~~~~~~
I’m going to let you in on a little secret.
If you’re interested in cultivating peace and ease in your life, if you’re looking for clarity beyond your conditioned mindsets, then you will need to have a friendly relationship with silence.
Many of us live our daily lives in the habit of thinking. We’re in our heads analyzing, planning, fretting, and trying to figure out how to be happy. We frantically move from one thing to another without space in-between.
We are firmly living the mind-driven life, stuck in a rush of mental noise.
But if you want to make a shift in your level of consciousness, it's essential to befriend inner silence.
A few years ago, I was standing at the entrance to a street market in New Delhi that I wanted to visit. As with many places in India, it was absolutely flooded with people, wall to wall.
The first thought that came was overwhelm, “How am I going to do this?” Then silence took over.
My attention shifted from the crowds of people and opened into what I could only call a vast field of silence. It was as if I was gliding forward, fully immersed in my surroundings, and completely still at the same time.
Your life becomes more sane when silence is your go-to place. It’s an anchor that lets you reset when you’re caught up in stressful thinking. It’s the secret to finding clarity when you’re frustrated or out-of-sorts.
And it’s the ground of being that is infinite, open, and free…
Turning away from the objects that bring about suffering and inward toward the silence within is like a homecoming.
The momentum of suffering recedes, and there’s spaciousness, presence, and a fresh perspective on everything.
To be honest, I don’t know how to find freedom from the pull of long-standing patterns without a strong relationship with silence.
How can you cultivate silence? We might call it meditation—and it’s ultimately a way of being in everyday life.
- Take a few moments to sit quietly;
- Focus on a few breaths as you turn your attention inward;
- Be the observing presence that notices everything in form come and go;
- Then notice how this observing presence itself is silent—simply here, vast and open, the welcoming space for whatever wants to pass through;
- Rest here.
Practice relying on silence as a touchstone as you go through your day.
Being with silence has the potential to shift everything—because you’re not in your head listening to your thoughts. You’re more present with people, more accepting and compassionate, and you’re no longer driven by forces outside your control.
Turn to silence:
- When you’re bored;
- When you’re going back and forth trying to make a choice;
- When you’re lost in the complexity of programmed thinking;
- Every moment when you remember.
Be devoted to inner silence…and you’re available to discover the peace beyond peace…
