Speaker 1: Today I am delighted
to share something that has been
emerging within me for quite
some time.
Welcome to the Henny Flynn
podcast, the space for deepening
self-awareness with profound
self-compassion.
I'm Henny, I write, coach and
speak about how exploring our
inner world can transform how we
experience our outer world, all
founded on a bedrock of
self-love.
Settle in and listen and see
where the episode takes you.
It's called A Piece of Quiet
and it is a weekly pause, a
space where you can come home to
yourself, a calming audio with
an optional flow journaling
prompt.
I'm sharing the very first
episode with you.
It comes right at the end of
this episode of the Henny Flynn
podcast, and I'm also sharing
the introductory episode, the
one that explains what it's all
about, how you can access it and
what you'll receive when you do
so.
In effect, today you get a
podcast within a podcast.
I really hope you enjoy
listening, a podcast within a
podcast.
I really hope you enjoy
listening, and I would just be
so delighted to welcome you into
A Piece of Quiet.
I think one of the key things
as well here is that A Piece of
Quiet is designed for those of
us who are looking for something
more, something a little bit
deeper, a little bit calmer, a
little bit quieter, and if
that's calling to you, then
settle in and listen and let's
see where it takes you.
Hey, my darlings, I am so
delighted to be welcoming you to
this founding, grounding
episode of A Piece of Quiet, and
I am so glad you're here.
If you've already subscribed,
hooray, have a listen.
Hopefully it will help you get
settled into our time together,
and I'm going to share a few
reflections about why we're here
and how I see this space
evolving.
And if you haven't yet
subscribed, subscribed, this is
a chance to hear what it's all
about.
Just know that you would be so
welcome to join, and there is a
link in the notes to subscribe
and find out more, or at least
there will be once I've written
it.
So this is a piece of quiet, a
weekly pause just for you, a
chance to slow down, to breathe
a little more deeply and to
listen in to whatever might be
ready to speak inside of you.
I created it because I had this
powerful realization that what
I was seeking, what I see so
many people seeking, is a space
where we can hold ourselves,
where we can hold each other,
where we can hold the world
around us a little more lightly.
There's so much happening right
now, there's so much news,
there's so much noise that it
can all feel a little or a lot
overwhelming.
And holding these things
lightly doesn't mean ignoring
what's happening or passively
bypassing the realities of life,
massively bypassing the
realities of life.
It simply means recognising
that when we're calm and centred
and compassionately connected
with ourselves and with each
other, we're more able to see
what truly needs our attention
and we're more able to tend to
that need in the most useful way
we can.
So, for me, these moments of
pausing, they help us tap into
that practical compassion that I
often talk about, where we're
able to reflect and respond to
the world without getting, you
know, sort of crowded out by our
conditioned reactions.
You know those old stories or
learnt behaviors that are trying
to keep us safe and can
sometimes get in our way and I
say that with so much love, of
course.
So I'm going to email you each
new episode as they come out and
, depending when you join us,
you can always go back and
listen or re-listen from the
start.
You'll find all of the episodes
on our dedicated podcast web
page with my reflections and
that day's journaling prompt, so
you might listen with a pen in
your hand, ready to journal, or
you might listen while you're
out, walking or resting that
feels nice or even when you're
doing the washing up, you know,
as a kind of mindful practice,
as Thich Nhat Hanh might invite
us to do.
However these episodes find you
, I hope well, my intention is
that it feels like a kind
companion, a piece of quiet in
your week.
So, because this is a private
podcast, you're not going to
find it on apple or spotify, but
when you subscribe you will be
sent a link with simple
instructions for how to add it
to your favorite podcast app.
And if that all feels too much
when it reaches you, just ignore
it and listen via the links I
send you each week.
And you know each episode.
Each episode is designed to be
quiet in its own way and they
include a gentle reflection,
sometimes simply a mindfulness
practice, and sometimes
including something drawn from
my own journals.
This space will evolve as we go
and at the end of each one I'll
offer a carefully crafted flow
journaling prompt, and you'll
notice that at the end of each
episode I'm going to play the
same piece of music.
It's Love Forever, which feels
rather perfect, and it will play
for 10 minutes Now you could
use that as your timer for your
journaling and it's there if
that's useful.
I find this approach useful for
me.
It creates a Pavlovian response
in me, so my body and my mind
know that it's time to settle
and write.
And you might find the same or
not.
Either is OK, just see what
works for you.
