04: Mirror Of Stillness
Stillness is a beautiful mirror. I experience it as observation, noticing of the ripples of my actions or simply just being aware of what is moving around me or within me. There was a time that I avoided stillness. I love to move. I enjoy experiencing adventure, new ideas, places, people, and information. Stillness has, at times, felt like a waste of time. It’s something I sometimes still want to avoid, yet it is increasingly becoming fun.
Stillness can take me on inward journeys of noticing breath, observing thoughts, or noticing bodily sensations that I might have been ignoring. I also can perceive sounds and objects around me with greater ease. Sometimes it’s the train in the background, birds, or even the quiet hum of the refrigerator. It can be quite enjoyable to listen for what’s around me – near and far.
And none of this has to mean anything. It simply feels like a game of awareness and attention and letting it expand beyond my own self-reference into something more expansive. There are benefits though. I notice that when I take more time for stillness, the activity and thoughts or stories I create around worry, fear, doubt, and scarcity subside. I have a clearer sense of who I am and decisions are cleaner and faster. My knowing is shaper. There’s a stronger signal towards the things that resonate and less distraction or noise around that which does not. And what I may be avoiding through activity can also be revealed when there’s space for stillness.
Mirror of stillness, I’m grateful that our relationship is deepening. I never thought I would enjoy stillness as much as I do.
Acknowledgements:
Arawana: Thank you for introducing me to the value of stillness. I appreciate how you often pair stillness with movement, and the importance of the pause in between. It has helped me recognize that movement without stillness is neither sustainable nor superior. I’m grateful for how much I have learned from you and with you, and I look forward to what will emerge the next time we are together.
John and Nicole: Thank you for introducing me to a way of meditation that feels both enjoyable and expansive. I’m grateful that you opened your community to the public. Since being exposed to your work, I have felt inspired to bring intentional stillness to my life, letting it be fun, and have been welcoming more stillness-based practices into my daily experience, rather than relying so heavily on movement-based ones. Thank you again.
