In Search Of Inner Stillness

[Dan Goodwin]

When do you feel most calm, most still, most at peace, most you?

Watch the "innerstillness" video attached then add your thoughts below...

[jane]

this is very profound for a child! my childhood is so long ago now i cant remember having such lightbulb moments but am sure they were there... i love the intense green of the clover and the sound of the wind in the video...

I am at my most calm in the garden i think, its a nurturing type of thing i think. I love to look at my plants and see what has changed each day, i love to get my hands into the soil and feel the earth, i love to hear the wind in the grasses and leaves and to smell the scent of the plants, hear the bees buzzing and the distant sound of children playing.

my other calm place is in my creative corner in my bedroom where i do my collages, writing and beading... i love it there.

[Dan Goodwin]

I probably didn't use the phrase "inner stillness" at that age, but I clearly remember the feeling that whatever I did there lying on my back, the wind was going to carry on moving the grass around me regardless. It was a kind of powerlessness yet a light bulb moment at the same time.

Gardens and being in nature is very calming, I agree. I sat in that clover field day and it was lovely and calm, warm but not hot, and a gentle breeze on the air. Those are moments we need to stop and realise that this is stillness, this is what calm feels like...

[Camille]

I seem to remember how slow time was...making no plans, just going with the flow of the events of the days.

Everything these days is so speeded up in my mind, that it is a necessity to seek moments of stillness throughout the day, atleast in small increments, if I am too distracted to meditate for twenty minutes.

In the stillness, I become aware of the life energy coursing through my body.

In meditation, it is such a relief to get to that place where the monkey chatter slows down or at least recedes into the background for awhile.
It is like getting a mind message, and that revitalizes me alot.

The trouble is I am not committed to daily meditation...but even five minutes here and there through the day can be healing too!

Experienced meditators will tell us that meditating and stillness are very natural activities for children. We forget how to get back to living our lives in stillness, so distracted are we by the demands of responsibilities.

I feel the most at peace in forested areas, wherever nature abounds. I like the stillness in the early am before anyone else is up and enjoy late nights, I staring up at the moon and feeling its quiet and embracing it.

Lately, I am yearning to go away. To get away from the everyday things like preparing meals, making the bed, food shopping...I would like to get away in solitude for a few days, and just be free of all that stuff...

It has been such a long time since I have had a vacation, that I almost forget what it is like to not have to think about those things, and just be in a lovely, quiet environment...having somebody else serving my breakfast, and tidying up my room. That would be the ultimate in freedom and stillness for me at this time in my life...a way to recapture childhood...I savor the thoughts and feelings of vacating, and I wait with anticipation for an opportunity to leave my little life behind for a brief time...

[Dan Goodwin]

"I feel the most at peace in forested areas, wherever nature abounds. I like the stillness in the early am before anyone else is up and enjoy late nights, I staring up at the moon and feeling its quiet and embracing it."

This is a lovely paragraph Camille, very poetic, and I know just what you mean. I live on my own now, but when I lived with other people, I'd often stay up really late writing or whatever, it was the only time the house felt empty and still...

Here's a creative challenge for you: How can you have a vacation in your own home, without going anywhere? What can you do differently to break form routine and refresh yourself?

[Camille]

Dan, that creative challenge is something I think about a lot lately.

I just can't seem to figure out how to do it yet.

Exercise is something that used to refresh me, but due to immune issues, I haven't been able to find an exercise that doesn't run me down and make me ill anymore. Tried tai chi, yoga, etc. but the symptoms still come on strong...

But the memories of driving to some scenic location and running for a half hour or more, I felt totally restored and renewed. It is something I miss alot...if I could just get that feeling back in a different way!

Lately, when I need to get away, I resort to doing those zentangles...I can do them for hours...in fact, I think it is my new addiction!

Doing what Susan did, a vacation without leaving home, would be nice, however, I'd still have to take care of those routine things...an it would become an intense activity and I would rather do something that is almost like doing almost nothing! : )

It would be a creative pursuit, true, but still, I do not think it would be an activity that would make me feel refreshed and renewed.

I do artists dates sometimes...just glossing through magazines for a few hours. Going to the library or bookstore are mind-expanding for me.

Maybe I could do a musical vacation...since I tend to not play music as often as many of my CCS friends do...I could try that!

Buy me some prepared meals, stay away from the PC, and just lie down and listen to music.

Getting into a good book is sort of like a vacation retreat for me, too.

If I had money, I could go to a silent retreat weekend at a nearby convent that is on beautiful property...

They also rent rooms for silent retreat. They are a bit more affordable and I have thought about doing that...just renting a retreat room for a day or two...
Still, that I would have to save up money for...

We shall see.

[Dan Goodwin]

You could start to save for the retreat room, if it was that important, set a
date in the future to aim for?

Sounds like you've got plenty of ideas to try out at home too though, Camille.

[Camille]

Yes, I would really like to do that, Dan...I have been saving all my change and dollar bills in a coffee container...I finished paying off my digital camera...so it is a possibility I could really make an intention for...would love to do that in the autumn...the grounds at the retreat house are gorgeous!

[Susan Hosken]

Hope you can afford to go on the retreat for a couple of days Camille

[Camille]

Thanks Susan...it is my intention to do so! Love Camille

[Carol Clark]

Dan,

I loved this creative challenge you gave to Camille, so much so I'm taking it on myself.

I get overwhelmed with things - the mess in my house, trying to cook for my diabetic husband, recovering from an anxiety disorder - and trying to write.

So I am resolving to SLOWLY clean a little in my house each day, just enough to feel better. Then, I just purchased this little art kit: it's really simple, actually. It's water color for beginners, and the "author" of the kit provides a small painting for each day, with some masterworks in there. He gives a sample of what it could look like, sort of as a guide. Then he gives you the outlined page so you can paint your own. I'm going to put on some music and try these, as a little vacation in my home, as you say. This will be something very different for me, it's easier than writing, and no deadlines or expectations are involved.

Thanks for the video and suggestion, Dan..!
Carol

[Dan Goodwin]

Well it's all good to hear Carol, but actually credit has to go to Susan and her Japanese vacation idea last year. Read about it and get inspired here:

Traveling without going far from home

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Sounds relaxing, Carol. I like using colored pencils to color in coloring books :)