I also want to just touch very
briefly on ways to approach the
prompts.
So if you're already familiar
with flow journaling, that is so
wonderful and I am beyond
excited that this practice has
also spoken to you.
This deceptively simple act of
putting pen to paper has
informed my own life in so many
ways, and when I wrote my first
book on journaling In the Flow,
I wrote that journaling saved me
.
It is such a big statement and
it still feels so true.
So I have a loving, reciprocal
relationship with my journal.
Maybe that resonates with you
too.
You know, I see, I believe I
feel that there is something
incredibly wonderful within each
of us, a kind, wise voice, and
I believe it's available to us
all when we listen deeply, when
we choose to hear it to us all,
when we listen deeply, when we
choose to hear it.
And for me, flow journaling is
how I connect with that voice.
Not always, of course, you know.
Sometimes my journal feels like
nonsense and and that's
absolutely okay, you know, if I
look back through my own
journals that are beside me on
the shelves as I sit here
speaking with you, I know that
there are some pages in there
where it's simply me repeating
the same sentence again and
again, because it was literally
all that I had.
However, I also know that even
those entries are useful because
that was what was surfacing
within me and, fundamentally, it
is always useful to let
whatever's surfacing fall onto
the page, and this is partly a
practice in non-attachment, you
know, not being attached to
having the perfect outcome, the
right outcome, something that
makes sense, even, or something
that is like full of, you know,
divine wisdom.
Sometimes we might find that
there are aspects of what we
write where we go wow, I can't
believe I wrote it.
And other times we might be
like, wow, I can't believe I
wrote it.
And other times we might be
like, wow, I can't believe I
wrote it.
You know, it's all okay, we're
not journaling for something,
we're journaling as the practice
.
So for others, this kind of
experience might be found
through yoga or meditation or
walking in forests or any other
number of things, but my sense
is that journaling is something
we can layer into any practice.
So if you're a practitioner and
you're curious about how to
share the flow journaling
approach with your students or
clients, please do reach out to
me.
Knowledge is, after all, power.
So to flow journal.
There are three very simple
points of guidance that I think
hold true for all of us, though
if you're familiar with me
talking about this, you will
know I am about to say there are
no rules.
My suggestion or invitation is
to write that day's prompt at
the top of your page and then
simply let the words flow.
Don't stop until the music ends
or you complete the number of
pages you've chosen to write
that day.
Simply write whatever comes up
and then keep writing.
And if you notice any judgment
or or criticism this is the
second point, by the way if you
notice any judgment or criticism
or doubt coming in, that is
okay.
Let that be here.
There's no need to suppress or
ignore it and there's no need to
judge the judgment.
Simply allow it and if it's
useful, write the words.
How can I bring more compassion
here?
I really recommend noting this
down at the beginning of your
journal because they're such
powerful.
Um guide rails I'm not even
sure if that's quite the right
phrase, but like anchor, such a
powerful anchor point to to
bring us back home.
So how can I bring more
compassion here and then see
what comes?
Your wisdom knows the way.
And then my third piece of
guidance is at the end of your
writing close your book, resist
the urge to.
It can be strong in all of us.
You might want to go back to
that day's entry later on and
sometimes, like I said before,
our writing reveals some
wonderful insights that it's
useful to explore.
But in general I'd say let the
words rest for a while because
they've done their work.
So for more guidance, I really
recommend getting hold of a copy
of In the Flow published by
Inner Work Project.
It is full of useful techniques
to explore and it's got plenty
more prompts within it, way more
than I could possibly share
with you in one short teaser
trailer episode.
Whatever this is is and there
is a link.
Well, there will be a link in
the show notes and you'll I'll
also link to letters of love as
well.
It's a different type of flow
journaling practice and it is
equally wonderful.
And if you're curious to know
more.
Take a look and you can always
message me if you've got any
questions at all.
It also feels important to say
that if writing feels like it's
not your thing, that is okay and
you can use the prompts in
other ways.
I often meet people who say, oh
, I've tried journaling but it's
not for me, or I've tried
different types of journaling
and didn't really like it.
I think 99.9% of the time.
When someone says that to me
and then I talk about how we
flow journal and the fact that
this is a place of non-judgment
and that it is impossible to get
it right or wrong and that
there are different ways of
approaching it, most people
begin to see that actually is
something that is available to
them.
Now you might be the 0.1% and
that's absolutely fair enough.
Or maybe one of these other
options might appeal to you if,
for example, you really just
can't get on with writing for
whatever reason.
