Speaker 1: Before we jump into this episode, I want to let
Speaker 1: you know about something new I've created just for you now.
Speaker 1: I've been interviewing health and wellbeing experts for more than
Speaker 1: a decade and one question I get asked all the
Speaker 1: time is what brands do you actually use and trust?
Speaker 1: So I decided to make it easy. I've created and
Speaker 1: curated a well being marketplace featuring products from brands I
Speaker 1: genuinely love and have discovered through the years of conversations
Speaker 1: with leading experts. Think of it as your shortcut to
Speaker 1: better choices without having to do all the research yourself.
Speaker 1: Head to Maritza Barone dot com. Forward slash loves to
Speaker 1: explore my favorite brands and enjoy exclusive discounts along the way,
Speaker 1: just for you. Let's live better together. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Things you Can't Unhear podcast. I'm your host, Maritza Barone.
Speaker 1: Get ready to hear moments that will help you to
Speaker 1: see the world differently and inspire you to become the happiest,
Speaker 1: healthiest and kindest version of you. Hello, my friend, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Things you Can on here today. I want
Speaker 1: to start with a question for you. When was the
Speaker 1: last time you experienced real silence? And I don't mean
Speaker 1: those moments where the house is quiet but you're scrolling
Speaker 1: on your phone, or you're driving somewhere with a podcast playing,
Speaker 1: or you're technically alone but you're applying to emails at
Speaker 1: the same time. I mean the kind of silence where
Speaker 1: there's nothing asking for your attention, where you're simply left
Speaker 1: with your own thoughts. Because I've been thinking about how
Speaker 1: rare that actually is, not just silence around us, but
Speaker 1: silence inside us. For a lot of people, life is full,
Speaker 1: full of noise, full of movement, full of responsibility. If
Speaker 1: you've got young kids, there's a kind of beautiful chaos
Speaker 1: that never really stops. Or if you're working, there's always
Speaker 1: something waiting in your inbox or a phone call coming through,
Speaker 1: or if you're building something, there's always the next thing
Speaker 1: to do, the next decision to make, the next problem
Speaker 1: to solve. Sound familiar. And then there's that internal noise,
Speaker 1: the thinking, the replaying of conversations, the planning ahead, the
Speaker 1: questioning yourself, the overthinking something you said three days ago
Speaker 1: that probably no one else even remembers. Sometimes I think
Speaker 1: those are the loudest noises of all. But what's interesting
Speaker 1: is that we get so used to it we stop
Speaker 1: even questioning the fact that we never get space to pause,
Speaker 1: and it just becomes normal to live in a constant
Speaker 1: state of input and output. We're always consuming something, We're
Speaker 1: always listening to something, or reacting to something or responding
Speaker 1: to something. But I've been wondering lately, what does that
Speaker 1: do to our ability to hear ourselves, or hear anything
Speaker 1: new for that matter. I was watching the new Michael
Speaker 1: Jackson film recently, which I loved, and there was a
Speaker 1: scene in it that really stayed with me, and I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. In
Speaker 1: this scene, Michael is floating in a swimming pool. His
Speaker 1: eyes are closed and is smiling, and one of his
Speaker 1: brothers asks him what he's doing, and Michael says, I'm channeling.
Speaker 1: If I'm not here to receive the idea, God might
Speaker 1: give it to Prince, I'm not going to let that happen.
Speaker 1: And I loved it. I kept thinking about it for
Speaker 1: days afterwards, the idea that inspiration isn't something you force,
Speaker 1: it's something you receive. In that moment where he's floating
Speaker 1: in the pool and he's being quiet, he wasn't trying
Speaker 1: to be productive. He wasn't chasing anything, he wasn't sitting
Speaker 1: at his piano squeezing out a song. He was just
Speaker 1: silent and available. And I kept thinking about how unusual
Speaker 1: this is for most of us these days, when do
Speaker 1: we actually make time for space. We make space to do,
Speaker 1: to respond, to consume, but not really space to just
Speaker 1: be still enough that something unexpected could actually land. I
Speaker 1: actually read that Prince had a similar approach to so
Speaker 1: he didn't really need to worry about getting Michael's ideas
Speaker 1: because he was getting his own. Apparently he had set
Speaker 1: ups in multiple rooms in his studio so he could
Speaker 1: capture ideas the minute they came in. The kitchen, the hallway,
Speaker 1: and different spaces around the studio were all part of
Speaker 1: the creative process. Because he also knew something really important.
