Look Within: Moving From Noise To Clarity

Let's begin with our breath today as we begin to notice the noise so that we can work our way down to what's underneath it,

Which is clarity.

The clarity is always there.

The clarity is at our core.

We just need to remember.

We just need to notice that everything else is a distraction.

But how do we do that?

Oh,

Even sometimes I forget.

Like this morning,

My mind was busy.

I was really thinking a lot about what I was gonna say,

But not in like a planning way,

Just like in the subconscious,

Almost distracting way of like,

What can I share with people on Insight Timer today?

Oh,

Maybe I could share this or talk about this or do that.

But it wasn't from a place of clarity.

It wasn't from a place of grounding.

And so I knew I didn't need to pay attention to most of what was coming through,

As nice as some of it sounded.

And how did I know that it wasn't coming from a place of clarity?

Well,

For me,

I noticed because.

.

.

Let's talk about what clarity feels like and what noise feels like.

Mmm,

Yes.

We've got Afa saying,

Ego comes in.

Absolutely.

Ego comes in to protect us.

Ego comes in to make us feel safe.

And that's what was coming in this morning.

And so what does that sound like?

What does that noise sound like?

To me,

It feels like it's coming from right here.

Like my awareness is in the front of my head,

And it's almost like directed outward,

Like it's got to go someplace.

It's got to have this purpose.

It's got to prove something.

It's got to do something.

It's got to achieve something.

And when clarity comes in,

It's almost like I'm sitting back in my body.

It's like I'm in a relaxed state.

There's no pressure.

There's no agenda.

It's just like,

Ooh,

Listen to this.

Wouldn't this be cool?

Listen to this.

Wouldn't this be cool?

Can you guys feel it even as I say it?

Yeah,

Afa says free flow.

That's right.

That's how I feel it too.

And it just feels lighter.

It feels truer.

It feels like there's no pressure.

There's nothing I have to do or have to say.

Hmm.

What comes up for you guys around that?

The pressure.

There's nothing you have to do or have to say.

Notice in your body.

Yeah.

Notice in your body and just notice.

Let's take a moment.

Let's really get clear on this because the clearer we get,

The more clarity we can have on clarity and on noise.

So we're going to start by jumping into what does noise feel like?

What does noise feel like?

You can close your eyes,

Focus on your breath,

You know,

Maybe,

Maybe keep your awareness up in your head.

That's where noise happens.

That's where a lot of distraction happens is when we take our awareness and instead of being in our bodies,

It's really up in our heads,

Maybe not even in our heads,

Maybe even around our heads is where our awareness is.

So we're going to jump into what does noise feel like?

So let's do a little exercise that I've never done before,

But it feels like this is what wants to come through.

So go ahead and close your eyes if that's available to you or just tap into what does noise feel like?

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na is what's coming through.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- feel like?

Can you notice it in your shoulders or your neck?

Can you notice it in your head?

What do you notice in the rest of your body?

I notice nothing.

When noise comes in,

I don't notice my body.

I do get a bit of tightness up here.

And let's just ask,

As you tap in,

What other clues can you have that you're listening to noise and not your intuition?

Not your inner wisdom?

How do you know that it's noise?

The word agenda comes up for me.

If there's an agenda involved.

If there's any sort of threat,

That's a big one.

Like,

If you don't do this,

This will happen.

That's noise.

If you don't focus on this task at hand,

You will fill in the blank.

Lose your job.

Be really stressed later.

Not be able to complete anything.

Be a procrastinator.

Fall behind.

That's a threat.

And that's not your inner wisdom.

How else does noise show up?

Noise shows up as simple thoughts.

Sometimes they might even feel like playful.

Or they might even make you think they're inspiring.

My thoughts are really good at this.

My logical mind is really,

Really good now.

You know,

Because I've been doing this for a long time.

I've been working with intuition.

I've been working with discernment.

I've been teaching it and working with clients and,

You know,

Doing my own inner work.

So,

So in order to keep me hooked into noise,

My logical mind has gotten really clever.

It's gotten really tricky.

And sometimes it'll say like,

Oh,

Let's think about this so you can really serve people better today.

Like that sounds so nice,

Doesn't it?

