Welcome to Day 1: Conquer the Noise

Hi, I'm Ashlie Woods. I'm the creator and facilitator of Wildhearted retreats.

In the next 5 days, I'm going to introduce to you four really powerful tools to help you turn down the noise in your head, ditch doubt, and start living with more confidence. It's my belief that there's a life that wants to be lived through you. There's a purpose that you are meant to fulfill, a self-expression that you are meant to have in the world. And it requires that you show up with your whole heart. Let yourself be known and be seen and contribute.

For many of us, the very thing that gets in the way of being able to do that, the very thing that gets in the way of exercising our inherently creative power, is the noise in our head. Now what do I mean when I say noise? So just think about expressing yourself in a way that really matters to you. Maybe participating in something that you're interested in, or starting a new project, or asking for the thing you want.  

And, as you imagine doing that thing, pay attention to what that little voice in your head says -- you can't do that! You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know enough about that. You're too old. You're too young. You're too big, you're too little. You're not this enough. You're not that enough. You're too much of this.  

That little voice in our head, that compulsive, repetitive habitual thinking gets in our way every single time. It's the reason we don't pursue our fitness goals. It's the reason we don't ask for the raise. It's the reason we don't have the hard conversation with our partner about what's not working.  

The noise stops us. And, I'm telling you now, if you can learn to quiet that noise, and you can tune in to the wisdom of your heart. Your heart will lead you on the quickest, shortest route to your highest good and your fullest self expression.  

So, I want to offer you some practical ways that you can get your hands on the dial of that noise and turn it down for good. We're going to start with conquer.

The four C's is a practice as I like to refer to it. It's something that you can come back to anytime you're feeling unmotivated, disempowered, insecure, full of doubt about yourself, your life, your abilities or what's possible for you. And, you can engage in the process of the four C's as we're going to talk about them in the coming days, and begin to ditch the doubt and regain a sense of personal power.  

So the first "C" we're going to work on is conquer. So what do I mean when I say conquer? I mean, conquer! We are going to win out over that little voice. And the practice here is to pick one thing in your life, one area, one thing that you know to do, and you're not doing it, because that little voice is winning out. It's telling you, "I don't want to. I don't have time. It's not that important anyways." And, then you're going to win. 

Okay, so for me, one area of my life that is really important to me is my morning practices. I like to get up with enough time in the morning, early enough that I can sit and do morning pages, a writing exercise I like to engage in, and I have enough time to sit in a quiet meditation. If I don't get up and start my day early enough, I feel too rushed and I just don't have the time.

So one of the ways that I conquer is getting out of bed, even though the voice in my head says, “Oh, I'm tired. I don't want to.” I mean, I don't know about you. But as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning, something inside says, “No, no, I don't want to!” And, I can recognize that “No, I don't want to,” is just noise. 

And I've got to win out over that noise more than I lose to it. I have to conquer the noise. So one of the ways that I do this for myself, and this is a little tricky, and you might try something like this when you go to conquer that voice in your head, is I plug my phone into the kitchen. So I don't keep it next to my bed. I plug it in in a different room so that when the alarm goes off and my voice says, “No, I'm tired I don't want to get up,” I have to get up anyways. When I get up, even though the noises are saying, “I don't want to,” my sense of myself grows bigger and stronger, I feel more capable and more confident.  

What's one thing in your life that you know to do that you're not doing? Because for whatever reason, the voice is telling you, that noise is telling you, “No, I don't want to” or “You can't.” How can you conquer that today? So that is your action to take. Identify one area that the noise is stopping you and do it anyways.

All right, I'll see you tomorrow for the next “C” in your path to ditching doubt and regaining your personal power.