“Out of emptiness comes life”
This beautiful saying from Chinese cosmology likely speaks to us all in one way or another.
Emptiness, space, stillness, silence.
Moving from busy to quiet
Chances are you live a busy life. Most of us do. What effect does this have on us? For starters, it’s stressful. I don’t necessarily mean you will be consciously stressed out, but chronic busyness leads to fatigue. stress hormones kick in, but then keep kicking in, staying on, staying on longer and longer and longer. We become tired. We feel less energy. We lose sight of what matters. We can’t hear ourselves think.
Full means no space, no room for anything else. If the space is noisy, how do we hear our inner wisdom speak?
Silence is golden
Silence is luxurious. Silence creates space. Silence makes way for wisdom. What allows us to grow if not empty space?
We run on autopilot so often that we don’t get the opportunity to be mindful and consciously aware of what’s really happening with us. We move from one moment to the next, simply getting things done, often worrying about the next thing before we’ve finished the first. How then are we ever going to be able to improve our lives, our working worlds, our relationships, and our own levels of health, happiness, and wholeness if we don’t have the space?
Silence creates that space. A space with potential new answers. Imagine what this space could hold for you.
Exercise
I invite you to try this. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Sit or stand still somewhere quiet, where you won’t be disturbed. Pay attention, see how the body feels, notice your breathing, notice your thoughts. Keep going. Relax. Resist ‘working at paying attention’ and simply relax and notice. (If you notice confusion, worry, fidgeting, wondering if you’re doing this right, you are doing great! Keep going!)
Reflect. What did you notice? Could you hang in there the whole 10 minutes? Do you feel more open and relaxed? Do you feel more constricted or intense? Making space from silence takes practice. Listening with relaxed curiosity within silence is key.
Silence plays a huge role in many types of personal development therapies. If you’ve ever worked with a coach, you’ll know, silence is necessary for contemplation, observation, and allowing space for your body and mind to gain perspective and see something new emerge.
The practice of QiGong uses silence, breathwork, movement, poses and meditation to enable you to tap into yourself deeply. This combination of mind, body, and spirit coming together in a peaceful and fluid way, allows you to witness and embrace your wholeness.
Brainspotting therapy uses nonverbal methods to focus the brain on releasing trauma and pain to allow for healing. It is also a powerful method of accessing imagination, intuition and creativity.
If you would like to know more about how silence can help you heal and grow, please get in touch with me, I would love to hear from you – angela@easytobeyou.com. I offer several complementary services including Coaching, QiGong and Brainspotting which you can read more about here.