The Art of Listening (Taurus Season is Here)

It’s Taurus season. AKA my birthday month! Taurus stands for all things beauty, pleasure and simplistic joy. My weekend was actually VERY ooey gooey Taurus vibes and let me tell you - it was complete bliss. Everything my energy body needed to rest and recover from a busy and transformative couple of weeks. 

Taurus reminds us to slow down and enjoy daily pleasures.  This simple practice connects us to ourselves and ignites our creative channels. Slowing down can be fun though. 

One example of of that is food. Slowing down and tasting flavors - in wine, in food, in tea, in anything you’re consuming! This is why I love baking bread too.

Another example is  music. REally just listening. Taking it in. Doing nothing but listening. Soften and listen. 

In yoga I always encourage my students to listen to their own body first and foremost. When we try to force ourselves into pretzels (or boxes) suggested by others, we often lose our integrity and that's when we get injured or burnout. 

I recently mentioned the fact that I’m stepping back into a career I had a decade ago. It’s been interesting to watch myself move through this. I’m waffling between overachiever go-go-go mode (in which I fit myself into pretzels for others) and slow, chill, true-to-myself vibes. Yet, don’t we all do that, all the time?

Maybe it’s just us recovering people pleasers, but I find myself constantly swinging back and forth between doing what’s expected of me and doing what I truly desire. Can you relate %FIRSTNAME%?

Even small things, like invitations to hang out with friends, can sometimes feel very heavy and obligatory, though of course everyone has the best of intentions.

Listening to yourself - your true self and figuring out what you want is hard. Taking the stand for what you want is even harder. 

In my line of work I meet lots of women who want something, but aren’t quite sure what that is.

The solution? 

Listening.

Listening to yourself.

Listening to God. 

Listening to your body.

Listening to your reactions and what brings you a gut-filled “hell yess” and what doesn't.

Yet we have a really hard time listening to ourselves.

With the noise of the modern world, listening to yourself can really seem counter cultural and lame. 😒 But that’s what The Sparkling Hippie is built on. A modern countercultural movement back to the truth of who you are. 

The original hippies were often referred to as part of the “countercultural movement”. I always identified with that phrase. Because the unique form of rebellion that entices me and speaks through me into others, isn't destructive or rebellious for the sake of rebellion. It’s rebelling against the grain in moving toward something more true, more authentic and more whole. More whole-ly spiritual and expressive.

So slowing down to taste and enjoy that fresh vegetable medley and the garlic out of your own garden that seasoned it isn’t just indulgent.  It’s a sacred practice. The practice of intentional listening. Listening to yourself and the joys of life that bring you deep gratitude and satisfaction.

📝So tell me, what of life’s simple pleasures brings you immense joy?

Can you name 10? Comment and let me know. 

This is a tiny, beautiful way of practicing listening to your inner voice. Your truth. Your still small voice within. 

What else can you do today to get quiet and listen?

Perhaps a walk, a sit in the grass, some journaling, or meditation… 

If you want support, you can always book an intuitive art reading with me here. 

Love and sparkles sweet ✨

Haley Hoover