There’s a children’s book called “Peace At Last” that I read as a child.

In this book, Papa Bear, who is desperate to go to sleep, takes himself to every room in his house in an attempt to find silence … but every room has its own unique orchestra of noise.

From a dripping tap, to a humming fridge, to a snoring wife, to chirping birds, the more Papa Bear seeks silence, the more he becomes aware of the incessant noise around him.

It’s quite comical to read – especially now that I am a parent to three and often find myself trying to find peaceful places in my house to sleep around 2-4am  (whilst the toddler snores horizontally across my pillow).

And compared to 30 odd years ago when I used to read this book, the world has become an all round noisier place.

There are more cars on the road, more channels on the telly and more gadgets in the home.

We are bombarded by advertisers, businesses and companies, all vying for attention, raising their voices and psychological tactics in volume whilst elbowing each other out of the way.

With the population growing and technology accelerating, people are becoming more complex and the demands from complicated family dynamics are getting louder and louder in the din.

Then there’s the silent noise; mobile phone waves, radio waves, a zillion different voices, texts, tweets, status updates zig-zagging invisibly through the ether and through our skulls like laser thin B roads on an ordnance survey map.

The internal chatter, the cultural norm to “be more-have more-get more” and the incessant babble that most people live with inside the mind creates an inescapable noise that follows us wherever we go.

Sometimes we dive and delight in the madness, dancing out our Yang-fuelled stories and self expressions.

It’s all cool to be about performance, movement, energy and output.

But others times we start longing for something else.

Something a little less taxing.

This quiet zone is where I am right now.

I have no desire to run workshops, fuel my social media platforms, coach or make noise in any way.

A gentle, Yin, turning inward and planting-the-garden sort of feeling has descended upon this woman.

Who knows how long this will last?

I have no idea!

But I am going with it; allowing my soul the space to do whatever it needs to do.

In the next few years, I believe that increasing numbers of us will begin to crave somewhere away from the noise. We’ll experience the sensation that our souls have grown quiet and are waiting for us to become quiet too.

In those phases we will hunt around our homes, lives and relationships looking for a way to feel more peaceful.

At these times, it may be hard to know where to turn and like Papa Bear, the noise will feel inescapable but if you embrace the three steps below, your chances of soothing your soul will go up infinitely.

When we eat predominantly raw, plant based foods, something happens to the mind and body.

Everything lightens.

Replace your usual beverages with fruit and herbal teas and the caffeine rush subsides.

Replace processed, sugar loaded foods with nuts and the sugar roller coaster levels out.

A more natural, consistent energy emerges in your body.

You experience spaciousness on every level.

There are tonnes of brilliant raw food recipe books on the internet. Grab one for your shelf!

Rocks, flowers and trees are not trying to sell you anything.

Rock pools, waves and seabirds don’t give a flying hoot about your past, future or financial position.

Nature has no agenda.

All its wants is to thrive and grow.

This is a rare and beautiful thing in todays world.

Go to Nature. Be with her. She’s the antidote to the madness of our times.

The digital world is a very real place now.

It doesn’t require physical space but it takes massive swathes of our life. Left to run amok, the internet eats time, focus, energy and presence.

Pulling back from social media can bring up all sorts of feelings; fear of disconnection, anxiety about missing out, but-but-but thoughts around how you’re going to market your business if your face isn’t on Facebook for a while.

Personally, I believe our fears of withdrawing from the machine shows how dependent we are.

Any resistance I experience gives me even more incentive to extract myself from the machine.

If your soul is calling for some gentle time, extract yourself from the digital world as much as possible. Restrict web surfing time, press pause on social media for a spell and instead carve back some of your pre-1995 reality.

I have just spent my day planting daisies, Arizona Suns and lavender in my little patch of paradise.

Made soup.

Written to you lovelies.

I hope everything is gorgeous in your woods.

Bethan

XXX