Be still you know

Photo - Nathan Dumlao

We are giddy nowadays.  Giddy with stress, with anxiety, with the constant ‘ping’ of our phones, with social media posts.  Affected, albeit subconsciously sometimes, by the constant noise of daily life at the end of 2022.  Cars, trucks, the sound of sirens, radio on constantly in the background.  All contributing to agitation, lack of peace, tension.

The constant noise can make us cross, crabby, irritable.  And yet, all of us know what to do to bring ourselves back to peace.  We know that we like the peace of a Sunday morning, the stillness at dawn and dusk.

Ancient and modern wise ones and elders reminded us, as Ram Dass did in the title of his book to ‘Be Here Now’ or to say it as Louise L Hay does ‘The point of power is in the present moment’.

It’s not always easy to sit in the now, in the stillness of the moment.  Speaking with a friend who retired recently, the quietness means for her that the memories of her past difficulties can come to the fore as she is no longer distracted by the daily grind.  And one of the reasons we find it so hard to ‘be here now’ or to ‘be still and know…’ is that our issues come to the surface, our worries come to the fore, our sadness’s emerge.

We may need help to deal with these and there are many good councilors and therapists to help us get to the root of our sadness or troubles, therapists who can create a safe space for us to deal with the hurts, traumas and abuses of the past.

But if we continue to distract ourselves with the noise of modern living and thus to consciously or unconsciously avoid dealing with our issues, they may present as physical or mental illness at some point in our lives.

While being still may be difficult, moving through this pain may bring us to deep peace within ourselves, may allow us to ‘be here now’ to ‘be still and know….’.

At the beginning of ‘stillness practice’ sitting for even a few minutes may be a challenge.  But slowly, over time, we come to value those times of quiet, those moments of peace.  We may come to value the only moment in which we can live fully, the Now.