I welcomed silence and stillness when we arrived home yesterday evening, and silence and stillness welcomed us. Thank all for the safe travel thoughts and energy.
I welcome silence and stillness when I go to church earlier then when Mass begins and when I go for walks. In this world where technology is constant it is so important to find silence and stillness.
Today I took time out at work to join a faith event (ERG).. We painted “Blessed Boxes”. I will give mine to my daughter when I see her in January. I am so glad I decided to go, so very easy to say I should just work but I knew it would be a nice break. 💕
I think
that perhaps silence isn’t silent after all,
except perhaps in an isolation chamber.
Sound always seeps in,
but it doesn’t always have to get in the way.
There is a magic window in my studio . . .
from where I sit,
I can look out of it over my shoulder and see trees,
both Douglas firs and Norway maples,
different at every time of the year,
right now,
just showing tinges of autumn,
butter yellow and a lick of orange.
The windowsill is lined with empty bottles . . .
cobalt, and turquoise,
and sky blue . . .
in the middle
is an electric candle
that I keep burning throughout the day
and all through the night,
a lavender rabbit,
and a silk orchid in a slender,
green glass vase.
There is also a bird cage filled with English ivy
hanging from the window frame,
and an ancient macrame valance
topping things off.
I don’t know where the magic comes from . . .
maybe the presence of the burning candle,
which I placed there to invite all good things,
maybe from the plant,
or maybe from those blue bottles,
or from the interior of my own head,
but something
lets me hear things.
Sometimes I hear music
when there is no music . . .
the US Naval Marching Band,
sometimes something from the ‘Messiah’,
sometimes humming,
and sometimes
I hear the distant voices of people talking
when there are no people nearby,
Sometimes I hear rain
when it is not raining,
waves from the ocean crashing,
when there is no ocean within miles,
wind
when it is not blowing,
and even the softest sound of snow falling,
even in the summer.
I don’t know where this magic comes from.
and I don’t question it anymore . . .
perhaps it is the music of the spheres . . .
wherever it comes from
I trust it brings all good things. ♥
Thoughts-which come from the life lived (karma ) , habits- come from our ancestors snd the body cam all “get in the way especially if we don’t actually have a method to let them go! Meditation is great because it helps us to get accustomed to sitting with challenging emotions and thoughts . We have about 60,000 thoughts a day 85% are repetitive and 90% are negative. So negative repetitive thoughts of course “get in the way of the Truth . How can you truly let them go without a method ? I have seen a huge difference in my practice having a way to let out what was being swot under the rung . Now I have been able to go deeper into my pictures and let them go with less fear and anxiety. Now I see the way out . None of the old pictures of my life lived or my pictures of my self and other people serve me in fact they are an actual hindrance. So my cleaning them out cleaning 🧼 my mind I become open and free able to live freely . Thank you 🤩
Oh my goodness- I laughed at this initially. So at first my answer was…I have chosen to live the active life, so real life gets in the way of silence and stillness!
I greet it – silence and stillness- at carved out and surprising times during the day, but typically life is loud and busy….but then I thought, Oh, but do I carry an internal silence and stillness into my active and busy life –
More to the point, now that this thought has dawned on me-How can I carry that into my active day.
I am no longer giggling but pondering!
I welcome stillness during meditation. As Mary already mentioned, thoughts can disturb, and thank you for your intention to being in the moment. It is helpful. Thank you, dear Mary.
The time I spend on gratefulness.org, reading and reflecting on the Word for the Day and the Daily Question, and studying, including related analysis and reading and writing are two ways that I welcome silence and stillness in my life. Events of the day can get in the way, but finding time for both is important to me.
Interestingly, I want to say that I can tolerate silence and stillness. Only because, it used to feel intolerable. Like I had to fill it up with some noise or distractions. Now, I can not only tolerate silence and stillness, but I enjoy it and look forward to it.
