN: And wasn't that a beautiful thing to hear is that you're not a failure because of this, this, this, and this, instead of you're a failure because of this, this, and this. That's what, when you work on yourself and you get into that quiet place that when you are desperately needing help. Your spirit guides your friends on the other side. Your voice comes in and says, that's not true.

KATHLEEN: And I believed it and I was out of it that fast. That's the power of silence. That's powerful to you because that means you're in control of your life and you get to make those decisions.

KATHLEEN: So how do you cultivate silence in a noisy world? Well, first of all, You want to start small. Just do five minutes a day. Just get up in the morning if you want. Have a cup of coffee and don't talk to your partner. Don't do anything with your kids. Hide in the bathroom for five minutes.

KATHLEEN: Who the hell cares what you do? But just don't let the world do anything. Just intentionally be quiet. And you know what? You're going to find out in the beginning, five minutes seems like an eternity. And as you... Do this more and more. Five minutes is like a second. I promise you that's what's going to happen.

KATHLEEN: Do the digital detox, turn off the notification, schedule phone free time. I can't tell you how many times I don't look at my phone or I will not. Oh, like I don't look at my phone probably for anywhere between one to three hours after I wake up. What's the point?

KATHLEEN: If there's calls, fine, I'll deal with it. But I'm not going to deal with calls if I'm getting up at 6 o'clock or 5 o'clock in the morning. I am not looking at my phone because I'm not going to be talking to anybody. And any time that I do look at my phone prior to that, usually it's something there that gets me upset.

KATHLEEN: And I don't want to deal with it. So I don't. And last week I had that because I actually had, I got up early because I was supposed to be on a podcast guest. On a show last Friday at 7 a. m. In the morning, and I was ready at 7 a. m. In the morning. Now, I got up, I took my shower, and then I had coffee.

KATHLEEN: I mean, I got ready to make sure I was ready and calm and quiet. And I had a cup of coffee before the show started, and then it was a no-show. And I was not a happy camper because I made it a point to get up. I still did everything, and I was upset. And then I find an email from... I'm sorry. Another show I was supposed to be on at noon that day.

KATHLEEN: And they come on and they tell me that you didn't show up for the show. And they were nasty. They were very nasty. And it was confirmed for noon. They said it was supposed to be. And then I get a confirmation that it was at midnight, that the show was at midnight. They never gave me a show link.

KATHLEEN: I never knew where to go. I didn't receive any emails. I got nothing. And then the email was, is you weren't there. We did a no show on you. How dare you not showing up? And I don't know why I waited for you. And I went down a rabbit hole. This is at 630 in the morning. And I ended up contacting the right people about what happened and notified them.

KATHLEEN: And I responded of, you're very unprofessional, first of all, because I don't do shows at midnight. That was the first thing I said, and then you never showed, sent me a link. I had no way to get on your show because you never sent me a link. And then they marked that the show had been done when it wasn't done.

KATHLEEN: So I really didn't know what was going on other than what was on my phone, but I still didn't have a show link. So I let them know that they were unprofessional and they're blaming me for their inability to do hosting. And since I do podcasts, I know what it's like. So I was upset. And I was like, I'm not staying here. And I didn't. I got out of it and I went back into my silence.

KATHLEEN: I looked at what this was about, how I needed to handle this. I handled it the way I needed to and I moved on. That's the power of when you give yourself that time to be silent and look at and reflect at in the moment you're in that emotional energy and charge it. Let it go. Look at it. Bless it. Let it go because it was a valuable lesson.

KATHLEEN: Another thing you can do is mindful walking. Take time. Go out in nature without music or any distractions. Just be in nature and walk and look at what's going around. Listen to the.

KATHLEEN: Birds look at the you know we're going into spring so that means we're going to have new life coming up I love walking I have always loved walking because I get into harmony with spirit I get into the harmony and the flow of what life is supposed to be and not the crazy chaotic life that we have right now from all of this technology so I highly encourage that and we're going to go ahead and take a quick commercial break.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back everyone to the Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, when we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV network.

KATHLEEN: I know that we've talked about this over and over. I do it all the time. Silent mornings, no phone, no news, no conversations upon waking.

KATHLEEN: In my house, what's good is Sal gets up. So early to go to work that when I get up, he's usually not here. So that helps. And I know that you can have kids and a husband and craziness and all of that.

KATHLEEN: So give yourself, get up a little bit earlier, even if it's five minutes, like when you start your day five minutes earlier, and give yourself that five minutes before you wake up the kids. If you're the one who's waking up the kids, give yourself an extra five minutes and just be quiet and still. And just enjoy that quiet for a moment.