Speaker 1: Ideas don't always arrive when you're pushing. They arrive when
Speaker 1: you're open. And that made me start wondering something, where
Speaker 1: do ideas actually come from? Do they come from us
Speaker 1: or do they come through us? And I know that's
Speaker 1: a big question, and people will have different answers depending
Speaker 1: on how they see the world. People will say it's intuition,
Speaker 1: some will say it's the subconscious mind connecting patterns. Some
Speaker 1: will say it's inspiration or creativity or flow state, and
Speaker 1: some people will say it's something way more spiritual than that.
Speaker 1: But regardless of what language you use, I think the
Speaker 1: experience is the same. Ideas don't usually show up when
Speaker 1: we're forcing them. They tend to arrive when we're in
Speaker 1: the shower, on a walk, or driving somewhere with no pressure,
Speaker 1: or even frustratingly for many of us, just about to
Speaker 1: fall asleep, which is why I have a notebook and
Speaker 1: pen by my bed these days. There are moments where
Speaker 1: we're not actively grabbing for them. It's where we've softened
Speaker 1: a bit, and I think there's a reason for that.
Speaker 1: When our minds are constantly full of input, there's very
Speaker 1: little space left for anything else to emerge. We're listening
Speaker 1: to other people's thoughts all day. We're reading, we're watching,
Speaker 1: we're reacting, so it makes sense that our own quiet
Speaker 1: thoughts struggle to surface. Consumption fills you, but creation reveals you.
Speaker 1: And creation doesn't just mean making art or music or
Speaker 1: writing something. It's how you solve a problem you've been
Speaker 1: sitting with, how you respond differently in a conversation or
Speaker 1: perhaps even how you parent when you pause instead of react,
Speaker 1: or if it's as big as Michael Jackson's, it's the
Speaker 1: idea that changes the direction of your work and of
Speaker 1: your life. But all of this needs space, because if
Speaker 1: we're constantly consuming, constantly feeling, constantly distracting ourselves, there's no
Speaker 1: room for anything to actually form underneath it. And silence
Speaker 1: is not empty. Silence is where the things that are
Speaker 1: important finally get to emerge, where thoughts finish themselves, where
Speaker 1: ideas stop competing and start connecting. It's where you actually
Speaker 1: hear maybe what's been there the whole time, just underneath
Speaker 1: everything else. So maybe use this episode as an opportunity
Speaker 1: for you to think about where you're giving your attention
Speaker 1: for most of your day. Many of us don't need
Speaker 1: more information. We already have more than enough of that.
Speaker 1: What we might actually need is a little less noise,
Speaker 1: so you can hear what we already know or what
Speaker 1: is meant for us. And you can try these five
Speaker 1: minutes in the car before you turn something on, or
Speaker 1: you can go for a walk without headphones, or my
Speaker 1: favorite is to just sit with a cup of tea
Speaker 1: without picking up my phone or turning on a television
Speaker 1: just small moments where your mind can actually catch up
Speaker 1: with you. And I think you know through everything that
Speaker 1: I've already said, I do think something interesting and important
Speaker 1: happens in these moments, and it doesn't always have to
Speaker 1: be a big revelation. Sometimes it's just a sense of
Speaker 1: calm clarity. So this week, instead of asking what do
Speaker 1: I need to learn or consume or fix, just notice
Speaker 1: what happens if you turn down the noise a little,
Speaker 1: just enough to hear what might be already there. I
Speaker 1: think a lot of what we're looking for isn't actually missing,
Speaker 1: it's just being drowned out. And I'm going to leave
Speaker 1: you with this. I think a lot of what we're
Speaker 1: looking for isn't actually missing, it's just being drowned out.
Speaker 1: If this episode made you think of someone whose life
Speaker 1: feels a little full right now, send it their way,
Speaker 1: and until next time, I'll leave you with this question,
Speaker 1: if your life was just a little bit quieter, what
Speaker 1: might you finally hear? Thanks for listening to the show.
Speaker 1: What did you think and what did you feel? Let
Speaker 1: us know by leaving me a message on the things
Speaker 1: you can't unhear Instagram community page and if you can
Speaker 1: give us some ratings love on your favorite listing platform,