A Doorway into Stillness

Posted on October 1, 2015 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

A Door into Stillness — the entrance into the Retreat House Prayer Room

Good Morning, God!

I just came across a quote from Brene Brown that helped me understand my Silent Retreat a bit better.

“Stillness is not about focusing on nothingness; it’s about creating a clearing. It’s opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question.”

I had been focusing on the Silence. Although we were all Still . . . I hadn’t noticed the stillness.

Ah noticing! There’s a challenge! Noticing what is going on inside of me . . . and outside of me. Such a balance. I wonder, God, if this Noticing is more like a Dance or more like a Musical Score. Hmm. I’d like it to be both!

And now, God, I’m laughing! Here I am talking about choreographing it and creating a musical score — when I am not trained at noticing. I suppose that first one must have a Name or Definition for what one intends to notice?

I had just defined stillness as the absence of motion. Now I can “see” it not just “no motion” but a clearing . I can see it as an Entry Point into both MORE and LESS. Stillness can become the starting point for extending awareness . . .

As an extrovert I have leaned toward noticing externals — noticing the beauty all around me . . . noticing the people, the news, the weather, the multitudinous swirl of information all around me.

So, what a gift to be invited out of that swirl and into silence and stillness . . . invited to make no eye contact even . . . with the folks there with me. It made it easier to go inside myself . . . into memories, concerns, regrets, and worries . . . a lot of stuff.

Then having looked . . . handing them over to You as best I could. All of this to Clear an inner Space and open it to You. Wow!