The Practice of Being Still

The practice of taking moments of being still can be transformative for our mental wellness.

I love the sound of silence, the stillness of a lazy morning or the setting of the sun. It feeds the energy in my soul, energizing and rejuvenating it. I come away from stillness feeling refreshed and truly ready to take on whatever the world wants to throw at me.

When I lose sight of my intentions for this life of mine, I try to find that space of stillness. Life sweeps you away sometimes, the good and the bad of it tangle you up until you are tumbling around in it. That’s what travel feels like to me, constant motion. Every moment in a day is intensified with electricity. It’s an exhilarating chaos that I often try to keep up with.

I can last a long time without that stillness, when everything is an adventure. I crave the adventure and the change that it brings. It’s only when I take a second to pause that I realize my soul, as much as it loves the rush, needs to be still. As much as it craves the excitement, it also craves the stillness. For a moment.

I’ve been developing the skill to be able to find stillness at any time, in any place or any moment. While I’ve not yet mastered it, I am able to find stillness within myself in the sound of the crashing waves of the ocean, in the fresh air of the mountains, in the feeling of a deep breath, the sequence of a sun salutation, or in the calm of a familiar cabin.

Re-connecting with stillness brings me back. It reminds me of my purpose, it brings joy to my heart and fills my spirit with all of the inspiration and excitement about life that might begin to slip away in the tumbling of constant motion. If you’re reading this, I can encourage you to begin to dip into moments of stillness and see what it brings for you.