Sitting in Stillness Opens A Heart

Several weeks ago I tweaked my back (again) and spent five days resting, moving slowly, doing virtually nothing.

I couldn't walk the dogs or do the laundry or run errands. I couldn't sit at my computer for very long. I couldn't do any of the things that I usually do to distract me from my real heart work.

But it was such a gift, really, to have my body step in for me and give me what I most needed--time to let go and do nothing.

Because it is in this quiet space of stillness that we can choose to release the struggle and begin to ask, what do we really want.

The weeks leading up to my tweaked back had been very stressful, emotional, and challenging and I was feeling especially agitated, restless, uncertain. I had big choices to make and I had no clarity about anything.

I knew that what I most needed was to let go of all of the struggle and just step away from myself and create some space.

But I was too caught up in it all to do that.

And then I tweaked my back and had all the space in the world.

Now, when I'm not overly stressed, I do have a habit of creating quiet time in my life on a regular basis. And so, when faced with this sudden stillness, I was able to relax into it, grateful, even, for the opportunity, even though it was physically painful.

And in the stillness of not working, not housekeeping, not care taking, I could feel myself letting go of the struggle.

I was taking deeper breaths. I jou
aled. And I got very clear that I wanted to manifest more opportunities for community creativity in 2011.

Not surprisingly, as soon as I named and claimed this, emails appeared in my Inbox with opportunities to do just that. (Really!)

And I was standing straight again, walking my regular pace. I felt a lightness in my body and so much excitement in my heart for these new possibilities.

Struggle is hard. Stillness can be uncomfortable. But, for me, leaning into that quiet space is the only way to let go and discover what my heart really wants.

So how can you create some quiet stillness in your life?

Here are just a few suggestions. I'd love to hear your ideas.

• practice yoga
• take a long walk in nature
• listen to music without words
• color, doodle, draw without expectation
• take a nap in the middle of the day
• massage your dog or cat
• play an instrument
• lie in the grass and watch the clouds
• go on a weekend retreat