KATHLEEN: Once you get into that routine, because we all need to have a morning routine. And when you can get into that routine, it really makes a big difference. And you're actually teaching some really good skills to your children. You're creating boundaries. There's a lot of value that comes out of this. And I think if you can teach your kids what it's like to be quiet and still, that's going to help them as an adult as well.

KATHLEEN: And then another suggestion is solo retreats or getaways where you spend a day or a weekend in complete silence. Now I know that's a hard one and I've done that. And actually last week, Sal was in Wyoming last week, the whole week. And it was so cool. I mean, yeah, I got a little lonely and I missed him.

KATHLEEN: But when I first started, cause he left Sunday morning, came back Saturday afternoon and I, it was like, oh good. It's an opportunity for me to get. Like reconnected with myself. And I did. And I got so much done because I realized how much I had been worrying about him.

KATHLEEN: Because of the sciatic that went out, because of the workman's comp case that's going, because of all of this other stuff. And I was really worried, more worried about him. And I didn't even realize how worried I was because of it. But it was my opportunity to get reconnected with me and get back into what I need to do.

KATHLEEN: And like I said, that's when I found all these broken pieces on my website that I didn't even know that was there. Because I had watched how much my show... Has changed. And I'm like, what do I do? So I started looking at things and found, well, I don't know how to do this. And then I would contact the people for my funnel people.

KATHLEEN: And it's, well, do you have this? I don't even know what that is. And so we got that fixed. And it was just lots of little tiny things. What I found is that there is so much more support out there for me because I always thought I had to do it myself, or I was stupid if I didn't know how to do it.

KATHLEEN: I realized that that is such a lie. People are there to help you and they want you to succeed. All you have to do is ask. And that's what I did. I'm just asking for help if I don't know how to do something because I don't know how to do everything. Believe it or not, I really don't.

KATHLEEN: So since I don't know how to do everything, I started asking the people and really trying to understand the language. Because sometimes when you're talking to somebody that's...

KATHLEEN: Foreign language to you and I'm not talking about a foreigner I'm talking about like my marketing people and they're saying things and I'm like I have no idea what this is I don't understand and I would tell them I really don't understand what you're saying I'm really trying to grasp what you're saying so they would actually dumb down so to speak so I could understand it because their goal is to help me to understand it so I could be effective and it took several tries but I got it And that's what it is because I wasn't looking at myself as stupid.

KATHLEEN: I was letting them know that I didn't know. So they had to learn how to dumb down because, everybody that when we're in a profession and we know something, we think everybody else knows it when they don't. So this was a great test for me to do that. And so that's why I love the silent, quiet time of just getting back into that.

KATHLEEN: And I really dove into it and I really got clarity and I really understand how to do something now in ways that I never knew. And then it was like, well, do I have to do this for everything? And it's like, no. So the only thing I really don't know is when do you do it, when you not do it.

KATHLEEN: And part of it, part of it was I was getting people to come who were signing up, but I didn't know where they were coming from because I had everything tagged. And that was what this was about. And oh, that's why the rule comes in. Got it. Anyways. I just had an epiphany, but that was the whole point was just really trying to understand because I want to know where people are coming from.

KATHLEEN: Cause if you're doing and you're growing your business and you're trying to scale it, you want to know where people are coming. And if people aren't coming from certain places, then why should I promote at those places? That's kind of what the whole thing was about.

KATHLEEN: And so now that's done. And, it's like, I'm. Now the show's coming in where I'm getting more ideas about the show and what to do and how to shift and change it just a little bit, not a lot, just a little, to where I'm getting excited that I'm bringing so much more because I'm watching growth happen and I want to bring more value to my people.

KATHLEEN: Then you create, you know, when you're creating those sacred places, designate like a quiet corner in your home. I have a couple of places that I like to go. I mean, one of them is... I love my living room because it's just got all this color in it and it's quiet. And we hardly ever go in there. And then I have, and then usually the bedroom before I go to bed is where I'll create another sacred space.

KATHLEEN: But I have, I have in other places where I had a place where I could have like just this real quiet, like temple, so to speak. And it just depends. I mean, I've done it and it was, to me it was, it was okay, but I knew that I could learn how to be quiet anywhere. And I did. And that's an ultimate goal. And then you can do silent meals where you're eating mindfully without distractions.

