Waking up to Work with Stillness
It’s Spring 2020 in the northern hemisphere, and we’re being asked to wake up to our community of humans and to the community we share with the earth. As challenging as this time is, and as much fear as we might feel circulating in us or around us, we have been given a gift of choice.
We can tune out and try to fill the global uncertainty by over-consuming news, tv, media, food and drink that we don’t need. Or, we can wake up and begin to change what we now have the time and space to recognize is not serving us in our lives.
The earth is taking this time to restore and renew.
With fewer people rushing from place to place, the quiet on her surface allows her to regain control of her own cycles and rhythms. Will you take similar advantage of this time?
Our cycles and rhythms have been at the mercy of the productivity requirements of our high-speed, global development for decades.
But now, we, like the earth, have a moment to catch our breath and reacquaint ourselves with the life that would best serve us and our purposes in this world.
Mossy log by KB
During this time of self-isolation, each of us will face the vulnerability that comes in stillness. Many will try to drown it out, but it will always return.
It’s there to challenge us to touch into our deepest, most fragile selves: those parts of ourselves that are afraid to step forward into the life we want or need to create, afraid to not want or do or be in the way society says we should want or do or be.
In times of deep silence or emptiness, tools to work with the stillness are essential.
One readily available way to work with this quiet is to channel the thoughts or feelings that arise into creative expression. Dance them, sing, journal, write poetry, doodle, play your instrument, or play the salt shaker, pots and pans in your kitchen. Expressing yourself is a vulnerable act.
Another way of allowing yourself to work with this quiet is an approach I've learned from teachers of different philosophies grounded in presence.
It begins by noticing in the moment. Noticing what is. Noticing what you notice. Noticing and naming your thought or emotion. Even noticing what catches your attention while you're taking a walk.
What begins as noticing moves to allowing. Allowing the thought to pass through your mind without judging or dwelling on it. Allowing whatever you notice to have its moment in your consciousness before moving on. Allowing an emotion to pass through your body as physical sensation.
And, from here, you can continue to connect with the stillness, even as you move through your daily life, by pairing your actions with allowing. While taking action and making things happen, you also allow each moment to unfold,
like a dance in balance between action and stillness, or between giving to the world and receiving from the quiet.
Bluff walk at Ebey’s Landing by KB
This balance of giving and receiving brings us, again this month, to the rune Gebo, the Gift, shaped like an X. The place in the center of the X is where we want to bring ourselves—not over-consuming or pushing for control, and not waiting for someone or something else to find us, to happen to us, or to tell us what to do or how to live.
We may not have encountered that point of balance yet, but this time of stillness offers us the opportunity to begin or continue our journeys towards it.
What kind of work feeds you? How do you balance your own rhythms with the needs of your children, partner, pets, extended family, communities? What do you need to include in your day to replenish yourself? What brings you true joy?
Your cycles and rhythms are worth knowing, again.
Once you reconnect with what’s important to you, the path to your greater purpose begins to open wider. You allow yourself the possibility of creating a life that comes truly from your heart.
More resources:
A meditation to transform fear
Resilience in challenging times: Free mindfulness resources
Thich Nhat Hanh interview: Meditation is for everyone