Empty Nesters – Is silence friend or foe?

Your kids have finally flown the coop – it can be very difficult to get used to the quiet and solitude that comes with being an empty nester.

There are many blogs online that give advise on how to fill the time in, to make your heart feel whole again, to make it sing. Some will embrace the newly echoing halls of their home and life, filling them with lots of activities they never had the time to get around to do, while others will find it difficult.
​
Either way, a lot of us miss a wonderful opportunity to embrace something key in our lives – ourselves! Taking some precious time to listen to our inner self, our soul, our Angels, guiding spirits or whatever we refer to the voice that’s inside our head that we never have the time or more importantly, the silence to hear, to listen to!!

This is a wonderful time to do ‘nothing’. Yes that’s what I said, take time out of your day to do nothing and allow your intuition to work for you. This occurs when you practice meditation and bring it one step further and visualize yourself doing and being you! This does not necessarily mean seeing yourself a busy little bee again. I’m talking about going within and getting to know who you are.

By daily meditating and visualizing you are connecting to your soul, your true self. It’s where we all have the answers to what makes us happy, what makes our heart sing in life. Tap into this resource – we all have it. We always tend to feel that all the answers to peace and happiness is around us somewhere when really, it’s inside of us. It always has been and always will be. All we need to do is listen. When we are in a meditative state, we are accessing our intuition and that will guide us to living a meaningful life!

Here is a simple meditation exercise to help you get started. It is really important to make this a daily routine in your life – it doesn’t really matter what time of day you do this, but it should be a quiet time and done daily.

1. Sit up in a comfortable chair with your feet on the floor, legs uncrossed and hands on your lap or by your side.
2. I find putting on some background music (preferably without words) helps me to ease into meditating more easily.
3. Close your eyes and take in a nice deep breath in through your nose and slowly exhale out slowly through your mouth – imagining your breath slowly being released down through your body and out through your toes. Repeat this 3-5 times and only focusing on your breath.
4. Now breathe normally and notice how your diaphragm rises as you inhale in and lowers when you release your breath.
5. While your eyes are still closed, focus all your attention on your feet. Notice how numb and relaxed they are. All those tiny muscles and tendons all completely limp and relaxed. Continue to notice each part of your body from your feet up all they way up to your head how completely limp and relaxed they feel.
6. Now notice your breathing, how shallow it has become, you are so completely relaxed that your breathing has also slowed down.
7. If you notice any thoughts of the day coming through, let them simply drift through, don’t analyze them, simply acknowledge them and let them go.
8. This is a good time to ask for guidance from your creator, angels, and guides to help you on your life journey.
9. Listen and be focused on any messages you receive through your thoughts and feelings. Stay in this state for at least 10 minutes.
10. When you are ready, simply take in a nice deep breath and slowly release it, move your toes and extremities gently to release the numbness. Shrug your shoulders, move your neck from side to side. Take another nice deep breath and release slowly. Open your eyes.

You will find after a few weeks of doing your daily meditations, your intuition will be greatly enhanced and you will know and sense what is right for you. Put faith in yourself and believe you have all the answers within!

Be healthy, happy and at peace, until next time!