I have started meditating. That should help my mind which truly needs to chill out.
My mind gets in the way of stillness.
☀️My intention for today is to stay in the moment, be calm, and breathe.
In today’s question the word “stillness” stood out to me. For me to be still means to be willing to see with new eyes. I think of Br. David’s “Stop, Look, Go.” Does anything get in the way? My monkey mind can definitely get in the way. Be still and know!
I share excerpts from T.S. Elliot’s poems:
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
~ T.S. Eliot ~
Excerpt from “The Gilding” by T. S. Elliot
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always–
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
by T.S.Eliot
My life can be very quiet and still. I almost need to be more intentional about putting socialism and activities into it. That will sound strange to most folks.
My intentional/welcome quiet and still times are this site and spiritual activities. They fill me with peace and balance.
It doesn’t sound strange to me,
dear Yram . . .
I too,
spend a lot of time alone,
and sometimes
have to force myself to get out where there are people.
But this place,
this space
is like still waters for me,
and helps to keep me balanced,
as it does for you . . . ♥
I welcome silence & stillness during my meditation, prayer time. My own thoughts, internal chatter, often get in the way. I refocus & immerse myself into the quiet again. My breath guides me to this still place within.
🕊️♥️
Silence and stillness comes when it comes. I don’t plan for it, but I do welcome it when it arrives. A sense of urgency could get in the way, devaluing the time it takes to absorb silence and stillness.
Drea, I love this. It’s exactly why I value spontaneity over planning. I find that the more I try to incorperate silence, the opposite happens. Years ago, I already talked about doing the opposite, and it’s always worked in my favor.
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Yesterday on arrival home. Thank all for the safe travel thoughts and energy.
I welcomed silence and stillness when we arrived home yesterday evening, and silence and stillness welcomed us. Thank all for the safe travel thoughts and energy.
I welcome silence and stillness when I go to church earlier then when Mass begins and when I go for walks. In this world where technology is constant it is so important to find silence and stillness.
Today I took time out at work to join a faith event (ERG).. We painted “Blessed Boxes”. I will give mine to my daughter when I see her in January. I am so glad I decided to go, so very easy to say I should just work but I knew it would be a nice break. 💕
I think
that perhaps silence isn’t silent after all,
except perhaps in an isolation chamber.
Sound always seeps in,
but it doesn’t always have to get in the way.
There is a magic window in my studio . . .
from where I sit,
I can look out of it over my shoulder and see trees,
both Douglas firs and Norway maples,
different at every time of the year,
right now,
just showing tinges of autumn,
butter yellow and a lick of orange.
The windowsill is lined with empty bottles . . .
cobalt, and turquoise,
and sky blue . . .
in the middle
is an electric candle
that I keep burning throughout the day
and all through the night,
a lavender rabbit,
and a silk orchid in a slender,
green glass vase.
There is also a bird cage filled with English ivy
hanging from the window frame,
and an ancient macrame valance
topping things off.
I don’t know where the magic comes from . . .
maybe the presence of the burning candle,
which I placed there to invite all good things,
maybe from the plant,
or maybe from those blue bottles,
or from the interior of my own head,
but something
lets me hear things.
Sometimes I hear music
when there is no music . . .
the US Naval Marching Band,
sometimes something from the ‘Messiah’,
sometimes humming,
and sometimes
I hear the distant voices of people talking
when there are no people nearby,
Sometimes I hear rain
when it is not raining,
waves from the ocean crashing,
when there is no ocean within miles,
wind
when it is not blowing,
and even the softest sound of snow falling,
even in the summer.
I don’t know where this magic comes from.
and I don’t question it anymore . . .
perhaps it is the music of the spheres . . .
wherever it comes from
I trust it brings all good things. ♥
Trust. So essential, dear Sparrow.