So one option is to create a
voice memo journal.
You know, get your phone, your
phone press record, say the
prompt and then just see where
your words take you.
It can be really liberating
just doing this stream of
consciousness, talking.
It's pretty much what I do with
the podcast episodes anyway.
Um, the another approach is to
create a visual response to the
prompt.
So make marks on paper.
And I'm deliberately not saying
draw, as so many of us hold old
stories from school or
childhood that we can't draw,
when of course we can all draw,
but we might not draw the same
as others, and back in the day
we were taught to compare
ourselves with others.
Well, that's not what we're
doing here.
It is only you and your journal
, you and the piece of paper.
So, instead of limiting
ourselves with thoughts about
drawing, we choose to make marks
, use colors.
I love crayons as they feel like
they, you know, they sort of
consciously tap into the free
child within us, and and also I
really love how they can be
layered to create depth of
colour or lightness of colour.
And then the last option, if
writing isn't your thing, is to
take it to the trees.
I really love that phrase.
I might just have to repeat
that phrase Take it to the trees
.
Sit somewhere you love and
speak to a plant or a tree, or
maybe your much loved pet, or
the birds in the sky or the sky
itself.
There's no need to record it,
simply speak the words that come
from deep inside in response to
the prompt, I mean, oh gosh,
doesn't that sound delicious?
I just want to pause there.
Just, you know, and in fact you
might enjoy mixing up, you know
those different approaches.
So maybe sometimes you write,
maybe sometimes you speak to the
sky.
It's all good, it's your
practice.
So you'll hear you know in each
episode that I share a
relaxation practice and and it's
very conscious, partly to give
us all this weekly pause, this
piece of quiet that I feel is so
vital for us all, particularly
right now, but I think really at
any time.
But using the relaxation
practice before journaling,
whatever form that takes, for
you can support all of these
different techniques and
essentially it helps us get out
of our heads and into our bodies
, because flow journaling is a
somatic practice.
It is a, you know, it's a
physical practice.
If we're writing and we're
physically using our hand, our
arm, our shoulder, you know that
so much of our body is actually
engaged in in the process of
writing.
Um, if we're, uh, if we're
speaking, we're physically using
our mouth.
If we're drawing, we're using
our hand as well.
So you know there is a somatic
element to this.
You know very strong somatic
element, um, and you know, and
it's really helpful when we can
just very kindly, mindfully, let
the mind know that they don't
have to be on full alert when
we're doing our flow journaling,
you know, they can soften, step
back a little bit and allow
other aspects of ourselves to
come through, that wise, kind
voice I spoke about before, and
remembering that it actually is
a practice like anything else,
you know, this is something that
we continue to do.
You know, we don't immediately
do a headstand when we start
gymnastics at school.
We begin slowly and and in the
same way we build up our flow
journaling practice, although
you might be very natural at
doing headstands, so who knows,
um, so something about like why
they come out on a Wednesday.
So my sense is that we can get
to the weekends, we recalibrate,
we settle ourselves, we do some
lovely things, maybe we bring
ourselves back to ourselves in
some way.
And I think this is true
regardless of, you know, whether
we have a kind of traditional
like nine to five, monday to
Friday job, or or if we don't
work or we work in a, in a sort
of in a different way, because
actually, the weekends,
psychologically, we know that
other people are resting at that
time and so therefore, the
weekends become collectively
important.
I've actually done another
episode on this in the Henny
Flynn podcast, so I'm not going
to talk about it too much, but
if you're curious you can
message me.
But anyway, we get to the
weekend, we recalibrate, we
settle ourselves and then monday
arrives and we're back in the
mix.
So this is a chance to step out
of the melee for a moment, to
take your weekly pause, to find
your piece of quiet and maybe
the rest of the week feels a
little easier somehow.
Or, of course, you can save up
your episodes for the weekends.
You know, whatever it's your
practice, you do it in the best
way for you.
The main thing is that this is a
soft landing place, a place of
no requirements.
If you choose not to journal to
every prompt I share, that's
okay.
You'll still get the value of
these precious moments with
yourself.
And the journaling isn't the
main event really.
The main event is tuning in,
settling and allowing yourself
to come right back into your
body and really tend to yourself
with endless tenderness.
And I'm already noticing the
benefits for me in creating this
space, and I really can't wait
for this energy, this feeling of
deep inner and outer connection
to begin rippling to and fro
between us and between everyone
who joins our beautiful
community.
