When the mind begins to quiet, something beautiful happens.
A new layer starts to appear—the intuitive mind.
It’s hard to explain, because it’s not something you think—it’s something you feel.
The subtle sound of silence
The intuitive mind is deeply connected to your inner wisdom. When a challenge shows up, you don’t have to overthink or worry—the solution lands. It arrives clearly and effortlessly, like a drop of light falling into still water.
Then your reasoning mind joins in, gently putting that insight into form. It’s like your inner world starts to hum in harmony, mapping out what’s ready to become real.
Even Albert Einstein described this. The theory of relativity—E = mc²—came to him in a flash of intuition, a sudden knowing that felt complete. It took him years to put words and formulas around what he already knew in his heart.
But a quiet mind doesn’t help only with revolutionary scientific discoveries. It’s also the space where nature’s intelligence moves freely—the foundation of connection, creativity and communication with all living beings.
This is nature’s wisdom expressed without interference; the subtle flow of intelligence moves undisturbed. That same flow moves through us, too. When we allow the mind to quiet down enough, we come into attunement with that flow.
Silence then becomes the mind’s space for wisdom and guidance to land in the form of a direct knowing, like a ray of light reflecting clearly across a still lake.
Nature’s presence beyond mind chatter
The beauty of being with animals is just that—they’re present. They don’t carry long to-do lists or worry about the past. They’re not wondering why someone didn’t text back. They live in the moment. Food in the belly, sunshine on the back, love in the heart—life is whole.
Animals, and all of nature, communicate from this quiet state of presence. When the mind is still, there’s space for connection beyond words. You’ve probably felt it—that silent conversation that happens when you look into an animal’s eyes and somehow know what’s being shared.
The other day, I walked into my bathroom and saw a giant spider move across the wall and latch onto my towel. I’m accustomed to sharing this space with snakes, spiders and many reptilian friends—it comes with living on acreage near the forest. But this spider was different. Its sheer size startled me, and I wasn’t familiar with its species.
Anxiety arose. My mind became busy, spinning stories of danger for myself, my cat and my dog. Its first impulse was to shake the towel as hard as possible to get the eight-legged creature off. But I paused. I quieted the noise and asked from my heart what the best thing to do might be.
In that quiet, intuition came—and along with it, compassion. This fellow being was probably feeling just as much fear as I was, if not more, considering I’m a thousand times its size.
I took a large container from the kitchen and held it beside the spider, still gripping my towel. To my amazement, it gracefully walked into the container, allowing me to carry it outside peacefully.
I smiled, thinking, Well, that went well— everyone’s safe and happy. But as I sat for my evening meditation, soon after, the noise started up again inside my head: You didn’t take it far enough away… What if it comes back…— blah, blah, blah.
Thankfully, over time and with practice, I’ve learned to recognize that voice—the survival mind—and gently tell it to be quiet as I return to my meditation mantra (sacred inner sound).
Training the movements of the mind
Of course, the thinking mind has its place. It helps us create, plan and visualize. When used properly, it serves a wonderful purpose. But when it gets stuck on me, myself and I, it becomes noisy—anxious, restless, full of loops. The mind was never meant to lead; it was meant to serve.
When we teach it to quiet down, it becomes a beautiful tool for creativity, insight, service and harmony.
So how do we invite that quiet back in?
We have to train the mind to become the servant rather than the master, just like a mahout (elephant keeper) trains a wild elephant, and there are three fairly simple ways we can do so throughout our daily lives.
Focus
Do one thing at a time. Focus turns attention into presence, which makes whatever you’re doing much more beautiful. Whether you’re eating, cleaning, talking to a friend or working, immerse yourself fully in your activity.
Meditate
Developing a steady, daily meditation practice and making space for stillness each day can make a world of difference in training that wild elephant; it creates the reins.
Spend time in nature
The forest, the sea, the sky, the stars—just being in stillness and peace with the natural world reminds us what calm, beauty and inner power really feel like.
Losing the mind and finding the soul
I heard a song recently that said, “Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul,” which was originally a quote from author John Muir.
Intuition is the voice of the soul—such simple, beautiful wisdom. And Nature naturally mirrors this divinity back to us, for She is the unencumbered manifestation of pure intelligence.
When the mind is quiet, intuition naturally begins to shine. You see life more clearly. You feel more grounded, connected and alive.
The doorway to that quiet mind opens when you look within—with awareness, reflection and a little practice each day.
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