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Hello, and happy Friday!

Welcome to the second weekly digest from The Quiet Voice Collective, a gathering place for introverts with a message. We're currently a group of 109 members, compiled solely of graduates from Made To Do This.

I like to start this email with some of your comments. Our members guide the content and projects I create, so it's fun to show what's driving my efforts. Here are some member contributions from this week:

It seems we're all feeling the need to sink deeper and trust our inner voices. Based on that, here is a roundup of the content that was shared the week ending May 8th, 2021:

I started Saturday with a last-minute free resource I discovered via email. This link will no longer be accurate, as the event has passed, but you can still use it to reach out via email if you want to inquire about whether there will be additional workshops. Some of you likely met Ali Krasner, a fellow graduate of MTDT. I met her early on when she offered an "Acting for Introverts" workshop. It was fun, and since then, Ali has created an acting school! I have no interest in becoming an actor myself, but have always felt like acting skills could be useful in the public speaking realm. If you want to learn from a fellow introvert, she has a Facebook group where you can keep up with her latest happenings.

On Tuesday, I shared a talk by Regan Hillyer. In it, she identifies the work we need to do if we want to manifest abundance. How are your words and actions serving you on your path to manifesting the life you want? What needs to shift?

Next up, Quiet Voice member Jennifer Dixey shared WomanSpeak, a program I've seen advertised quite a lot since we started MTDT. I can remember hearing about the founder, KC Baker, one year during TEDWomen, TED's official conference focused on women. It seems her initiative has grown since it came across my radar a half-dozen years ago. She has a book, courses, and a membership that you can join if the mission resonates with you. I'm guessing it's probably a good quality program based on who's endorsed it.

I'm thinking of buying her book. I've run book clubs in the past. Is there interest to start one that helps us with our public speaking skills? Not that I need to feed my book addiction, but if there are other book lovers here, maybe it could be fun. Eh, we'll see.

On Wednesday, I linked to a quality free resource for those of us who want resources for mindfulness and meditation. There are plenty of free tools in the world, but not all of them are good. It can be even harder to find meditations that are easy to access and don't involve logging into a site or remembering passwords (and all the other things that can derail our attempts at self-care). Some of you are already familiar with Tara Brach, a long-time, dependable, wonderful source for all things related to mindfulness. She has a beautiful podcast, and every other episode is a meditation.

Quiet Voice member, Allison Truitt, commented on the post with this resource:

"I have been reading Joe Dispenza’s book, How to Break the Habit of Being Yourself, and it helped me understand Cathy’s language of vibrational energy. I recorded one of the meditations, Body-part induction, as a 20-minute meditation on my iPhone. If you would like the recording, DM me. I’ll send it to you."

Now I'm looking into what we can do to upload her meditation as a group resource we can all access it. If one of you knows how to do that, to host an audio recording as a file within our group, can you let me know? Otherwise, I think she might need to offer it as a download in another way.

On Thursday, I offered a way to calm nerves ahead of public speaking. I've tried different methods over the years, with varying success, but I discovered a new one last week while I was out driving around town running errands. I never imagined I'd be telling a story about ambulances, heart attacks, and Limp Bizkit's song, Nookie, but that's exactly what I did. I'm working on improving my storytelling skills, and I took this opportunity to share the story BEFORE I practiced it. The goal is to work on it and release it again when I've edited out extraneous details that lose the listener, worked on voice tone, timing, and intonation, and optimized the parts of it that I really want to land with impact. I'm nervous, but it will be a fun challenge.

And, here are the details behind this nervous system hack: You need to find an activity that triggers a desirable physiological response. For me, I'm looking for something that focuses me in the here-and-now, and makes me feel strong, confident, and like I can take on the world. This will likely involve a sensory experience: mindful crafting (such as knitting), mindful eating or drinking, progressive relaxation, or in my case, listening to a song that triggered the feelings I was trying to evoke. I save this activity for the ten minutes before I have to go on a stage or host an event. It prevents me from getting stuck in my anxiety or worry. I have to focus on what's in front of me, and that thing has NOTHING to do with public speaking.

In response to my silly story, Quiet Voice member, Julie Browne, shared her experience with the Akimbo Story Skills workshop:

"I learned a lot from the Akimbo Story Skills workshop. It’s a super great way to tell better stories. One of the things most important is to weed out other stories within our stories. To get it real barebones. To focus on a moment in time and tell the story in support of that detail. Also, it’s important to not try to make the story end in a certain way. But rather tell the story and see where it leads. A lot of times we want to make a point with a story. This is fine. And write your stories and let them unfold naturally. THEN pick the stories that fit your purpose for your speaking event."

That's it for this week. Our members are starting to share all the goodness that's stashed up in their brains, and it's exactly what I had hoped would start to happen. We can benefit from more voices than mine. Meanwhile, I'm brewing up some content for upcoming weeks (including planning for trainings and events). Is there something specific you want to learn when it comes to public speaking? Or do you have a skill that can help others? Share it in the group. We're in this together!

Until next Friday,
Carrie