Читать книгу Living Long, Living Passionately - Karen Casey - Страница 9

Being at one with the quiet spaces within gently clears the mind, allows the solution to a nagging problem to surface, and draws us close to God and one another. In that closeness, our healing lies. All our answers reside there too. We simply need do nothing to initiate the healing we seek. The healing everyone seeks. It waits for us. It waits for all of us. And when we are ready, it will come. It will come freely.

When I first learned that we need do nothing, that most of what ailed me—ailed all of us, in fact—was rooted in the insatiable ego, I breathed easier. I still didn't understand how things would change, but I did breathe easier. I had always assumed I needed to be busy acquiring information, money, lovers, degrees, friends, accolades. To be at rest, to trust that what I needed to do would present itself to me when the time was right, was unfathomable. I know I'm not alone in this assumption. I believe that what's true for me is true for all of us. Quit chasing. Sit a while. Hear the silence. It will speak to us. Maybe not the first time you and I sit quietly, but as we cultivate the joy of silence, that which we seek will come.

One of the marvelous prizes that comes with aging is that we do have more time, time that seems even more precious now that we are on the “backside of life,” to sit quietly in our favorite comfy chair, or on the deck overlooking a garden or a lake, or in a nearby park. We have time to contemplate the stillness. No one can rush us anymore, unless we allow it. We choose the activities we want to experience. Sitting quietly is one of the sweetest ones to call to us.

Wherever you are sitting right now reading this, let's try a tiny experiment. Lay the book aside. Put your feet flat on the floor. If it's comfortable, close your eyes, but not until your hands are resting in your lap. Listen to the quiet all around you. Feel your chest rising with each breath. Notice the images that pass through your mind. With very quiet lips, blow the images away. Absorb the emptiness. When another image comes, blow it away too. Because you can, sit still for the next few minutes. Voice a quiet request to God: “How can I be of help before this day ends?” Sit a spell longer, then open your eyes slowly. Now, trust that what moves your way is your opportunity to offer help. Don't judge it. Simply do what feels right and natural.

Perhaps it seems that life can't be this simple. But it can. No one is watching over your shoulder. We are free to simply be. The years of spinning our wheels are over. Many would say we didn't ever have to spin them even when we did, but we did that which we saw others do. Now we can be the trendsetters. Now we can show others a new way to be. A quiet way to be. A way that promises the rich reward of experiencing the present moment. Only in the present moment can we be healed from the wounds of old. Only in the present moment can we sense God. Only in the present moment can we know our next “suggestion,” the assignment that will invite another soul into the experience of healing that we have found. In the stillness that we cultivated are the only suggestions we need to follow.

Amen. Amen.

If a man would travel far along the mystic road, he must learn to desire God intensely but in stillness, passively and yet with all his heart and mind and strength.

—Aldous Huxley

Let's consider some truths before moving ahead:

1. The desire to know God is required to experience God.

2. The wish to experience stillness requires that we let our mind step away from chaos for a spell.

3. Our woundedness is a pathway to seeking connection with others.

4. Our woundedness is our opportunity to experience forgiveness.

5. Breathing freely is our birthright.

6. Experiencing peace is a decision.

7. Teaching others is the number one fact of our life. It's happening every moment.

8. Teach only love.

What next?

Listen. Love. Pray. Forgive. And then forgive again.

Go forth today with this thought: I will act from the place of love in my heart. Again and again.

At day's end, make a note in your journal describing your interactions.

What pleased you?

What will you change before going forth tomorrow?