Episode 299 Transcript
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[00:00:00] You are listening to episode 299 of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
Welcome to the Peaceful Mind Podcast, a place for creating the peace of mind. You need to be the best mom you are created by God to be. If you want to bring more balance, more joy, and more peace to your motherhood, this is the place for you. I'm your host, certified life coach at Catholic Mom Danielle Thienel.
In the name of the father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let's get started.
Hello, beautiful mamas welcome back to the podcast. I'm so glad you are here on episode 299. We are almost there, everyone, almost to that 300th episode. I'm excited what I have for you next week, so definitely circle back around then. But [00:01:00] today we are gonna be talking about how to be still and know God.
You've probably heard that verse before. Yes. Maybe seen it stitched on a pillow or written in beautiful script on a wall hanging. But if you're anything like I used to be, you might feel a little guilty when you read it, and that's what I want today. I want us to unpack that together. I want you to know the truth behind be still and know.
Right this, so this verse, it comes from the Psalms. Psalms 46:10, be still and know that I am God. It's just eight words. And yet they, for some of us, can hold so much weight. But here's the truth, mama. Many of us read those words and immediately feel less than maybe we feel guilty, maybe we feel unworthy, maybe we feel unqualified.
You [00:02:00] might think something like, how can I be still when there's always someone who needs me or something to be done? How am I supposed to know God when my days are filled with carpool lines, soccer cleats, work meetings, laundry piles, all the things. I get it. And I remember feeling that way too because I found a lot of self-worth in my productivity and I had this.
This story that I thought helped me, even though my current self today knows it didn't, that it was great to be busy and on the go all the time, and I'm doing so many good things right? But I also had a deeper desire to know God. To really know him and to follow out what my faith principles say, which is, quiet time and solitude and prayerful, and to enough time to actually be still and silent [00:03:00] so I could listen to him.
And then I thought I guess I can't because I'm never still right. But I wanna shift this perspective for you all because I remember the kind of heaviness I felt when I saw it. And so I'm thinking some of you might not have peace because maybe you hear that verse and think that I don't have time to be still.
But I wanted to offer a different way to look at it because. Being still doesn't have to mean sitting in silence for hours with your hands folded in perfect prayer. What I wanna open you up to today so that you could have more peace around it, is that perhaps it means just quieting the noise inside. It could mean noticing the pace your heart is racing at, and then [00:04:00] choosing to slow it down.
It might mean pausing long enough to remember, you are not running this race alone, that God is already with you, and stillness is not like an absence of movement. It's literally what I have come to interpret this verse. It's more of a presence of awareness. Because in the work I do as a life coach, we cannot have the change we want.
We cannot have a new result that we might desire without first becoming aware of it in our minds. And if you are someone who is literally I want more stillness, because this verse is saying, with more stillness, you will come to know more of God, and if that result [00:05:00] sounds like something amazing for you, then let's change how we're thinking about this Still.
Again, maybe right now we're thinking of it as an absence of movement, and I would like to bring up that more peace of mind you will have if you think about it as a presence of awareness. It's just like intentionally tuning in, even if only for a moment to remember who's really in control. And I want you to know when you do that.
When you literally send any kind of, it doesn't matter how fast it would be, any kind of awareness of stillness in that you are calming your inside, slowing down your heart maybe writing out what's all swirling in your mind, doing a little pause, reevaluating [00:06:00] these are stillness. This is stillness.
Okay, so let's talk about why this would matter, right? Maybe not even just for you, but for your children as well. And this is what I know. A lot of us have these wants for our children, right? We want them to handle struggle better. We want them to bounce back from disappointment more quickly. We want them to regulate their emotions, like it not to be such this huge rollercoaster.
We want them to own their God-given power and gifts. We would love for our kids to be grounded and happy, even in this noisy, chaotic world. Or if even if something you know negative is happens in their life, then you must be the model of those things first. We simply cannot give what we do not have.
