A Toast to Quietude

Quiet and stillness are like doorways to listening. I'm not talking about listening to the cacophony of the outer noisy world we live in, but listening to our own inner knowing. Call it your heart, call it your soul. There is a part of us that guides us, talks to us, reveals things. And that part is not of the mind. Not of thoughts. 

I remember being totally frightened to be still and silent and listen within, because all I heard was the voice in my head that regurgitated the conditioned downloads that said I’m not good enough, why bother, who do you think you are, etc., etc. It was deafening and maddening so I chose to override it with more noise. Outer noise. Distractions. Trying to drown out those voices in the head.

Whats real, what's not

Yet here I am, turning another year around the Sun and I’m into my 70’s now. How marvelous to live this long and have had the many opportunities to come home to myself and listen to that inner silence, the quiet and to discover a grounding deepening awareness of life flow. The voices of the mind don’t worry me now. I see them for what they are. Phantoms that come and go. This is the maya, the illusions that we take to be real when they are not.

This life flow beyond the mind chatter is freedom. So free that you can barely talk about it in any way that makes sense. Because it is not of the mind. It is not information. It is something we are and are already a part of. 

It has been named many things but none can really be described. 

Dao, Source, God, etc. 

When we let go of thinking we are the ‘doer’ controlling our life, we have a chance for this something vaster to carry us along. 

Even when we are embroiled in human life and all its madness, this part of us, our essence, is untouched by any of it. 

Like the lotus petals that can be rained upon and yet the rain rolls off and the lotus petal remains untouched. 

It’s also not about disassociating from life. Or numbing out from feeling things.

Rather,  it’s becoming the seer, the wise being that sees life in a broader and wholistic perspective. Seeing and feeling the human condition in all its majesty and horror and still staying connected to something indescribably vast that connects us all. Anchoring into THAT.

Many ways to anchor 

Quietude is what strengthens our ability to listen and move with the flow of life. 

What has found me or invited me, I could say, into this quietude is participating in the Tea Ceremony.  I am following this where it’s leading me, and if you’ve been following my breadcrumbs with me you know this.

It's a toast to quietude, holding the warm bowl of tea and drinking this plant leaf that seems to have some mysterious qualities that I am still in awe of.

There are of course many ways to invoke quietude in your life.

Yoga, meditation, walks in nature, are but a few things that will strengthen this love and connection of quietude and listening.

I’d love to hear how you bring yourself into consistent ways of being quiet and still, listening to what arises and strengthening your ability to be in the human atmosphere noticing all things whilst anchoring into an infinite presence that is there and has always been.

Love & gratitude,

Namaste 

I am you, you are me, we are one