It sounds so nice.

But again,

It's almost like it's like that agenda.

There's that hidden agenda.

And with that agenda comes pressure.

And with that pressure comes a bit of disconnection and just a feeling that I'm not as expansive as I know I can be.

Mm-hmm.

Office as it often becomes so tricky to handle.

Yeah,

It can be.

And sometimes these thoughts are just incessant.

And sometimes we just need to resign into that and say,

Okay,

Okay,

Thoughts.

I'm here to listen to you.

Right now.

I'm here to listen to you today.

Because they're always there for a reason.

They're always there to help us.

Underneath them.

There's always something golden.

And I found that one of the worst things we can do is push them away.

One of the worst things we can do is say,

Oh,

That's not helpful.

You go away.

I'm going to replace you with some positive thinking.

It's so innocent,

Right?

And it sounds I mean,

A lot of people teach this.

But I've personally found the more I do that,

I can have like really good short term positivity boosts.

But it's like the more I push down,

What wants to come up,

The more strength I give it as it hides over here in this push down part.

I think of it like a snowball.

It's like,

Oh,

No,

I don't want to listen to you right now because I know you're not serving me.

So so go down here.

It's like I'm packing it denser.

And what does it do over time?

It rolls and collects more.

And if I push it down again,

It's in that perfect position to roll and collect more.

And eventually,

I've got like this massive snowball that I can't push down anymore.

I bet that happens to you too.

Because it happens to everybody I know.

When we push things down.

So how do we how do we deal with it?

How do we how do we allow the noise to be noise without taking us off into someplace scary?

Without losing ourselves?

Without forgetting who we are without,

You know,

Missing out on the clarity?

And the answer can be a hard pill to swallow.

The answer is very simple,

But it may not be easy.

And the answer is an acceptance.

The answer is in acceptance.

Acceptance of acceptance of there's noise right now.

There's noise right now that I cannot control.

There's noise right now and I don't like it.

My mind is really noisy right now.

And it's annoying me.

I see some hearts I see some people are are relating to this.

It's really that simple,

But it's not always easy.

And what's brilliant about this?

What's brilliant about how we're designed is that you don't have to do anything else other than notice.

You don't need to replace the thoughts.

You don't need to try to make them better.

You don't need to fix anything.

All you need to do is notice.

And you might need to notice more than once.

You might need to notice many,

Many times.

You might need to notice through many layers of noise until you get to the bottom of it.

But eventually you will.

And all it takes is noticing.

All it takes is that trust in yourself to notice.

That trust that your awareness that nature will take care of the rest.

Your divine wisdom,

Your intuition will be able to flow through you the more that you notice.

The more that you can notice just as a neutral observer,

The more clarity will flow through you.

So what does that look like?

And before I go there,

I want to share a story that a client shared with me this week.

It was so awesome.

He had been having trouble sleeping,

And it was going on about two weeks,

And it was really starting to bother him.

Like,

Just waking up early and couldn't go back to sleep.

Waking up,

His mind was busy,

And that was it.

He was up at like three or four in the morning for the rest of the day.

And he realized he was getting really irritated by it.

And,

You know,

It was becoming a pattern.

So he stopped and he said to himself,

This is so sweet,

He said,

What would Charlotte do?

What would Charlotte say right now?

And what came to him was,

She would tell me,

She would ask me if I could accept it.

Or maybe,

What would it take to accept this?

And he said the first thing that popped up into his head was,

Fuck no,

I can't accept this.

I have to work.

I have things to do.

I have things to do.

I can't accept not sleeping.

But he watched that.

He observed that in his mind and went,

Oh wow,

That's a really strong stance right there.

And as he continued to watch his mind,

All of a sudden he said he felt this shift.

It was like it just lifted.

He just accepted where he was and he started to go,

Okay,

You know,

What if I could accept this?

Like,

I'm still going to survive.

I'm still going to be able to work.

This is just how it is right now.

And it just shifted.

And he said the next night he slept all the way through,

And he's been sleeping all the way through ever since.

And I love that story.

I love that story because it's just so simple.

When we come in and say,

How can I accept this?

