When you're used to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, living in suburbia or the city, with cars, trucks, trains, planes, neighbours, kids, and everything else going on around you… it's easy to get used to the constant noise outside.
But when you finally get a moment out in nature, away from the noise, it's funny how you suddenly realise that there's a whole inner world of noise going on too.
Our family just recently spent some time in nature at Mount Warning. I (Shane) was down in the river in the early morning having a bit of a cold soak. I was sitting down there, listening to the running water and the birds and it was so beautiful.
But what I realised was I could hear how friggin' loud my head was!
Suddenly, amongst the beautiful peace, quiet, and natural surroundings, all I could hear was the craziness going on in my head! I was thinking about all the things we're doing in business, our property, our relationship, and the kids… and it was so loud, I could hear it!
That's when I realised something. Sometimes the intensity has to be met with some innergy.
What I mean by innergy is the inner energy you have that comes from meditating or going internally.
And one of the reasons we love the breath so much is because it drops you straight into that space. Once you're there, you get some time, you can enjoy the calm, and you step away from the intensity of everything that's going on in your life.
And if you're reading this, you probably agree that life gets pretty loud and intense at times.
I used to hate meditating.
If I sat there and meditated for 15 minutes, I'd end up arguing with myself the whole time. Everything was just so LOUD!
But what I didn't realise at the time was this loudness is simply part of going inward, whether it's breathing, meditating, or something else. It's perfectly normal.
When you breathe or meditate, you should expect the first 10 to 15 minutes of going inward to get past the body and the chatter of your own mind. And look at it as an opportunity to observe what's going on internally for you.
If you do breathing, do you need to meditate too?
The only reason I was doing meditation because I thought I had to. I thought it was a task I had to do for my own wellbeing. I mean, everybody else is doing it and getting something out of it, so I guess I should do?
But if the breathing gives me exactly what meditation gives everyone else, why should I meditate?
That's when I realised that meditating was less about what I was doing, and more about the time that I set aside to be with myself.
The thing that so many people (myself included) often struggle with is giving ourselves space to be quiet and still. We need to learn how to receive these opportunities to enjoy the quiet and to calm the loudness and intensity (not just externally, but internally).
When you experience the stillness, it helps you realise just how loud and intense the outside world really is. And that's when you can begin to learn how to relax into that intensity and cope better with it.
That's why meditating and breathing are so essential… because we all need to go inward to deal with the loudness and intensity of the outside world. And because it's not a natural skill for most people, it's something we all need to consciously work at and build on over time.
After we'd spent that wonderful time in the mountains and nature, we had to go back home and back to everyday life.
We needed to go pick up some groceries, so I headed into a shopping centre. I looked at all the stuff on the shelves for sale and it was freakin' intense! Every single one of those items was calling out for me to buy it.
It's no wonder you pack your shopping cart or basket to overflowing by the time you get to the checkout line. And it's no wonder you always leave with more than you planned. The items practically jump in your cart all on their own!
It's no wonder we're constantly overwhelmed by the intensity of it all. If you're feeling overwhelmed, you need to come back to innergy.
I (Angie again) have noticed that I cope far better with the intensity of everything coming at me when I meet it with equal relaxation. I use tools like meditation and breathing to receive the stillness and the inner peace and calm. I give myself that time to recharge my innergy.
Innergy is filling up and emptying out at the same time. You're taking that time and space to replace the intensity with silence and stillness.
Innergy is your permission to do nothing. It's your time to stop doing, to meditate, to breathe, and to fill up and recharge.
It's not a luxury or something to feel guilty about needing. Innergy is something you should prioritise. You need to meet intensity with innergy – it's essential in this crazy world we live in!
So our challenge to you is to play with this idea and practice of innergy. Schedule in some time to do nothing but go inward. And remember, it's not in the words. It's in the practice. Give it a go, set the expectation that you'll need 10-15 minutes to settle in, and then you'll start to recharge.