KATHLEEN: I do that a lot at home. Sometimes Sal and I will have a conversation. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we're just quiet and reflective and we just eat our meal in peace. And I'm okay with that. I don't have any issues. He doesn't have any issues. And then after we're done eating, then we'll have a conversation or we'll have the conversation before he gets home so we can just eat in quiet and not.

KATHLEEN: Talk about our days or whatever. Like we just want to come home and decompress and start the relaxation. We're always learning new ways to just get that place of quiet and relaxation because he's going to go to bed early because he has to get up early. So we're trying to get the most of our time together. And that's something that we do.

KATHLEEN: And then, of course, you can do nonverbal.

KATHLEEN: Activities like journaling, doing art, energy work, that kind of thing. I know that I like to journal and I started my new book. So when I have those moments is when I just sit down and I quietly write and it just connects me with me. I don't know where this book's going to go. I just know that it just gets me into that quiet place.

KATHLEEN: And there is an art to listening in the silence.

KATHLEEN: Deep listening can lead to the body telling you what its needs and emotions are. Just sitting there because sometimes our bodies know how to heal us. All we have to do is ask. And then if we're sitting quietly, the body will tell you. I always could go to the doctor and say, this is what's wrong, but I didn't know how to fix what was wrong, but I knew what was wrong.

KATHLEEN: And every time they did test, it's like, well, how did you know this? Because my body told me. It's as simple as that. Your body will tell you. And then it's up to you to get that doctor because sometimes they think they know more than us. And it's up to you to get the doctor to pay attention to you.

KATHLEEN: Observing your thoughts without judgment. Again, watch the thoughts come by like you're on that boat. And it's just like the thoughts walk going by and just look at it. You don't put any judgment. You look at it and go, where's that coming from? And I know that in the last probably six weeks, I've watched things come out of my body and they look like little dark mists and they came out of my body.

KATHLEEN: And I'm like, wow, that's a thought form. I don't know what the thought was about. I didn't get that. I just saw it releasing and I'm thinking, wow, I'm probably doing so much stuff. And the quietness and what I'm doing and how I'm focusing is allowing stuff to leave the body. And I just got a kick out of it, of just watching that.

KATHLEEN: And then recognizing the divine synchronicities and the messages that come in. Oh my God. This is what the one part that I think is the coolest of all is how much guidance that I've been getting because I have been intentional about asking, about receiving, listening, and doing what they say. Really letting go of the control and trusting what's going on.

KATHLEEN: That has probably been the most powerful thing of just getting guidance every single day. And if they wouldn't talk to me every day, I might get upset. But it's just that, like, I'm not alone.

KATHLEEN: And I noticed so much more of it last week because I was quiet. I was still. I didn't have distractions. My cats are being my cats, which I hardly ever see right now because everybody's still mad about Marco being here and they just have to get over it.

KATHLEEN: But I noticed how much more. I was listening. And even though Sal's home now, I'm still getting those messages. And I absolutely love getting those messages because things are moving in a whole new direction.

KATHLEEN: So the power of the silence really lies in the ability to heal, awaken, and it realigns you. Now there's other things you can do to get into alignment. Like I do in alignment. Session. It's a 90 minute alignment session that will get you back into alignment with you. And you know where you're going, what you're doing, who you are, your avatar, your whys, the four pillars, your core values, all of that.

KATHLEEN: And that just keeps expanding on itself. Like I said, that I'm writing a chapter in a book for the anthology book for Infinite Impact. And that book is going to be coming out and it's going to be powerful. I mean, just writing the chapter for me. Everything shifted.

KATHLEEN: I was like, there was so much more awareness, so much more alignment came in to where it's like, okay, I'm tweaking everything. I'm seeing the thread through what I do in my businesses. Every little bit of what I'm doing and been seeing is like, I'm dialing in and dialing in and dialing in. It's like, I'm just getting closer and closer and closer to what I want to do.

KATHLEEN: Like what my message is, who am I, how am I showing up in the world? How do I bring the most light to the world? That I'm feeling comfortable and safe doing, and I'm doing it because this week of silence really helped me to focus in even more. And just the fact that I was excited about it was even better.

KATHLEEN: So you want to start small and you want to just trust the process. Whatever comes up for you is there. It's going to reveal what you are ready to hear. You're never going to get more than what you can handle.

KATHLEEN: And all you have to do is just be patient because a lot of times people are so impatient with everything in their lives and they're impatient with what they hear or I don't know if this is where it came from from spirit and it's like, but you know your voice. So when you're hearing another voice, or if you're afraid of it, or you don't understand it, you know what you do?