And then, lastly, I'd love to
hear your reflections and
thoughts.
You know you can share what
comes up directly with me.
Just reply to the email that I
send you for that week's episode
.
I'll read them all and I'll do
my best to answer.
Your message may inspire a
theme or maybe one of the
prompts, so please do keep them
coming.
And if you'd like to share
reflections with the wider
community, you can use the tap
to share link at the top of the
show notes, so these will then
be shared on the podcast website
and you can include your name,
or you can keep it completely
anonymous if you prefer.
So it's entirely up to you.
So that's it.
Here we are in this moment
together, a piece of quiet, a
weekly pause just for you and me
and all of us.
I want to thank you from the
centre of my heart for being
here.
It feels utterly joyful to be
creating and sharing this space
with you and I look forward to
writing with you, to being quiet
with you, with love and a hug
and a wave.
So if you'd like to keep
listening and hear the very
first episode of A Piece of
Quiet, then please do this quiet
movement toward a more peaceful
way of being, a gentler way of
being a moment to pause each
week in our own time, in our own
space, and knowing that we're
together in that practice, then
you are so warmly welcomed.
You can subscribe from my
website if you're part of the
email list.
Use the links in the emails
that I send about this and
you'll get the welcome offer.
That is just for those who are
the founding members of this
beautiful gentle, powerful,
beautiful gentle, powerful,
peaceful space.
And I'm going to hand you over
now to A Piece of Quiet, episode
one hey, my darlings.
And so here we are, ready to
begin, ready to settle into a
piece of quiet, a place for rest
, restoration, relaxation and
calm.
I'll give you a moment just to
settle your body, maybe to press
pause on the announcements and
alerts that there might be on
your phone or your computer,
depending on where you're
listening, to get your body into
as comfortable a position as
you can.
You know whatever feels
available for you right now.
Maybe you're walking, maybe
it's about slowing your pace and
really feeling your feet on the
ground, kissing the earth, as
Thich Nhat Hanh would say.
Maybe you're sitting, like I am
, in a chair by a desk, and
maybe you can soften your
shoulders, allow your arms, your
hands to rest, you know,
lightly, but with weight in your
lap, your feet flat on the
ground.
Maybe you're able to lie down.
If we've been connected for a
while, you'll know that's my
favorite thing is to lie down,
perhaps even with a blanket or
something pulled over you, just
so that you can get super
comfortable, even more cosy.
So whatever it is that works for
you Listening in and responding
to what your body needs, gently
closing your eyes or softening
your gaze so you're not focused
on any one thing.
Your gaze is soft and wide.
Really, it's about allowing
yourself to settle in the best
way that you can in the
environment that you're in right
now and allowing your breath to
settle.
Let's breathe in and out
through the nose, if that's
available for you today, and
just feel how it is.
Maybe it's possible to feel
each breath as a gift, as a
delicious sense of movement
within your body, a means of
connecting with your body in
whatever way that resonates with
you, simply breathing.
And if there are thoughts that
nudge against you, that's okay.
Thank them for being here and
let them know it's okay for them
to pass by.
For now, keep returning
attention to the breath.
Maybe there are noises, sounds
that are pulling at your
attention.
That's okay.
We can notice the sound without
following it, without labelling
it, and return attention to the
breath and just feeling into
how your body feels right now.
Is there any softness here, a
sense of peace, maybe things
feel a little quieter?
So then, the invitation is to
take a deeper breath in through
the nose, really feeling the
chest, maybe the belly, expand
as a sigh, and, with your eyes
still closed, allow yourself to
thank yourself for this pause,
this piece of quiet, and softly
blink, open your eyes to a
gentle downward gaze, and if
you're choosing to write right
now, to journal, then get your
book and your pen, and I'm going
to play a piece of music for
eight or nine minutes that will
accompany you as you write, if
that's useful for you, and when
the music ends, put down your
pen, close your book and your
work is done.
And the prompt today is as I
begin to write, I see.
As I begin to write, I see.
And this prompt is included in
the notes for this episode, so
you can always return to it.
You don't even have to listen.
You can just come straight to
the prompt if that's useful for
you and if anything arises from
your writing that you'd like to
share, then you can always
message me.
And again, my email is in the
notes.
So I'll see you next week for
another piece of quiet, sending
love and a hug and a wave way,
thank you.
Thank you, the world is full of
love and kindness no-transcript
.