How can I accept that my experience right now,

Whether I like it,

Love it,

Or absolutely hate it,

Is divine?

How can I accept my experience as it is?

Because when you can,

It will naturally move.

It will naturally move.

And that's what life is all about,

Is movement,

Is flow.

That's balance.

That's health.

That movement.

And that's how clarity comes through.

Yeah.

Afa says,

Even if it is right or wrong,

Just bring noise into awareness.

Absolutely.

That's it.

That's it.

So good.

So simple.

So simple it can make your mind go,

No,

It can't be that simple.

No,

No,

No.

No,

Because I've got to do this,

Because I've got No,

Because I've got to do this,

Because I've got to do my affirmations,

Because I've got to do my gratitude journal,

Because I got to do this,

This,

And this to just keep me afloat.

I was there.

I was there too.

And I can promise you it really is this simple.

And that's not to say that you shouldn't do gratitude journaling.

That's not to say you shouldn't do affirmations.

If those things bring you joy,

Do them.

Absolutely.

They're very helpful.

In fact,

My intuition recently reminded me like,

You know,

You could you could use a little bit more gratitude,

A little bit more gratitude practice in your life.

It's about moving from I got to do this,

I got to do this,

To watching,

Watching your mind going,

I got to do this and saying,

Oh,

There's a part of me that thinks I got to do this.

Oh,

That part is really set on this.

And just kind of softening some of that pressure,

You can still do it.

But if you do it without the pressure,

It's going to be way more beneficial.

It's just going to be softer,

And more loving,

More pure,

And more true to who you really are.

Lillian says,

Hello,

First time.

Hello,

Lillian.

It's so good to have you here for the first time.

Welcome.

We're talking about noise and clarity today.

I'm Charlotte Tamsen,

By the way.

And we just talked about noise.

We just really explored it,

Got to know it a little bit better.

Got to understand what it can sound like,

What it feels like in our body.

But it's all,

It's all up here.

And now we're going to talk about clarity.

What does clarity feel like?

Because the more we can discern between the two,

The more we can go,

Oh,

That's clarity,

Or oh,

That's noise,

And decide what we want to follow.

Because when we follow clarity,

Man,

Our life changes.

When we follow our intuition,

Oh,

Things become easier.

Things become more expansive and greater than we could have imagined.

I see this over and over and over.

The miracles of life every single day are so wonderful.

Are so wonderful when we learn to follow our intuition instead of the noise.

So what does that clarity look like?

What does it feel like?

Hi,

Bev.

Welcome.

Also your first time.

Amazing.

Thank you.

So let's close our eyes and go within again.

And let's explore what clarity feels like.

Let's start by taking a few deep breaths.

Our breath helps us reconnect with the nature that we are,

With the divinity that we are inside.

So take some time to observe the breath.

As we ask it to help us remember what clarity feels like.

In fact,

Let's ask our bodies,

What does breathing feel like when we're in a space of clarity?

What does our chest feel like when we're in a space of clarity?

What do our shoulders feel like when we're in a space of clarity?

What about your tummy?

Breathe into your tummy.

What does that feel like from a space of clarity?

I'm being guided right now that we're going to actually just keep breathing into the body for a little bit because we're going to use that to clear out some of the noise that we're holding in the body so we can get a really clear idea on what clarity feels for us.

So keep breathing all the way into the lower belly now.

And with your awareness,

You're just going to bring in some healing here,

Not by doing anything,

Just by breathing and watching and noticing what comes up.

Keep breathing and allow the noise to be there if it arises in your mind.

I'm experiencing noise right now by watching this tiny little ant crawl all over my computer and recording devices.

So let's see if we can bring a little lightheartedness to whatever we're Breathing all the way down into the pelvis now.

Bringing in embodied clarity.

Feeling into your sitz bones,

Feeling into your seat,

Feeling whatever it is beneath you that's holding you up,

Whether it's a chair or a bed or the floor.

Taking a breath and feeling in to that thing that you know is going to support you,

Because you know gravity is always going to be there.

Breathe into your legs.

Imagine you can breathe into your entire leg.

Breathe into your legs.

Imagine you can breathe into your entire legs.

And now I want you to imagine that the soles of your feet can open up a little bit and connect with the ground beneath you.

