The Possibility of Stillness

“The Unreachable Star”

When you hear the word ‘stillness’, how do you react?  For some, this word conjures up the feeling of being next to a warm fire on a cold winter’s day. For others, it feels like a far off land or more like Don Quixote’s Impossible Dream.  You can’t seem to sit still for a few seconds. So how far must you journey to really find this gem called stillness?

Like Don Quixote, you must first desire to be an explorer of your mind.  Already that might sound scary or really not important. But you should heed the advice of the Native American shaman Don Juan.  “In order to become a man of knowledge, a warrior traveler, you will first have to learn to stop the world.”  What this means is that you have to slow down to really begin to know yourself and the world around you.  Never knowing stillness encourages an over stimulated mind, one that is never able to focus or connect to the body.  The mind becomes weak and less able to focus. The body becomes tense and inefficient. The result becomes not knowing who you are and what you want.

Stillness is an expression that already lives inside you. It’s up to you to discover its essence.  The closer you journey towards stillness, the more it grows.  It builds your internal energy giving you more stamina.  It is an effective way to release tension in your body, train your mind to focus and learn how to listen in a new way.

So stop, at least right now, set an intention to find the explorer in you and begin to dedicate yourself to this quest for stillness. Or recall how Don Quixote sings it, “this is my quest, to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far.” Meditation is an excellent tool for beginning this journey.

On a personal note, what I love about stillness is the quality that it brings to my body and mind but more importantly to my heart. This is at the essence of what we are striving for in life.  The journey that we are on is about finding contentment deep within.  It is a feeling that never changes no matter the circumstances and a knowing that gives you a peaceful heart. It is then that you will “reach the unreachable star.”