Attitude of Silence Vs. Attitude of Anxiety
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
Mahatma Gandhi Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 – 1948)
Our world, especially the North American society fosters busyness… movement… distraction… wanting… needing… fear… anxiety.
What if we miss something?
Heaven forbid we are left out… someone has a bigger TV… makes more money… has more fun…
Music… media… movies… sports… career… lifestyle is all screaming for our attention and demanding at least a piece of our mind, emotions and soul.
Most of us don’t even bother putting up a fight anymore.
We have accepted it as the norm… and although it may be typical it doesn’t mean it is healthy or best.
Our senses are continually being bombarded with every imaginable stimuli… we no longer even recognize silence as an option.
The best most of us will muster is an attempt at winding down with some spa music and aromatherapy… and although those are both great anti anxiety techniques they are still at least one large step away from the ultimate.
The option and ability to connect with inner peace has been available since… well… forever…
Long before anyone was around to hawk their anxiety treatment wares on us.
Again nothing wrong with many of these anxiety remedies, I am just calling you today to the raw… the pure… the unadulterated… the ultimate.
Silence is the ultimate anxiety cure. The attitude of silence is the continual journey into the heart of inner peace… freedom and liberty.
When I speak of “silence” I am talking about far more than turning off the iPod, the TV, and the computer… I am talking about turning off the mind… the emotions… the inner dialogue.
“Well that’s not who I am”… is the most frequent reason I hear for most not even giving it a try.
I didn’t say this was going to be easy, I just said it works.
The attitude of silence is a muscle to be exercised and developed.
When I first took the challenge to begin working on the attitude of silence I had no idea how bad I would be at it.
I sat down in a quiet place… made myself comfortable… closed my eyes and WHOA what’s all that stuff going on in my head???
After some time I was able to settle things down a bit and then tried to move from being in my head to being in my heart… and… oh yah… I forgot to pay my cable bill… ooops… supposed to be quiet… clear my mind… hmmm what should I make for supper… DRAT!
That was how my first many attempts went but after not too long I was able to string together a couple impressive 5-10 second stints with not a thing going on in my head or heart. Just peace… quiet… a sense of strength… growth… connectedness… and joy.
The more I practiced the attitude of silence the longer I could maintain this stance and the more I longed for it. After I progressed I was able to grab small windows of silence even in the midst of the busyness and chaos of my day. In a room full of people or at work if I felt some stress or anxiety I would allow my mind and heart to focus on silence without even closing my eyes and I would sense a wave of peace rush over me… it is truly a beautiful experience.
Underneath our hurts, fears, anxiety, busyness and insecurities is the Truth that has been resident within us since we came to be. All the Truth of our spiritual leaders, self help experts and experts in their field came from within who they are.
This Truth will lead you to the life you long to live, a life of freedom, joy and inner peace. A life where you realize and accept there is nothing to be afraid of.
Will you take a few moments today to begin practicing the attitude of silence?
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