As I begin to write this blog it occurs to me that writing about the connection between mindfulness, stillness and silence is counter intuitive to the subject. That realization stops me dead in my tracks and makes me wonder if I can convey this idea without violating it. In any event I suspect this will be one of my shorter blogs….or it should be.
When I first started practicing mindfulness I discovered physical and mental restlessness, and a mind that was constantly hearing sounds and thinking thoughts. My life was much the same way in that I lived in a constant whirl of activity. As I developed my mindfulness meditation practice I discovered that gradually I was experiencing less restlessness and a sense of quiet. There is an argument to be made that this new found stillness and silence would spill over into my life and in fact that is what I have noticed. The grand epiphany is that my outer life does not need to be still and silent in order for me to sustain the inner stillness and silence. They are the engines of focus and attention. I have come to experience that two basic qualities of the present moment are stillness and silence. They seem to be the at the core of our essential being. I would liken them to the blank canvas of a painter who has the opportunity to create anything on that canvas.
So silence and stillness are always there, the balm of existence that allows for the arising of all experience. I found this in the present moment and it continues to deepen day by day.