It has been quoted that humans have anywhere between 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day.

With 95% of those thoughts being repeated day to day and 80% of those thoughts being negative or self-destructive.

Needless to say, we think a lot of thoughts per day that don’t necessarily serve us.

I experienced this firsthand at a silent retreat when I was finally alone with myself with eyes closed to face what was going on inside me.

The barrage of thoughts was so overwhelming at times I honestly felt I was going crazy. I was so uncomfortable.

But I didn’t go crazy and the discomfort passed.

I was good.

I discovered something I had only read about up until then and doubted that it existed.

For the first time, a presence within me emerged to simply witness the thoughts.

I became immune to being seduced and entertained by my thoughts.

I was less obedient, no longer a slave to them.

I discovered that I was NOT my thoughts.

Prior to committing to a daily quiet practice, I woke up every morning on my conveyor belt of thoughts and went to bed at night still on it.

It dictated my pace, how I saw myself, how I saw the world around me and how I engaged with it.

It coloured EVERYTHING.

The problem with this, as quoted above, is that 95% were the same thoughts I had the day before, a lot of them I had inherited from those around me and 80% were negative.

This meant three things:

I was stagnant, stuck in status quo. I wasn’t growing.
I was living by somebody else’s rules.
I didn’t like myself very much.

Life sucked!

Not really a way to live.

The beauty of a consistent practice is that you finally get off the conveyor belt and you find yourself instead in the gap, in the space between, above, below your thoughts.

You’re able to take a step back and take responsibility for the thoughts that do come into your awareness and let go of the rest.

This is when your free will steps in.

This is when you’re lovingly forced to leave the pack.

Do you dare to think differently from those around you and create the life that is meant only for you?

This presence is your unique presence that only speaks to you and through you.

There’s no duplicate of it anywhere else on the planet.

This is what I mean by your true voice.

When you get in the gap, your true voice emerges and only you can express it in its fullest glory.

You leave the pack not to get away from them per se.

But you stand alone on your own two feet to express the piece of the puzzle that can only come from you, untainted by the influence of others.

Bottom line is…your voice matters.

And the best way to connect to it is by choosing to make time to…

live in the gap.