And they just know naturally how to connect all the way down into the earth.

How to return to nature,

Return to the beautiful rhythm of the planet.

And in the same connection,

As you breathe here,

I want you to imagine that noise was just dropping out through your feet.

Distractions.

Perhaps memories or thoughts.

Emotions.

That you no longer need to hold on to.

They're just dropping.

Take a deep breath.

Good.

Now you're going to return your attention back to your pelvis and your lower back.

You're going to breathe up the spine.

Bringing your attention all the way up into the neck.

All the way up into the head.

And you're also going to allow any excess noise just to flow out through your head.

Just spilling out.

You're here with your awareness.

There's nothing you need to do.

Just allow your imagination to play.

And breathe.

And here in this connected state,

We ask,

What does clarity feel like for you?

What does clarity look like?

What does clarity sound like?

What does your voice sound like when you're connected to clarity?

What does listening feel like when you're connected to clarity?

What does listening sound like when you're connected to clarity?

I'll give you a minute just to breathe on your own.

And invite in any other guidance on clarity for you.

Remembering that with clarity,

Sometimes comes noise.

That's okay.

That's part of the process.

And now you can let go of any of the noise that's coming to you.

You get to watch.

Notice your feelings around that noise.

Notice any judgment around that noise.

And notice that when you really pay attention to that noise,

It goes away.

And what's left is another taste of clarity.

The more you sit in this clarity,

The more noise will naturally arise.

That noise is simply stuck energy asking to be released.

It's stress asking to be let out.

It's healing in progress.

And so you notice again.

You notice the thoughts.

You notice the feelings that arise around those thoughts.

And you notice any judgment that arises around those feelings and thoughts.

And any subsequent feelings and judgments that arise around those thoughts.

And eventually,

If you give it all your attention,

Or rather,

All the attention that it needs,

It will fade away.

And again,

You'll be left with clarity.

I would love to hear from you.

I would love to hear what you experienced with that.

We've had some great comments so far.

What did you experience with clarity?

How did it show up for you?

And I encourage you to write into the comments because this helps us bring it in to the physical bring it in to the physical world more.

We take it from something up here and we bring it into the physical when we type about it,

When we share about it,

Our own experiences.

And that helps us bring even more clarity in.

So what does clarity feel like for you?

For me,

Clarity feels embodied.

It feels like I'm no longer just up here in my thinking.

All of a sudden,

I'm noticing what the rest of my body feels like.

It feels like presence.

It feels like it feels like I am here.

It feels like my shoulders can relax and roll back a little bit farther.

It feels like my body just settles in to whatever is most comfortable.

It feels like there's a depth in my eyes.

It feels like there's a depth in my eyes that's not there when I'm focused on noise.

What does clarity feel like for you?

And if you'd also like to type in what noise feels like for you,

What did you experience when noise arose during that exercise?

You can share that too.

Get more clear on that because the more discernment we have,

The more we're able to make choices of which path we want to follow.

Suggestions from the noise or suggestions from the clarity.

When we follow suggestions from the clarity,

Life gets a whole lot greater.

Because within that clarity lies our intuition.

And this wisdom is so great.

It's so much bigger than all of our previous earthly experiences that it can take us down the path that's best for us.

It will guide you down the path that's best for you if you dare to listen.

And it will always do this.

Always.

Let's see,

What wants to come up now?

I still haven't gotten any comments and sometimes I'm not sure if there aren't any comments.

Sometimes I really feel like Insight Timer doesn't always,

It's like it doesn't always update the comments as quickly as they come in.

Sometimes all of a sudden I get like six at once.

That just seems unlikely.

Hi,

Jessica.

Thanks for joining for the first time.

Welcome.

We're talking about noise and clarity.

And what clarity feels like for you?

Jennifer says,

Clarity feels like knowing in the body for me.

Yeah.

Me too.

Like a visceral knowing.

A friend of mine,

Anita,

Once said,

You know what you know,

But you don't know how you know it.

I love that quote.

You know what you know,

But you don't know how you know it.

Clarity feels like a release of pressure.

Yes.

For me too.

For me too.

Because that noise causes pressure.

