A Time to go Within

“Do not be discouraged if you do not at once get conscious results in this silent sitting. Every moment that you wait, Spirit is working to make you a new creature in Christ - - a creature possessing consciously His very own qualities and powers. There may be a working for days before you see any change; but it will surely come. You will soon get so that you can go into the silence, into conscious communion with your Lord, at a moment’s notice, at any time, in any place.”

The above quote was written by Emilie Cady in her book, Lessons in Truth.

In practicing or entering the silence, we withdraw our attention from the “outer” and place it “within”. We quiet our minds. We listen. We become still. Creating this stillness inside of us takes practice, like any discipline and so spending time every day in intentional silence helps us find this stillness with greater ease, to stay there longer, to go deeper over time.

I have learned over time that going into the silence is not about silencing the outer world. Life is noisy and exuberant and sometimes startling and unexpected. We will find ourselves constantly thwarted in our practice if we insist on making an attempt to control it. Imagine asking your neighbor to stop mowing their lawn, or telling dogs to not bark, or calling the local airport to regulate flight times to accommodate our meditation time. Imagine everyone doing that…

Having learned to meditate while my children were toddlers, between calls of “mommy look” and other boisterous demands, I learned to treat the noises of life the same as my thoughts while I am practicing stillness: as something to simply let be, to give space to, as I gently refocus on my breath or on being present.  

The benefit of practicing this way is that we can find stillness “at a moment’s notice, at any time, in any place,” in the midst of traffic, in a grocery line, or even during an argument. We can let life be life on the outside, and we can stop contracting in response to habitual stressors, we learn to stop resisting.

Instead, resting in the expansiveness we have cultivated within, we can express the love and the peace and the harmony that is our nature: we can meet life’s ups and downs with increased equanimity.

With persistence and commitment and courage, we make space for higher Truths to blossom within our souls and express these Truths according to our own inner purpose. As we practice, we discover the practice changes us. As we practice, we become clearer channels for the divine to express through and as us.

Namaste