I have spent a good portion of my adult life seeking outside of myself for that which was already within. And I know I’m not alone. The explosion of the self-help industry reveals that there are countless others desperate for answers and guidance.
But here’s the paradox: that which isn’t believed to be within will never be found without. We must be it to see it. We must move ourselves before we can truly move others.
As long as I believed my answers were in the new bestselling book or the next psychic reading, they eluded me. But when I finally listened to the wisdom within—the “still small voice”—I grew in unimaginable ways. During this time, I developed what I now call “My Council of S.”
This is a customized toolbox of rituals that get me unstuck and clarify my path. They have not only never failed, but also repeatedly affirm that the guidance I most need dwells within me.
As you read, remember that these are gems from my personal excavations. I offer them as inspiration—not prescriptions—as you find your way into tapping into your own wellspring of wisdom.
5 Transformative Life Practices
STILLNESS
Even storms have an eye.
I met stillness in the crux of grief. Grief has a way of delivering us to the ocean floor of our own souls if we allow it. In this space, void of distraction—both internal and external—stillness reigns supreme.
Stillness taught me that as long as I was fully present, I could never be stuck. Being fully present meant moving with grace through the moments that sometimes felt unbearable. Stillness revealed itself to me when I moved within my now rather than trying to run away from it.
This season was not without its moments of loneliness and restlessness. I frequently experienced the strong urge to just be “over it,” but stillness held me. And just when I settled into acceptance, I was gifted a peace that reminded me that healing is not fixing.
Healing is an embracing of all that’s within—wounds and all. And within that embrace, all becomes well.
SILENCE
Being requires no explanation.
In my most recent relationship, I often felt misunderstood and confused about my partner’s perspective. During one of our last disagreements, I heard something say, “Just be silent.” I didn’t understand how I was to be understood by not speaking.
Silence eventually taught me that at the heart of communication is communion. At the heart of communion is silence.
When multiple energies are clamoring for expression, nothing is clear. Space is needed. Silence creates that space for possibilities that were previously suffocated by perspectives. In the absence of noise (defined here as “unfruitful sound”), so much can be heard.
I began to hear the fear beneath his withdrawal and the desire for more grace from me in his egoic defenses. I heard my own distrust resonate in response to his triggers, setting off a cacophony of reactions that weren’t rooted in truth.
Silence taught me to use speech to foster soul-lutions rather than just a solution (aka quick fix). And although that relationship has since dissolved, silence remains a constant companion on my life journey.
SURRENDER
What you chase will flee from you.
I used to think surrender was quitting, but I now see that it is a trust so deep that it resists nothing. In short, surrender is embodied trust that allows me to let go without giving up.
Surrender says, “I can only have what I most desire by letting it go. I release my way for the way that wants to be born. I replace effort with ease and trust that Life is for me. I don’t need to micromanage it.”
Life has taught me that wanting something too much repels it. While trusting that a thing will unfold in just the right way at just the right time usually feeds the possibility that it will. And if it does not, I believe that is for my highest good as well.
SOFTNESS
Soft things don’t break.
In gardening I have come to revere the soil. Sometimes the soil is so hard, no seeds can take root there. But after the rain, the ground softens yielding up her defense, becoming receptive to new life. It was out there, in thrifted jeans with black earth under my nails that Life taught me the value of softness.
I started by softening my expectations of others. What happened if I allowed others space to be themselves fully and risked the awareness that we couldn’t circulate too closely in order to honor our full selves? Rather than forcing or wishing others to be differently, I softened.
I softened my expectations of myself, giving myself permission to choose a life that did not fit in the constraints of a 9-to-5 that sucked my soul. Perhaps, I would never have a 30-year mortgage or new car. Yet, I would have the mornings to water myself with sun gazing and writings that I could not live without.
I softened my judgments of others. In them, I saw pieces of myself—if not on the surface, then at the root. I softened my schedule, not packing activities into every moment.
I softened my body, releasing the rigidity of diet plans and feeling intuitively for what my body most needed moment to moment versus what I craved. I softened and possibilities arose—lucrative writing positions, a tribe where I am wholly accepted just as I accept, improved health and wellbeing.
SIMPLICITY
Simplicity is being as is. It’s the way of nature and the natural flow of things. It isn’t the bare “aesthetic” that humankind has depicted, but finding the nurture in necessity and following the feeling of flow.
It is truth offered without malice. It is following the yes that is not strategic. It is asking questions when unsure. It is the ability to be delighted in that which is commonly overlooked but remarkable to the eye that sees and the heart that’s open.
Simplicity allows me to live from a momentary knowing that is wiser than anything my conditioned mind could craft. My psyche is full of manipulations to help me appear ways that I am not in hopes of remaining “safe.”
But Life isn’t about safety; it’s about experience and evolution. And the dances in between.
Najwa Immanuel is a freelance writer and modern-day medicine woman based on the East Coast, USA. Her moments are spent studying the energetics of wellness, tending her Substack newsletter, Extraordinary Moments, Everyday Miracles and midwifing persons birthing everything from babies to businesses.
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