Into the Silence: Discovering Your Path Through the Power of Silence

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company. I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You too can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. What's going on, guys? Donnie Rouse here. And today we are going to go into the silence. Said differently, we are going to step in to the silence. So this way we can access some of that inner wisdom, some of the guidance where we are being guided. See, I really believe that every single one of us was brought here with an intention, with a purpose. And the point of our life is to try to discover what this purpose is and actuate it for the greater good of humanity. But I also believe that it is through your passions, through your desires, through the things that light you up, your talents that are lining the way, guiding you to that path. But in order to access that knowledge, it's going to require you to get silent, is going to require you to silence your mind. I've been reading the book called Three Ordinary Voices of God, and it's by author Matthew Kelly. And I received this. I went to mass on Christmas and they were giving out books and I flipped through. At first, I was not one to normally pick up a book that I get out of church, but. But as I was reading, I was flipping through just the. The. Through the index, and I saw that a lot of the chapters were aligned with following one's heart and where they were guiding them, knowing how to use one's talents for the greater good as well as the desire. So, like, the. The hierarchy was like, needs, talents and desires. I was like, well, that's perfect. Like, that is exactly some of the things you need to understand in order to live a life that is rich with experiences, a life that you're passionate about. So it was right up my alley. I picked up this book and I was reading it, and I wanted to share some of. At least the last chapter on silence. And I want to share some of the benefits of that, of learning how to quiet and tone down your mind. So this way you uncover your own path so that you start to feel good and so that you have access to that inner wisdom. We live in a world where noise isn't toning down, but the noise is actually ramping up. And the problem with it is, because of that noise, not only does it drowned out the inner voice, the inner guidance, but it sets you on this path of just trying to shut it all out. In a way, you're trying to find peace. And as a result, you reach for whatever quick fix there is. So you might smoke that cigarette, you might go buy that new car, purse, whatever it is, but after doing that, it leaves you feeling empty because you know that it's just a band aid. You know that it's not doing any good. And then you go reach for the next thing and the next thing, and you start this vicious cycle of digging that hole deeper and deeper and deeper. So deep that you're so far down that you don't even know how to get back up. You don't even know where to begin. So I'm here. I want to help you uncover that voice, that inner wisdom that you are being guided. So this way you don't get to that bottom point where it looks nearly impossible to get out. And it's always possible. But I want you to live a life that is based on your values, that is based on your purpose, that is based on the reason you were brought to this earth. Because ultimately, that is the only way I believe, that you're ever going to feel super fulfilled when you're doing, you're doing work that you know is in alignment with your higher self, with the reason you're here in the first place. So let's talk about silencing that mind. Silencing the mind can be extremely difficult at times, right? Because in the quiet of the mind, the heart speaks. But that entire time leading up to it, you're faced with yourself. All those thoughts about not being good enough, about all the things that are wrong are literally screaming. But you have to separate yourself from those thoughts. You have to see that those thoughts are not you. And just like a child who is screaming in the middle, well, not in the middle of the street, but on the sidewalk of street of a busy city. You can't hear that child. It's trying to yell for you, get your attention, but you cannot hear it because there's too much distraction, too much noise. But once those streets clear out, all of a sudden, now it becomes super easy to hear that child. I was doing a meditation a couple Nights ago. And as I finished up this book, I was thinking about. I was like, you know what? Let me step into that silence because I had gotten into a meditative practice. But then lately, it's been like, all right, let me do two minutes here and go to sleep, or let me wake up and do five minutes, because, oh, the day's already started. I gotta get going. I was noticing that I was rushing through the day. And as a result of that, I mean, what was the point of doing the meditative practice in the first place? So after completing that book, I said, you know, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna do a half an hour of meditation. Who here is trying to do a half an hour of meditation when you weren't even doing two, right? You do that. All of a sudden you're, you know, the first minute, you're like, all right, things are a little bit noisy in there. Minute two, all right, come on, it's almost done. Minute five, minute ten. All of a sudden, like, there is a whirlwind going around. It's like World War Three. But as you sit and listen to that silence and you stand away from it, observing it, you start to distance yourself from that. And as a result of distancing yourself from that, there comes a point where all of a sudden, it shuts off. Which brings me to the point of internal. Of hearing that internal wisdom as I was sitting there in the meditation. And you may probably don't know this, but in with my coffee business, I was. I've been going through some. I desired for a different. Different logo. I liked my logo, but I felt like in some level, it was not capturing the gist of my business. Didn't have the. The feel of what I wanted to portray in my business. So I had been trying for years, literally over a decade, saying, like, well, what can I. You know, it was a question that was always in my mind, like, well, what kind of logo would I want? What would look like, and how do I put, you know, the certain elements into that? I'd refrain from hiring a designer because my. My fear was that the designer would, like, whoever designer I was going to hire. I would just be throwing money away because I didn't know what I wanted, right? So I'm sitting here in this meditation, and I am just like, all right. All of a