It’s our second conversation in this five-part series about living a soul-full life. Last time we talked about recognizing when it’s not our job to “babysit,” and you can read that here. Now, we’re chatting about reducing the noise in our lives so we can expand into our self-mastery and more. I’ve written about self-mastery before, so click here to visit that memo.

So, what’s a key takeaway to create space for living a soul-full life and doing it with your mastery in the lead?

By reducing “the noise” in your environment, within yourself, and in the roles you carry. Now, if that feels overwhelming, let’s break it down per category. Here we go!

For those who prefer the audio version of this post, click the play button below.

Shifting the Noise in Your Environment

“Noise” can mean a lot of different things, depending on how you operate and what your needs are. For me, personally, it’s clutter. I like tidy spaces, but maybe it doesn’t bother you as much to have things lying about. That’s ok!

What’s your version of noise in your live-in and work environments? Is it lighting, sounds, what you see around you, dynamics in the home or office (and more)? Now, you might not be able to change everything about your environment, unless you live solo or work from home. However, you can try approaches like these:

• Hearing too much around you and it’s distracting you from focusing? Try noise-canceling headphones or a different location for working.
• Is the cluttered desk driving you bananas? At least organize what’s in front of you or on the table’s surface.
• Another tip: organize the files and folders on your desktop, too.

There are so many ways we can get creative to help our environments support us not stifle us – marinate on it while we go on to the next section!

Reducing the Noise Within Yourself

I’ll tell you, some of the hardest things we face are within ourselves: feelings, choices, behaviors, and more. BUT that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to deal with.

And as we learn how to “reduce the noise within ourselves,” it’s almost like a life raft is thrown our way in choppy emotional waters. So, how do we do this? Here are some ideas:

• When you feel your thoughts or feelings are “spiraling” and overwhelming, come back to who you are without the noise. For example, worries and fears are a natural part of human existence, but they don’t have to absolutely, 100% consume us.
• If you notice that you’re not breathing deeply, because you feel the tension in your body or there’s a lot going on around you that’s making you feel scattered inside, take 30 seconds to 5 minutes to get grounded once again. Mindfulness activities for the win!
• Let the P.A.S.T. be in the past; try not to bring it into this moment or your present here and now. I’ll write another memo about this, but start to recognize when that past baggage needs to stay there, for your ultimate growth and expansion. This includes regrets, the “young” choices that we made, etc. It doesn’t mean we hide from it, only see that it’s from a time before and we have a new day right here, right now.

Alright, let’s move on to our last important noise-reducing topic.

Tweaking the Noise in the Roles That You Hold

This one might not feel so straightforward at times, but we’re going to unpack this further together.

When I say that there’s noise in the roles we carry, it can be honest-to-goodness vibrational or sound noise (coming from the people or beings around us). It can also be that same scattered feeling that I mentioned above, occurring because of stressors or triggers in our work worlds or personal lives.

So, what I recommend here is to become incredibly, deeply self-aware. How do we practice that? By tuning into our holistic needs and doing a check-in, we can better assess the roles that nurture us, stress us out, or are neutral in our lives. Let’s go over some examples:

• When you’re at a meeting, possibly getting talked over or interrupted, your body will let you know how you’re feeling in the moment. Maybe you hunch down, shrink in your chair, or keep your head down. Or, you try to become a wallflower and hide away; perhaps you feel tension in your shoulders or your stomach because you’re pissed off about it.
• Your emotional/mental headspace can feel crowded or stifled, depending on the opportunities we have to be creative or pursue projects that tap into our strengths vs. limit us.
• Sometimes we want to know what calls to us, or makes us feel impactful and like we’re creating change, but we have no idea how to find that level of self-actualization. Therefore, our head is filled with questions like, “What am I doing here? Why do I feel lost after ten years of being on my career path? What’s important to me? What am I good at?”

While I help women unpack these questions in my program, The ZPB, suffice it to say that when we feel confused or like we don’t have direction, that “noise” feels like a heavy fog inside. We can’t see or feel clearly and the questions spin us around. This can feel more challenging especially if we dislike our work role or job, or if some roles in our personal world are stifling. It can feel daunting, but it’s entirely possible to intentionally and with your internal compass live from your wisdom while feeling less scattered.

One final note before we wrap this up is that those who are around you “make you,” in ways. And this is what we’ll talk about next time!

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That’s it for this week! Feeling inspired? If you’re looking for more tips, and want a more direct connection, join (for free) the FSW Circle and get The Weekly Wisdom in your Inbox. If you’re ready to ditch soul-sucking work and what doesn’t align with you and shift towards soul-full living and work-life balance…you need The Zone of Purpose™ Blueprint. And if you have any questions or comments, leave them below or contact me 1:1 this way. Chat with you soon and bright blessings on you!