So if you are running on [00:07:00] fumes, if you are overwhelmed, if you're constantly reacting, if you're never pausing to breathe, how can you expect your children to learn in another way as well? But when you learn to be still internally, again, like my cyclone metaphor talks about we're always gonna have this swirl going around.
That's never gonna be still, but there is a way for you get into the calm of the storm where your power lies, your internal peace. That is what we are looking to be still. We wanna show our children what it looks like to anchor ourselves in that calm place. We wanna show them how to turn toward God when things feel hard.
We wanna show them how to sit with discomfort instead of panicking. And guess what? That kind of emotional maturity is [00:08:00] life changing. And so I'm always offering that. It's so ironic, right? That moms want all these things for our kids, but we might not even know how to do them ourselves. And that's what I want you to concentrate on today.
What would it look like if I was having the result of being more still in my life? And again, I think we have to take that definition of still and broaden it. That's what I'm hoping to help you do right now. No, and I must tell you these caveats being still is not selfish, nor is it lazy, nor is it a luxury.
It is it's a type of spiritual stewardship. It's how we receive God's wisdom so that we can pass it on. And even when I say that, don't even let that piece of information be that you have to, again, sit for hours and be quiet and then hear the voice and every you will receive God's wisdom by just in that [00:09:00] pause, just in your intention to have more awareness to not be busy and rushing all the time.
So I know some of you can hear are thinking this. They're like, but Danielle, when I try to be still, it feels so uncomfortable. I maybe it's like it's the uncomfortableness of boredom or you just feel antsy or you can't still, your brain is still saying, oh, I have this to do and this to do and this to do, and or it's saying something like, this is not enough time, right?
I should be here for longer. Yes, that's normal. Okay. That's normal for your brain to offer you that. And stillness can stir up some things that we've been avoiding and that won't feel great, and it's often easier to stay busy. That's what we know to keep moving, to scroll to clean, to distract ourselves.
But here's just a really gentle reminder that [00:10:00] just because it feels uncomfortable. It doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It probably means you're finally quiet enough to hear the part of your heart that needs a little bit of attention. And that's exactly where God wants to meet you. So stillness is the doorway to that intimacy with him.
And again, I wanna focus, when I say stillness, let's say awareness. Because we have so much wrapped up into that like being, still doing nothing. It's not a performance way of being still, it's not a perfectionist way of being still, let's just reframe being still not as a command that you're like failing to keep, 'cause this is what I, this is why I felt guilty when I saw that verse right.
Because it was literally like, be still it was like saying that, and I knew that I wasn't, I knew that I was racing around in my [00:11:00] life and it felt like a command. But every time I was like, yep, I'm not being still again, not being still. I must not be, knowing God I'm not. I'm going in the opposite direction.
And then that's where the guilt would come. But why don't we start to see this verse as an invitation? Just an invitation knowing. That it is even though it's not specific words that you will hear, but just in the attempt to be still, the awareness of being more present despite what's going on around you, that in itself is going to strengthen your relationship with God if you literally bring your mind to him.
And have awareness. And again, not, it doesn't like, don't put those time constraints on how long it is with yourself. Then he's already there waiting and he's already going to transfer that wisdom and that peace that you're looking for. [00:12:00] And so let's make it real. Let's make it doable. If we were gonna start that right now, here are three ways that you can begin practicing more stillness even.
As a busy mom, even that you don't have to be, have to change your definition of how productive you are. One of the ways is to just pause before you pick up your phone. Just how about 30 seconds? Can you wrap your brain around 30 seconds? Maybe you just breathe. You whisper. I know you are here right now, Lord.
I know you are here right now. Before I pick up this phone, I wanted to just pause, close my eyes, just get still slow down my racing heart for a moment and tell you thank you, tell you I love you, tell you I trust you. [00:13:00] Okay? There's number one. That means you will have. Be it, be how I was gonna say it like in a past tense, you'll have been still and know God, but I think you get what I mean.