sudden, images started flowing through my mind about a logo, and I'm like. I'm like, this is freaking absurd, weird. And, like, I noticed it because it was. It was not the mind, but it was something very soft, something very quiet that just kind of flew, like, flew. It flew in, kind of like came in and then stuck around for a little bit, and then slowly went out like a. Like a stream. And then the next thought that word came in that came in was this idea of my. My coffee business changing the world and being about the impact. It came in, slowly went out, and then mine kind of got busy again. And the reason why I'm telling you this is because I went to the computer after I had this meditation, I went to the computer and I was like, I was gonna go to sleep. I was like, you know what? Now I don't want to turn on the screen. It's like past 12 o'. Clock. Let me just do it. So I went on the computer and I started playing around in Photoshop. And as I was playing around in Photoshop, all of a sudden I came up with the design, the emblem for my coffee business, which I was ecstatic to it, because I was like, holy shit. All I gotta do is listen, right? All I have to do is heed that inner guidelines, inner guidance. All you have to do is heed that inner guidance. So there is wisdom that's always trying to make itself known, but it cannot be heard in the noise that you are surrounding yourself with. You got to go to the quiet, and then also the lastly. I mean, it brings you peace when you're in that mode, when you're in that quiet. All of a sudden, by allowing yourself to be guided, it brings you internal peace. Because no longer are you chasing something that doesn't belong to you. No longer are you on a journey that is not yours. You could hear this little voice and you could allow it to direct you. Granted, this is a lot more easier said than done because in your mind, early in my mind, I've been going through this, and there's parts of my mind that are, like, judging myself because I'm like, oh, I'm not further enough along. Oh, what are people thinking of me? And then I look to the greater world, the external world, and I'm like, I'm not hitting this measure of success, right? I'm not here. Look at this person. They have this many. They have this many followers. Like, the content's not even that good. Why are they? And you start to. You start, like, you start to spiral and you start comparing yourself, and it's the worst place to go because it takes you away from what you're doing. It takes you away from the purpose. It takes you away from just enjoying the process. So I want you to not go down that route because it is a self destructive route. And in listening to that is where you're going to find the true guidance. And it's not always going to feel good either. Like you, sometimes you might get that inner voice that's saying, hey, you need to go this way. And you're gonna be like, hell no, I'm not going that way, I want to go this way. In which case sometimes it's good to ask the question, well, what do I really want? What am I really looking for? It's like the, in this book they say the want behind the want. And it helps you find out, like, what is it that you're really after? If you're trying to go one path, what is it that you're really going after and what is it that you really desire? To give you an example of this conflict, when I was in Miami, Florida last winter, I remember I had attended a seminar, personal growth seminar. And after the seminar I went, I was, you know, I'm going to go skateboard. I was, you know, skateboarding down the boardwalk. I was flying through, listening to music. I was just in my element. I felt on top of the world. And all of a sudden this, this, I got this ping. And the ping was to call this ingredient manufacturer for my coffee beverage. And I hadn't spoken to this manufacturer in literally, I think it was like over a decade, maybe 13 years, right? I'm like, well, how the hell did this just like pop into my mind? And it's funny because prior to that, I'll rewind it. I had finished a seminar and I was asking for a sign. I'm like, give me a sign, guide me. And then at 11 o' clock at night, one of my friends texted me, she goes, you need to call Cornell University. Cornell University does thermal, thermal processing, like guiding you and how to thermally process, in my case my beverage. And so I was like, that's kind of weird. 11:00 clock at night, in the middle of nowhere. And she just says, you have to call. Okay, I'll take it as a sign. I called them, I sent him an email and I started that process. After that is when I went for the skateboard and I was just having fun. And all of a sudden I got that ping to contact this manufacturer of this ingredient. Long story short, I ended up testing out that ingredient and it ended up working this time because the context of how I was testing was completely different. And so while I was fighting it, and I still fight it, to be honest with you, I still, like, I know the path I'm supposed to go down and am being guided down, but I still fight the internal guid and that's okay. But what I tell you that what I don't do is I don't give up. I don't stop. I might resist it, right? I might fight it. I might resist it because I'm afraid, right? I know there's fear of taking that next step, but I don't give up. I keep taking steps in that direction because I believe that internal guidance is taking me a place that I cannot understand and that there's no way I could really understand it because I'm trying to look forward to something that is difficult to see. But isn't it true when you look back in life, when you look back, then all of a sudden like, oh, wow, yeah, I was meant to go here because this led to this. I went to this and then this led to this. I went down to Miami and that led to me to. Oh, crap. It all makes sense because you were looking backwards. You can't connect the dots. I think it was Steve Jobs. I said, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You could only connect them looking backwards. So it requires a level of faith. Trusting that you are guided. And that as well is similar to quieting your mind and heeding that inner wisdom and allow it to bring you peace. The faith in your journey is what is going to bring you peace. Because now you're no longer second guessing what you need to do and what you should have done and who you need to make happy. What are the benefits of this? I already told you many of the benefits. One is like internal peace. When you are in that state of peace, how are you showing up in the world? How are you just enjoying the experience of life? Life becomes fun, life becomes easy because you're not questioning, you're not