OR HOW TO TAKE A BREAK THAT WILL RE-ENERGIZE YOU
Last week I felt really overwhelmed and heavy. I worried a lot and my mind kept going in circles. The heat of the summer just pulled me down, and I sensed a heavy negativity on an overall level. On Saturday I thought to myself: “This can’t be it. I don’t want to be living like this. There has to be some way of connecting with myself and feeling better.” I really wanted to find some peace, feel trust in life, and calm down. I knew. escaping into a book or a movie would give me immediate relief, but not resolve anything.
Usually, when I feel like that, moving my body helps. Exercise relaxes the body, and frequently the mind. But I just had no energy for real exercise. All I could do were a few laps in the pool. For me, any kind of repetitive movement helps me to connect with myself and to go into a different state of awareness. It helps me to let my intuition speak to me. And so I asked myself: “What is it that I need to do, to feel, to focus on – in order to get a break?”
The answer came loud and clearly: Stillness. And I wondered what that really is. Is it just the opposite of movement?
Stillness Is So Much More
Floating in the pool, I wanted to explore the concept of stillness.
The most obvious dimension of stillness is the lack of movement. So I stopped moving, and watched my body float. And as I stopped moving, there went the thoughts about the movement, and how to direct it. I switched into a mode of observation, noticing the movement of my breathing. But even that movement was part of the stillness. Because I wasn’t directing it.
So stillness, I figured, is the sense of not being in charge, and observing the things that happen without taking an active role. But there is still movement in stillness.
As I continued to explore stillness, I started experiencing a calmness. I noticed how the water felt in different parts of my body, how it carried me, and how light it made me feel. I saw the reflections of light and felt the wind creating movement on my skin, and on the water. It was like going deeper into these sensations, and perceiving more detail.
Stillness isn’t just calmness. I can be still, without being calm. But the stillness induces calmness, I found. As my awareness gave room to perceiving and receiving perceptions, noticing the depth of all that is going on, some sensations eased: I felt the ceasing of speed, pressure, and all the sensations they bring up, such as anxiety or nervousness. In that moment, stillness was the halting of all responsibility, all “obligation”.
Well, if I don’t move actively, things are still moving. That became very clear. So I knew, that being in stillness made room for knowing that life is in and of itself. Movement arises, action comes – without me having a plan and a goal. It connected me with that sensation of trust in life, in something bigger. And the faith that, after this stillness, in some moment, my experience would change into something driven, active, or forward-moving.
Invitation to an Experiment
These minutes in the pool were a really deeply impacting experience. I so enjoyed the stillness and discovering it within that moment that it made me think: What if I could bring this experience into my everyday life? What if I cold find that same sense of stillness in me as I go about my day, my chores, my work, my life?
So these days, my intention is to be aware of stillness and find it in different moments. Whenever I start feeling anxious, heavy, burdened, overwhelmed, stressed, I go into the inner search of stillness. and it has been a magical journey of expansion and connection with an inner peace.
Let me invite you to explore stillness for yourself. How can you access it? What is it for you? How does it present itself? How do you explore it? Please share your findings with me in the comments – it’s such an intriguing and revealing process!
What I Discovered About Stillness
These are my findings in this journey:
- In order to find stillness I have to let go of the sense of responsibility, control, and wanting and go into observing and allowing.
- In its first contact, stillness is just a choice. It is the choice to be still and perceive.
- Stillness can include movement, but one coming out of itself.
- Stillness can be there even when I am not calm.
- Stillness brings calmness, as I go into perceiving more and more detail of what is, and exploring the way it feels, rather than thinking about it.
- Stillness calms my mind. It is a direct bridge into just being, and becoming aware of my higher self or Source, however you may call it.
- Stillness helps me to let go. Stillness for me is connected with the idea of opening up to what is, and breathing it down. As I breathe down, I get a sense of the energy flowing out of my feet and into the earth, thereby calming me – without necessarily understanding anything.
- In stillness lie my answers. Stillness brings clarity. Not a few times it happened that as I entered into a state of stillness and my mind quieted, I just knew the answer to the questions or worries I had had in mind before. But the complexity was gone, and I just felt what I had to do next.
Interestingly, stillness has really become a way of processing things. It helps me to be grounded and present. It helps me to not enter into old patterns and quick automatic reactions. I am sure, there is so much more to discover – and I will love to know about your experiences!
But the best thing is, this way of “processing” is actually a way of resting, stopping and letting things be processed. I just love the idea of things being resolved as I let go, rest, and stop trying. It’s a joy to discover that that is possible!
