Mostly in our day to day life we are focused on the outside world. Makes sense we have full lives and lots to do to manage them. There are bills we have to pay. Meals to shop for and cook. Appointments on our calendar. Then there are all the relationships have and manage in life. And these days there are so many ways to connect with others in our lives and complete strangers for that matter. Social Media. Texts. Phone calls. WhatsApps. Voxers. MarcoPolos. Lordy then there are just things we could peruse and lose ourselves in all day like Netflix or TikTok. I admit to losing time hanging out in TikTok. Seriously so many talented and funny people on the internet. I digress.

Practices to disconnect from the outside world and connect to yourself don’t have to be difficult or take a long time. Forming a new habit will take practice. For example, your current habit might have you reach for your phone the moment you wake up. You might have the habit to answer emails for work after hours when you are technically off.  You might have a habit to say answer texts when you don’t have the bandwidth to really listen to the challenge your friend/family member is having. Your habits might be reflecting how you have prioritized connection with the outside world above taking the time to disconnect for the purpose of connecting to yourself.

Benefits of Disconnecting to Connect to Yourself:

  1. The ability to be find a sense of calm in the face of external challenges
  2. Being able to hear your intuition and understand what it trying to tell you
  3. A closer and deeper understanding about who you are i.e. being able to articulate boundaries in important relationships, more deeply trusting of yourself, creating opportunities that are more in alignment with the kind of life you want

If your life is busy and I rarely meet someone whose life isn’t these days, the need to disconnect from the outside world becomes even more important. AND being connected to our intuition is half being able to hear it and 1/2 being able to interpret what the guidance or nudges mean. If you have a hard time connecting to your intuition or understanding what it is trying to tell you, likely the voice of your inner wisdom is having to compete with the noise of the outside world. Plus there is our own inner noise too. The conversations we have then replay over and over again in our minds. We also have emotional reactions to life and the world. Don’t forget our body and the needs it communicates to us. Living Intuitively means being able to flow into inner awareness no matter what chaos is happening outside or inside of you.

So… I invite you to try an one of these practices below. See which of these intentional being disconnected from the outside world experiences achieves you feeling connected to yourself. Remember that you it will be a more than “one and done” kinda thang. To create a new habit, it will require do repetitively over time. But if the result is you feel more calm, more connected to your intuition, and have a deeper understanding of yourself, the effort will feel totally worth it.

Intentional “Disconnect from the World” practices:

  • 5-minutes of silent time, eyes closed, following your inhales and exhales (a mini meditation of sorts)
  • Practice doing one thing at a time
  • Take on a daily journal practice. I love the 5-minute journal app.
  • Buy an alarm clock and put your phone in another room. Try being disconnected from the outside world for the first 5-60 minutes of your day.
  • Practice your hobbies or pick a new one up and make time for it each week.
  • Go BE OUTSIDE. Find where in nature you feel at home and practice the 5-minutes of silence with your eyes open and observing nature.
  • At night, disconnect from the outside world 30 minutes out from bedtime. Meaning NO DEVICES. Instead of watching TikTok videos or scrolling through IG, read a book, do a meditation or just let your body naturally relax and fall asleep.
  • Put on soothing music and take a bubble bath.
  • Put physical movement on your calendar and then honor that time as yours and be unavailable to others.
  • Try out a “Big Rock Day” once a month. It is what my hubby calls days where you are not reachable and do whatever the heck you want for a whole day. Try doing it once quarter to begin.