Even when it's pretending to be helpful,

It causes pressure.

And it stops us in our tracks.

I'm being reminded right now,

Though,

That it doesn't always stop us in our tracks just because it's afraid and it doesn't want us to go there.

Sometimes noise comes in to help us have a moment,

To breathe in neutral distraction so our nervous system can calm a little bit.

Because sometimes when we're being asked to take a step forward in a new way,

It can feel really scary.

It can feel really scary to step up and speak in front of that crowd.

It can feel really scary to tell a loved one,

Hey,

I don't like it when you say those things to me.

I don't want to talk about this anymore.

It can feel really scary to do something like that for the first time.

When we were taught,

Or maybe if we even inherited beliefs,

That it's not okay to do those things.

So the noise can sometimes be a really welcome and kind distraction to allow us to kind of move away from the changes we're being asked to make and just be,

Just breathe.

Like my husband and I,

We had two nights of really good talks talking about life and what we wanted and sort of what the ideal next chapter might look like and the fears and the limitations that come up around that.

And then last night,

We were like,

We got to watch something really simple and I'm like,

We got to watch something really simple on TV.

Because we need a little bit of noise to not move all the way in to this new thing that feels a little bit too overwhelming if we were to jump into it right now today.

Like we know it's on the horizon,

We feel good and we trust in that most of the time.

But right now we just need to rest.

What comes up for you in that story?

What did you hear?

How does that relate to your own relationship with noise or maybe with perceived overthinking or distractions?

Hmm,

I'll open up the floor to any questions,

Any shares that anyone has.

Anything,

Anything at all,

Even if it seems seemingly unrelated,

Probably isn't and most likely,

Actually,

Definitely,

It will help other people.

Hmm,

Let's see,

Is there anything that wants to come up for me?

Mark says snakes.

Oh,

Please tell me more,

Mark.

What do you mean with snakes?

Snakes,

If I tap into the energy of that,

It feels sinister.

Feels like a scary,

I'm gonna getcha.

I'm gonna getcha.

I'm gonna getcha.

I'm gonna getcha.

I'm gonna getcha.

Energy,

Some are venomous.

Some are venomous,

Yeah.

I live in a part of the world where there are a lot of venomous snakes,

But I also grew up in a part of the world where there are a lot of venomous snakes in Arizona.

Hmm,

So let's just toss this up there.

How do snakes relate to noise and how do they relate to clarity for you?

Hi,

Fatima.

Hmm,

Mark says we had rattlers in Washington,

What a noise.

Oh,

Yeah,

Okay,

Okay,

I see the noise connection.

Hmm,

Oh,

I like that,

I like that.

I feel like that's a really good analogy for like thinking of the rattlesnake noise and thinking of some of the distracting noises in our heads and what both of those make us feel in our body.

A feeling of danger,

A feeling of alertness,

Like you better pay attention.

There are dangers out there.

That's what the noise in our mind is trying to say to us also.

And sometimes it's true and sometimes it's not.

And we get to discern what's true and what's not.

In fact,

It feels like it wants me to go even deeper here.

If we think of a rattlesnake,

I mean,

That's imminent danger.

That's real,

Right?

You know,

You don't want to get bit by a rattlesnake and it sets a noise off that alerts your body.

And I've had my intuition come in that way too.

I remember being on a bus in Venezuela once and the driver said,

Oh,

No,

No,

You two,

You can just stay on,

You know,

Where you're going,

We're going next.

And I remember just this whole body,

Tenseness and fear coming over me and going,

Something isn't right here.

Something isn't right here.

He said,

No,

No,

The bridge is down.

The bridge is down.

Like that's where we're going to go next.

It's just going to take a while.

And I said,

No,

You will let us off this bus,

Right?

He said,

No,

No,

No.

I said,

No,

You will let us off this bus right now.

I told him I had a knife in my bag.

I did not.

And we got off the bus.

The bridge wasn't down.

We ended up going to our destination safely.

And that was true,

Intuitive,

Guiding fear.

That's what the rattlesnake can give us.

That was clarity that didn't necessarily feel good.

But it was true protection coming in when I needed it.

And the rest,

The rest is just thinking.