Everyday Focal Points For Stillness

A quiet mind, an open heart, and endless personal energy are all aspects that we wish for in this changing world. This triad of spiritual strength may help all of humanity one day. With our daily racing to and from appointments of regular (mundane) life, it can seem a bit difficult and even stressful to take time for nurturing ourselves and releasing the stress. The speed and complexity of this age is powerful with its resources and technologies. In order to keep our spirit strong we seek solace and guidance from outside sources. Spiritual masters have always offered us a different source, one from within, an inner stillness. This state of relaxation is possible for anyone without having to lie down on a massage table or sit cross legged in a park; it is as simple as breathing.

Stillness begins with focus and emptying the mind of chatter that encompasses our lives. Finding five minutes to stand still and just breathe, or slow the speed of thinking, can change the course of an entire week. We experience more open time in a single day than society persuades us to think. These times occur when the mind is full of thoughts, about earlier events, plans for the future, and expectations for both. Places where you will truly notice this “idle” time are: while standing a line for coffee, at the bank, in your car at a stoplight or even searching for the keys to the front door at the end of the work day.

To begin invoking more stillness into your days, start by engaging the senses more fully. The human existence is filled with 5 wonderful ways to perceive and experience our reality. Take a brief moment to linger on the senses individually throughout the day. Rake your fingers over a texture that you pass by every day, but have not stopped to really notice. Find a color or image that moves through your periphery but does not usually halt your attention. Inhale the splendor of your next meal for a couple of extra seconds before you begin eating. Bask in the flavors of your morning coffee or tea to take in the subtleties of its craft. Within all sound there is a brief moment of silence; between breaths, footsteps, a cityscape, conversation, and laughter. Observe these moments of untouched silence. Fully engaging in just one of the senses is the most effortless way to begin calming the moment and awakening your presence to the stillness available right now.

Three Access Points of Stillness.
In the day to day routine there are three access points where anyone can create stillness. These points are: the breath, actions of the day, and energy of the mind. These are three simple aspects that can be monumentally shifted, without having to change the flow of a daily routine. Engaging the senses is an easy way to connect to this potential.

Connecting to the Breath.
Calming the breath is a simple way to ease a moment of high intensity. Think of the times you have heard someone say “take a deep breath”. I offer you a different kind of breath, one of a different caliber than the traditional filling of the lungs and rapid sighing exhale. When you are in an uncomfortable moment, start with noticing the flow of your breath. Is the breath short on the inhale, or on the exhale? Is it forced in either direction? Do you feel tightness in the ribs or the back? Follow the chain of tightness or tenderness as you pull air into the body, then follow the pattern through the exhale of the breath. Observe this flowing exchange.

Bringing awareness to the lungs and body will automatically change the cycle of body reaction to a situation. If the body continues to be tense after paying close attention to the breath then slowly draw in a deep breath. Allow the speed of the breath to match the stillness that you wish to feel, you can visualize grass lifting to the sunrise of your breath. As you exhale there may be an urge to sigh heavily, let it happen, but when you return to the next slow gradual deep inhalation allow the air to leave the lungs and body as slowly as it came. It may help to close your eyes for a single respiring cycle of this practice. It shouldn’t take more than one minute. The mind and actions have no choice but to follow the breath. Your mind and brain activity would not function were it not for the breath.

Integrity of Action.
Creating stillness within your actions is to create a meditation out of them. The simple or even complex actions of daily work can drain the body and cloud the mind. Bringing full attention to an action is an act of stillness. Whether you are typing, driving, working in a factory or laying brick, pinpoint focus awakens more innate energy of the body and stills the mind. Take your action into a tunnel focus. When you type, truly connect to the first sensations of touch. Feel the density of the keys and the spring of the return force, is it gentle or strong? Close your eyes for a moment and let your fingers type just to listen to the sound of the keys, do they click like beetles or sound like drops of rain on the window?

Visualizing your action within a context of things that bring you peace creates an immediate stillness. While driving, focus on the road and visual of the lines in front of you, not as fleeting images but rather as a fully organic pathway moving with your pace. Try quieting the interior of the vehicle, silencing the radio and putting a cell phone on silent mode. Then listen to the sound of the engine, do this non-objectively. Open your ears to the sounds as they would be if it were the first time you are hearing them. Follow these sounds from the car to the road, from the road to the car, the sound of passing traffic and the doppler effect.

You may find that this practice is easier for you with simple or light music, but try it first without. Implementing this technique for no less than a five minute drive can open your mind and your breath to flowing as easy as water. To do your action well, means that you are fully attentive to the task and thus the integrity of the outcome is never in question. There is an old axiom of the brick layer that illustrates this point quite well. “A brick layer must have all of his attention on the detail and process of building. If he is thinking about the future or the past for too long the integrity of the structure is compromised and will inevitably fail.”

Finding Stillness in the Mind.
This practice takes time, but is definitely the strongest for creating and maintaining a high state of stillness. The feeling of impatience challenges our mind the most and is also the perfect moment to practice this technique. When a moment in time arises that creates judgment on yourself, something, or someone else, this is the chance to “be the watcher of your mind” as Eckhart Tolle says it. Watch your thoughts, as though they were a movie being projected and you are in a seat of a theater.

By separating the act of thinking and observing those thoughts, you are brought immediately into a kind of stillness and become more present. One easy practice is to going outside for a walk, a run or bicycle ride. Even if those activities aren’t a part of your particular situation then take into account walking from where you are to a destination. Take this time anew with the most basic form of mediation, counting. Literally count your footsteps as far as you can until you either lose count or your mind wanders. Try not to judge the moment for passing if you do become distracted, just simply return focus and begin counting again from one.

Counting footsteps, people, cars, or anything that is moving through your field is a way of pinpointing focus and taking the strain off of the mind’s continual jumping from thought to thought. Which, the mind does relentlessly throughout the entire day. Hundreds of thousands of stimuli filter through the mind in a full day and to bring a moment of one-pointed focus can dramatically change the strength and duration of stillness in your life. With a quiet mind stillness arises from within the body.

Peace of mind, depth of breath, and integrity of action all come from a place of innate stillness that already exists within you. You may discover the world around slowing down to meet you.