Gifts and obstacles along this path

Cultivating stillness brings gifts of the sort that I can hardly put into words on this page. Inner peace and clarity are the two gifts that I receive most fully as I enter into my own stillness practice.

This is to say, all the noise of the world (and there is just so much noise, isn't there!) - well, it all begins to fall away as we enter into a space of inner stillness.

However....

On our journeys into stillness, we can be sure to run into obstacles. Even if our goal and intention is stillness, our bodies and greater selves may have something else in mind.

Our journeys inward into stillness are actually a journey inward into what is present and asking for attention:

• through intention, we can quiet ourselves into quiet stillness
• by being present in reality, we get to experience the obstacles to that inner quiet and stillness and work through them!

This is the true practice: a dance between the intention that is quiet and stillness, and the response to what arises as we move towards stillness.

When an obstacle - some form of challenging energy - arises:

1. Is there something you can do within your stillness practice to allow this crunchy energy to fall away?
2. Do you need to stop the practice for the day so that you can go work with this energy in a different manner?
3. Do you need to reach out to me directly so that I can better guide your path?

What may arise on your journey:

As we enter into our own internal realm, we become conscious to a vast array of energies that may present themselves. These energies take many forms:

• thoughts
• physical sensations
• sound/taste/smell
• pain or discomfort
• emotion
• other "energy" that we can't quite put a label on, yet directly feel

Over time, we become more sensitive to the energies within ourselves. You may have been born with a higher sensitivity to your inner world; or, you may be a complete stranger to this realm. There is no right or wrong way to be - for, this is a journey.

More than this, this is your journey. And, on your journey, the only thing that matters is becoming in tune with your reality so that you can cultivate greater skill around your healing and transformation.

How to deal with what arises on your journey:

There is a mindfulness technique that tells us that energy moves in waves. By becoming witness to what arises in your field of consciousness, you can simultaneously cultivate the skill that is becoming non-attached to this energy.

In this way, you become the observer, non-attached to what arises within you.

In this way, you become free to let the energy rise and fall away - leaving you free to remain in peaceful stillness.

This can be a powerful technique and one I hope to help you cultivate.

AND.

And - you, as a human being in this physical reality, are - to some degree - these energies. You are not separate from them.

Forcing yourself to be separate from them by making yourself fully be a non-attached observer can actually be harmful.

I learned this one the hard way when I forced myself into a stillness practice as a deeply challenging time in life. In hindsight, I recognize that which was arising within me was arising so that I could see it clearly and work to transform it.

It is my hope to help guide you to do the same as challenging energies arise along your journey.

How you fail this game:

As mentioned above, I actually give zero cares about how long you are able to sit in stillness. It matters none, at all, to me.

What I care about is that you are in practice learning to listen. And, as you do, my great hope is that you do, truly, begin to cultivate inner stillness along the way!

But this inner stillness cannot be forced! If you can take one lesson that I had to learn the hard way, it is this: When we force ourselves to be still by ignoring the energies that are arising, we actually stray from the path.

The path is one of alignment:

• what is present in your reality that you are being asked to see and work with?

We cultivate this skill as we cultivate stillness. But, in clinging to stillness over our ability to listen and respond, we actually stray from the path.

Make sense?