I’m happy to hear,
dear Joseph,
that you and your lovely wife, Cheryl,
arrived home safely. ♥
Thoughts-which come from the life lived (karma ) , habits- come from our ancestors snd the body cam all “get in the way especially if we don’t actually have a method to let them go! Meditation is great because it helps us to get accustomed to sitting with challenging emotions and thoughts . We have about 60,000 thoughts a day 85% are repetitive and 90% are negative. So negative repetitive thoughts of course “get in the way of the Truth . How can you truly let them go without a method ? I have seen a huge difference in my practice having a way to let out what was being swot under the rung . Now I have been able to go deeper into my pictures and let them go with less fear and anxiety. Now I see the way out . None of the old pictures of my life lived or my pictures of my self and other people serve me in fact they are an actual hindrance. So my cleaning them out cleaning 🧼 my mind I become open and free able to live freely . Thank you 🤩
Oh my goodness- I laughed at this initially. So at first my answer was…I have chosen to live the active life, so real life gets in the way of silence and stillness!
I greet it – silence and stillness- at carved out and surprising times during the day, but typically life is loud and busy….but then I thought, Oh, but do I carry an internal silence and stillness into my active and busy life –
More to the point, now that this thought has dawned on me-How can I carry that into my active day.
I am no longer giggling but pondering!
I welcome stillness during meditation. As Mary already mentioned, thoughts can disturb, and thank you for your intention to being in the moment. It is helpful. Thank you, dear Mary.
The time I spend on gratefulness.org, reading and reflecting on the Word for the Day and the Daily Question, and studying, including related analysis and reading and writing are two ways that I welcome silence and stillness in my life. Events of the day can get in the way, but finding time for both is important to me.
Interestingly, I want to say that I can tolerate silence and stillness. Only because, it used to feel intolerable. Like I had to fill it up with some noise or distractions. Now, I can not only tolerate silence and stillness, but I enjoy it and look forward to it.
I have started meditating. That should help my mind which truly needs to chill out.
My mind gets in the way of stillness.
☀️My intention for today is to stay in the moment, be calm, and breathe.
Thank you for this, dear Mary.
🥰
In today’s question the word “stillness” stood out to me. For me to be still means to be willing to see with new eyes. I think of Br. David’s “Stop, Look, Go.” Does anything get in the way? My monkey mind can definitely get in the way. Be still and know!
I share excerpts from T.S. Elliot’s poems:
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
~ T.S. Eliot ~
Excerpt from “The Gilding” by T. S. Elliot
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always–
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
by T.S.Eliot
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/contemplation-and-nonviolence/ This meditation from Rohr is so powerful and applicable.
Thank you Carol.
Wow – so spot-on to today’s question. Thank you for sharing!
My life can be very quiet and still. I almost need to be more intentional about putting socialism and activities into it. That will sound strange to most folks.
My intentional/welcome quiet and still times are this site and spiritual activities. They fill me with peace and balance.
It doesn’t sound strange to me,
dear Yram . . .
I too,
spend a lot of time alone,
and sometimes
have to force myself to get out where there are people.
But this place,
this space
is like still waters for me,
and helps to keep me balanced,
as it does for you . . . ♥
I welcome silence & stillness during my meditation, prayer time. My own thoughts, internal chatter, often get in the way. I refocus & immerse myself into the quiet again. My breath guides me to this still place within.
🕊️♥️
Silence and stillness comes when it comes. I don’t plan for it, but I do welcome it when it arrives. A sense of urgency could get in the way, devaluing the time it takes to absorb silence and stillness.
Drea, I love this. It’s exactly why I value spontaneity over planning. I find that the more I try to incorperate silence, the opposite happens. Years ago, I already talked about doing the opposite, and it’s always worked in my favor.
Loc, I relate, I can’t control silence … it’s more like I access it. Even in meditation, silence comes when it comes, it’s not automatic.
I was welcomed by silence and stillness yesterday evening when we got home. Thank you all for the good travel thoughts and energy. Peace and love.