in conflict with what you're doing. And even if you are in conflict with what you are being told, trusting that is just part of the process and that it's going to unfold. That you may not have the understanding right now, but you will in the future. Secondly is being on a path that is yours. I want to travel the world, I want to do all these things, but yet I have these conflicting desires. But when I look at the purpose that I have in my life, the impact I want to have, all of a sudden, it evokes a different part of me. It evokes the purpose. The reason I say that I want to that I'm here on this earth. And that makes it easier because it makes it not about me. It makes it about the people that I am serving. It is one of the reasons why I'm right here. Right. I made it a point to come back onto the podcast and to share the lessons that I've been, to help guide people in the direction of their authentic and true life. So this way they can live lives of fulfillment, lives that bring them joy. And this is all part of the journey that I am constantly on. And I say constantly because if you think that you're going to get it once and it's all going to click, I believe you're wrong. I believe I would be wrong if I assume that because it's so easy to be led astray, because there's so many ropes trying to pull you into a different direction, which is why you always have to come back to your center. You have to come back to that silence. This way you don't get led astray. So I want you to take your journal out, or if it's your mental journal, and just ask yourself some questions, like, what if you were living it wrong? Have you ever. This is one of the leading questions of this book. They're like, what if you were living the wrong life? You're like, holy shit. What? When I read that question, I was like, oh, my God. I went to sleep and I'm like, what if this is not what I'm supposed to be doing? And I started looping around. But it's a great question because it'll let you know if you're on or off track. What if you were on the wrong path? And then that leads and opens the door to what is the right path, Looking for that inner guidance. Then secondly, I want you to take a mental note and just say, what am I consuming? That is not serving me. When I say what you're consuming, I mean, what are you. The media inputs. Your life is going to be a reflection of all of the. All of the things around you that you're consuming. The people, the social media, the news, the movies, the TV shows, your books you're reading, the podcast you're consuming. That is the reflection of your life. You want to know why your life the way it is? Look externally at what you're surrounding yourself with. It is the environment that is causing it. Not any. Any single source. It is the environment that you're in. Just bring awareness to it, right? Because you can't change what you're not aware of. And then notice how does it play out in your life? Aha. And then lastly, what I want you to do is once you have this awareness, start to make some changes. You don't have to eliminate it cold turkey, but say, you know what? I feel like this when I talk to this person. I feel like this when I watch this movie, even though I get entertainment from it, but it's not serving me and I'm going to dial it back. 2. Find something that will replace it that is positive. There's a law or a rule supposedly that says you have to. For every one negative thing you have to 5x the positive, start to infuse your life with some positive messaging. With media consuming something that's going to move you in the direction. The simple question is this, if this is what I want, what would I have to consume in order to start moving in that direction? And that will guide the podcast, the movies, the books you read, everything. And lastly, I forgot the last question. What was I going to. Oh, yeah, lastly, I want you to step into the silence again. You are going to be greeted with your mind that's going to be screaming, like, going crazy. Spend a couple minutes and start to just celebrate the action. Right? I'm not saying you have to. Your mind has to be quiet. Because even if you were meditating for an hour and you did it for every day for the next 10 years, it is highly unlikely that your mind is always going to be silent. But what you're doing is you're training that monkey. You're going to say, hey, sit, sit. Good boy. And it's going to sit there and eventually it'll just stay there. Obedient. A little kind of side story. I have my brother's dog. He has this little mutt, and it is the most rambunctious dog ever because it was a rescue. So there was some trauma there. And what he started doing was he would take a cookie and he would. He would give the dog. You tell it, sit in your bed. And the dog was in the bed. And you know, it would try, it would get out. And it was started at a very short period of time, but now he's at the point where he says, stay in your bed. And he, the dog will not leave the bed until he says, go get it. So he sits there, he'll put the cookie on the floor and the dog sits there looking at the cookie, looking at him, looking for, like, when are you going to give me this order to go get it? And he just sits there and he'll sit there for like an hour. An hour, like. And you could see him. He's. He's like, twitching. His head is twitching. He's getting nervous and anxious. And then my brother says, go get it. And then he jumps out of bed. He gets it, and it makes it. I could tell because of that anticipation, he's actually enjoying the cookie even more. But that is how you have to train your mind. So I want you to just take a time to one minute, two minutes, whatever it is, and then gradually increase that. Sitting in there and learning to observe the mind, but also learning to listen to where you are being guided, because you have your own path. You are meant to enjoy and love this life that you were in. That is my belief and. And that is my intention and gift to you. So I hope you guys enjoyed this session here. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Share this with somebody who needs some silence in their life. And as always, hit that follow button, because that is the only way that we're ever gonna get this word out. And this podcast will grow and more people will start living their lives, and pretty soon the world will be in peace. So remember, guys, you thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate you could put your attention every anywhere else, but you chose to stay here with me, and I don't take that lightly. So remember, you only get one life. Live passionately, live fully, and most of all, live now. God bless you guys, and I will see you again soon.