Note: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey (it’s still available) and send me your feedback by email. One person mentioned how much she appreciated this post, which was published about a year and a half ago. Here it is again, revised. Consider it as a love letter, or a prayer. Please enjoy.
“Silence is a source of great strength.”
~Lao Tzu
When in doubt, know that stillness permeates your life. Stop…breathe…rest…wait. Be still.
There is no need to rush into things, no need to always know the answer.
When you speed through your life, overlapping one thing with another, you lose sight of yourself. You are alienated from reality. You live in your head – in your thoughts and pictures of what things should be like. And you forge ahead with the power of a tsunami. So exhausting.
How About Stopping?
But what if you were to stop? Stop thinking, stop doing, stop analyzing, stop the endless loop of stories in your mind.
What would you discover? Here are some possibilities:
- Feelings you have been running from
- Clarity about a situation in your life
- The need to rest and take care of your body
- A spark of creativity
- Enjoyment, wonder, peace
- Something completely unexpected
Stillness is a healing balm. It brings space, wisdom, and sanity to your life.
In stillness,
- You don’t need to know
- You allow things to be as they are – effortlessly
- You realize that life continues perfectly without thinking about it
- You recognize that deep relaxation is possible
Stillness returns your attention to the present. You shift from living in your thoughts about the past and the future to the glory of now. You are authentic, real, available, accepting. As you stop strategizing and figuring everything out, there is openness to the reality of your actual experience. Real experience – life, not imagined scenarios.
You see the pain and futility of hiding, pretending, avoiding.
How to Be Still
The how-to is simple. Just be still.
Why not try it right now? Draw your attention away from your mind and open to what is here in this moment. Notice seeing, hearing, touching. Take in the sensations in your body – every tension, every vibration. Make space for your feelings.
* * * * *
Then let go of all the noticing, and just be still. Boundaries dissolve, and you are here – quiet, alive, and completely at peace. Notice that the quiet appears to expand everywhere.
* * * * *
It may seem like stillness doesn’t last. Actually, thoughts, feelings, and sensations don’t last – it is natural for them to come and go. But all experience arises from stillness, which is everpresent, untouched, not disturbable, the ground of you.
* * * * *
Even if this moment is unpleasant in some way, maybe you will recognize the simple truth that you are aware of it. By being still, you wake up to your life, your experience, the reality of you. We put down all the effort, all the trying, and simply be.
* * * * *
Now go the next step. Instead of resurrecting your usual way of being, let everything emerge from stillness. See how everything in your life unfolds naturally, without thinking about it. And at the source is you. Alive, aware you. Eternally fresh, always here.
When in doubt, know that stillness permeates your life. Stop…breathe…rest…wait. Be still.
Comments, reports, questions? All welcome…