KATHLEEN: You ask if this is coming from my true and higher self. That's what you do. You ask for confirmation. You validate it. Is this from my higher self, or is this something different coming in? Because if it's something different, you're going to know it. You're going to feel it. You're going to feel it in your heart or in your body and your solar plexus. So you can ask.

KATHLEEN: You can always ask where it's coming from, because that's what I used to do in the beginning was... Who are you and who are you? First of all, who are you? And, wanting to validate it. And they have to answer. And if they don't answer, ignore it because it's not coming from the light. And we're going to go ahead and take a quick commercial break.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back everyone to the Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV network.

KATHLEEN: I hope that I've shared enough with you to understand the power of silence.

KATHLEEN: I know that it's really hard when you first start this, and I remember when I first started meditating, I really thought that I was this really ugly person. You want me to go inside and really validate that. That was my original thought because I had been told so many lies when I was growing up about myself.

KATHLEEN: And the last thing I wanted to do was face that inside in the silence. And I really thought that that was going to be there. And what I discovered that was not what was there. What I discovered was I felt love. I felt in tune with the universe and not that I may have fully understood what that meant back then. But I felt that there was something greater and bigger than me out there and that I appeared to be worth fighting for.

KATHLEEN: I discovered who I truly was. I discovered things that nobody has talked about to this day, but I've met people that have had it where I was with the council of nine, that I know who I am. I understand when I emerged, who I was in the emergence, what were my original thoughts in my emergence. I mean, I went back to the core essence of who I am and when I emerged into existence from God.

KATHLEEN: Those were very powerful things. Now, this didn't happen overnight. This was all over years and years and years. But it was in the beginning when I finally got and understood who I was and going into meditation. I went years without going into it because I was so upset and angry.

KATHLEEN: And I didn't want to be on this planet. I wanted to go back home. And they kept saying, they need you and you're going back. And I always came back and I was always unhappy. Thank God I don't feel that way anymore. Thank God that I got through that because I found that inside of me. I learned to find that peace inside of me, that happiness, that joy inside of me.

KATHLEEN: And that's all because of what I chose to do. I was disciplined enough because I had, my partner years ago said, you're so spiritually evolved. Why are you doing this? Why are you angry? Why are you this? And there was a point where I felt like I was disappointed, like I was abandoned. I wasn't, but I felt like I was. And I felt angry and I felt betrayed and I felt all these things.

KATHLEEN: But that was part of my evolution. I had to grow up. I had to find my way through life. They were never far away from me. I chose, not them, I chose to walk away because of my anger, my frustration. I was facing things I didn't like. And instead of asking for help and support, I'm going to do this on my own. Well, that doesn't serve you.

KATHLEEN: It was good that I did it, but it didn't serve me. I could have been further along probably if I would have done it differently. That's all I'm saying is give yourself that opportunity. Give yourself the grace. Trust the process because it's such a beautiful process.

KATHLEEN: We need you so desperately on the planet to shine your light and to help and guide people back into themselves because it is a crazy world and it's going to get crazier for a little while longer before we have a shift.

KATHLEEN: If you liked what you heard today, I would really appreciate it if you leave a comment. Down below, you can like and subscribe to the show or even give the link to a friend or a family member if you feel that it would bring any value to them. I have services on the KMF site, KathleenMFlanagan. Com. I have a list of services if you want to get into alignment.

KATHLEEN: I do have a free de-stress meditation. It's three minutes. It's a perfect way for silence because it will silence you, but it'll balance you out and it'll help you work with your day. And it's a great tool to start. It's absolutely free. I'm not even asking for your email address on it. And then I do have other meditations that can help with you.

KATHLEEN: You can sign up for a 15-minute consultation if you'd like to work with me. That's out there as well. And I think that's pretty much it. One exciting piece of news I want to bring is I just confirmed that Michael Spremulli is going to start coming on the show every quarter. So the first quarter is going to be the end of March, and he is the vibrational astrologer.

KATHLEEN: And we are going to talk about what the next quarter coming up is going to do so you can help navigate. So we can help you navigate through the changing times that we're in, and we will open the phone lines. So you are open to call in. He's more than willing to take phone calls and answer your questions and all of that. So I'm super, super excited about this coming on.

KATHLEEN: That is all I have for this week. And I hope all of you have a fabulous week. And from my heart to yours, just go out there and make stuff happen. And I will see you next Tuesday at 4 p. m. Eastern Standard Time.