Do you enjoy the silence? Do you enjoy your own company? Is it difficult for you to be alone? Do you always have to have plans? Do you always have to have “noise” around you?
These are good questions to consider. The answers may depend on what chapter you are in your life (kids) and if you are an introvert or extrovert. But it is still good to be conscious of the answers to these questions.
Are you comfortable to be in the silence with yourself or does it frighten you or make you feel uncomfortable………
- Dropping into the deeper silence
Many people never consider the importance of having alone or quiet time.
I remember when I had this awareness. I realized one day in college that I felt so much happier when I was with people than when I was alone. When I was alone, my doubts and anxieties would come to the surface and I could keep them at bay when I was hanging out with others. I didn’t know what it meant, I just had the realization. And so I thought, “Oh, I need to be with people more.” What I was experiencing when I was alone were my deeper feelings and thoughts about myself and life. I was able to avoid them if I were with other people or just keeping busy.
Addictions serve the same purpose.
This week spend some time reflecting on your own experience with quiet time. Do you enjoy it? Does it feel good to have a balance of time with others and time alone? Is it uncomfortable? Do you need the tv or music on constantly or you begin to feel anxious?
All these things keep our deeper feelings at bay. How can we face these feelings and beliefs unless we allow them to surface? We can’t heal what we don’t feel.
People feel afraid. They tell me, “It hurts to think/feel that.” Well, it is hurting us to not think or feel it as well. Just because something is being pushed underneath the surface does not mean it is not impacting our life.
I wrote a blog several months ago about emotions being like waves of the ocean. Clients will say, “If I allow myself to start to feel the grief of this, I will never stop crying.”
The deeper truth is that if we do not allow ourselves to grieve until the grief has expressed itself fully, we will never heal that hurt.
This morning this quote came to my in box from the teachings of Pema Chodren, “In vajrayana Buddhism it is said that wisdom is inherent in emotions.” And so if we do not ourselves fully express our emotions, we will not access the wisdom.
We meet a deeper version of ourselves when we enter into the silence. We hear the orchestra of the Universe and realize the silence is not without sound. We give ourselves permission to feel what is already inside and we allow it to begin to flow outward. Our cleansing of the wound.
Just a little bit every day. We do not need to do it all in one day. I teach my Mentor Ship students a 30 minute practice each day. We meet ourselves in the silence. We see what is on our mind, we feel what is on our heart and then we sit and unite with the Great Silence.
What is your practice with the Silence? Is your Soul yearning for the Great Quiet? The balm and peace that is found there?
I love to hear your thoughts, blessings, melaniej
Interested in seeing what else I am up to, click here: http://melaniejwilliams.com/
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