Work to Serve and Teach
by Alannah Fitzgerald

Listen to the Stillness 

Listen to the Silence

by Alannah Fitzgerald

 

Amidst the clamor and never ending demands of the world, friends and family obligations, the seeming urgencies that arise within us at one time or another, can and often do, create a non-stop inner world of noise, distractions and chaos. [Tell me something I don’t know, you say.]

 

How is it that we all too easily succumb to these demands, forgetting the peace and quietude we’d settled into during our meditation, during precious moments of respite from the inner narrative we ourselves create? Where is the coveted stillness we seek? Could it be hidden in the gaps between thoughts? Where is the inner spaciousness we yearn to feel, so restful, delightfully refreshing and freeing yet comforting? Do we let our fear of silence, our fear of stillness, out-louden its subtle whispers?

 

What is the nature of stillness the ancients speak about? What is the silence? How do I listen, allowing stillness and silence to reveal itself? To become a reality in my life? In what ways can I find relief from self destructive anxiety and fears that arrive unannounced, caused from incessant thinking? Is it really possible to find a constant sense of deep security and ease in being wholly present, at one with stillness, at one with silence? Is it possible to finally let go of our tight grip on the [insubstantial] past or in the [non-existent] future? 

 

Can we remember to have awareness of our breath at any given time while awake? To breathe deeply, smoothly and quietly to assist in settling our minds? Shall we choose to practice listening with presence of being…listening with a sincere heart…listening with clarity and simplicity? 

 

Clarity requires action - action with intention - focus with keen attention and observation. We can hold, without grasping, an inner calm, an eternally revolving power that is gentle, subtle, spacious and ever present within our very being. 

 

Feel it, ground yourself in it, become it. As with anything worth achieving, it takes daily practice with awareness, exercising and strengthening our experience in it, to feel confident in it. Dare to stand courageously in this timeless and magnificent presence! 

 

Listen to the silence! Listen to the stillness that is eternally revolving! How mysterious it all is!