Hi ,

Ever been enveloped by the profound stillness of absolute silence?

I recently returned from a 3-day silent retreat, seeking refuge from the chaos of everyday life. 

Amidst the quiet, I confronted truths I'd been avoiding, summoning the courage to realign my actions with my deepest values on my return. I'll share once I'm ready to, but I'm still processing this one.

Silence has this remarkable way of peeling back layers, revealing truths we often overlook, and empowering us to take bold, even if uncomfortable, steps forward.

During the retreat, as I practiced extended meditations in various postures - sitting, walking, lying down, I found myself tuning into various emotions at different points of the day, even welcoming boredom into my experience. 

Guided talks on mindfulness philosophy also helped me get clearer on: “What is most important?”

While not everyone has the privilege of retreating, we can adapt practices from a silent retreat to incorporate elements of stillness into our daily lives, creating space to tune out the noise and tune in to our inner voice, clarifying our true desires.

This month’s 5 Good Things are mindfulness practices adapted from retreat where you can create pockets of stillness throughout your busy day:

Of course this would be top of the list (!)

Dive into meditation with some of my favorite teachers, Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. 

They offer a free 40-day mindfulness intro course on Insight Timer, my go-to app.

With sessions lasting 10-12 minutes, it's perfect to help you get into a daily practice.

Embrace the chaos and boredom in your noisy mind—it's all part of the journey to stillness!

Spend a few minutes daily jotting down your thoughts and feelings—it's incredibly cathartic and can help you gain clarity on your priorities. 

Whether with pen and paper or typing digitally, like with Day One, or a combo of analogue and digital like me, where I handwrite on the iPad with Apple pencil in the GoodNotes app… find what works for you.

Need inspiration? Keep an eye out for my monthly journal prompts at the bottom of each email!

Take regular breaks to step outside and immerse yourself in nature. 

Use an app like AllTrails to discover nearby trails or simply find a quiet spot in a local park. 

Connecting with the natural world can be rejuvenating and grounding, providing a much-needed escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Here's a video I made a while back - a self reflection on how nature, or "forest bathing" helps me reconnect back to what matters. Always a handy reminder to myself too!

It was amazing how often I reflexively reached for my phone even though it was on airplane mode and there was NOTHING I could check while on retreat. 

Being aware of this reflex and taking a few deep breaths was enough to re-centre and re-focus. But how much more difficult is this when not on retreat? 😅

Bring some of that mindful awareness into your day-today by setting boundaries around your screen time and designate tech-free zones in your home or workplace.

Apps like SelfControl or Freedom can help you track your screen time and block distracting websites, allowing you to reclaim your time and attention for more meaningful activities.

Your breath is the simplest, fastest way to access your nervous system. You can calm it down or stress it out simply by how you're breathing.

Incorporate simple breathing exercises into your daily routine to promote relaxation and mindfulness. 

I have a 7-day audio course on the Insight Timer app that takes you through simple, quick breathing exercises to help you calm down, focus, or take a deep rest in the middle of a stressful day. 

It's all of the things to help you create mini moments of resilience throughout your day.

Here's some journalling prompts to help you work through any areas of your life where you can apply some simple mindfulness practices:

I hope this helps you find more ease and rest this month.

If it helps keep you accountable, you're welcome to hit reply and share what you're working on. I reply to every email!