Number two is to actually take that scripture verse and let that be your anchor. Use Psalm 46, 10 as like a prayer. Maybe even breathe in with, be still, breathe out and know that I am God, be still and know that I'm God, just saying it, repeating it yourself. You can tell yourself I'm doing it.
Maybe you just sit in your car for an extra minute before you get out into the house, before you go to make dinner. Before or after drop off. Just sit there. In the quiet, like turn radio. Don't look at your [00:14:00] phone, close your eyes and just tell yourself, I'm meeting God right now. I'm just going to meet God right now.
Stillness is not a chore, everyone. I know that's the way I felt about it, but that it's up for grabs if we choose to look at it like that anymore. We could shift to it being a gift and it can be learned. It's a, it does take practice. Slowing down takes practice intentionally, choosing still moments and giving yourself grace on the days when we forget, it can go that way.
Okay? I want you to know that you're not broken because being still feels hard. 'cause I wish someone would've told me that back in the day. And I want you to know you're not failing because having [00:15:00] peace doesn't come naturally to you. This work that I offer here on the podcast to move towards more peace of mind and in case this, in this case, this episode is talking about like more stillness.
It is a journey. Okay. I hope that the next time or hear Psalm 46, 10, that it definitely feels less like a command to you and more ah, yes, I'm doing that, or I can do that, or now I know it. What that means feels different to me. I hope it's more of an invitation to just, even if that moment, maybe it takes just seeing it to, to become more slow, to breathe a little bit more.
To be, take the verse and to speak it out loud. So I hope that you have a little bit more understanding of what it means to be [00:16:00] still and to know God, but especially that, that if you, if I hope I unpacked, if any of you were similar. It's where the idea came from, similar to me, where you are just busy and productive and go and so much going on and your swirl is spinning really fast and you were just, you see that verse and there're this pang of guilt and you're thinking, Ugh, I'm not being still.
And then that made you feel bad. I hope that this episode helps you release some of that and then again, this week if you wanna practice. So that at the end of the week you could be like, yeah, a couple times I was still and I knew God. Then that is that breathing whispering. I know you're here, Lord.
Repeating, repeating the verse, or just finding one minute in your week [00:17:00] in these extra moments to meet God there in the quiet, in the stillness. Okay everyone, that's what I have for you today. I am so excited for you to come back next week for the 300th episode, and if today's episode resonated with you or if you found yourself being like me, struggled with that verse, I'd love to hear if this episode was any help for you.
Definitely can email me at [email protected]. This is open to anyone at any time. It is me who's answering those emails and like always, I just wanna give a big thanks for being here today for sharing the podcast and for continuing to be with me on this journey. Of having more peace of mind in our motherhood.
Alright [00:18:00] everyone, I love you all so much. I will see you again next week and until then, may peace be with you. Always. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of The Peaceful Mind Podcast. If you found value in today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could subscribe and leave a review. It not only supports the podcast, but ensures you don't miss out on future episodes packed with insights and tools.
To create peace of mind in your busy mom life. And if you're of the Catholic faith, like me or any Christian mom seeking to feel better in any area of your life and to show up more calm, connected, and confident, I can help become an empowered mom who knows how to bring about the changes you desire, no matter the circumstances.
Whether you need one-on-one guidance to get there, prefer a group coaching program with like-minded women, or a self-study course I've got you covered. Explore my private one-on-one packages. Join my Busy to Balanced group [00:19:00] life coaching program or delve into my signature course. Divine Time. To find out which path is right for you, let's meet and see what's the best fit.
Schedule a free call with me at daniellethienel.com or send me a direct message on Facebook or Instagram at Danielle Tal Coaching. And also don't forget to get your copy of my book, the Cyclone Mom Method, How to Call on Your God-Given Power to Remain Calm, In Control, and Confident as a Busy Mom. Dive into the digital and bonus audio version when you go to book.daniellethienel.com/new-book.
You'll find all the details in the show notes too. Until next time, peace be with you always.
