The Sanctuary of Stillness

We are social creatures and relationships are part of our DNA - we’ve long existed within tribes and communities. Culturally our sense of belonging has relied on acceptance from the whole, this has become increasingly more prevalent with social media where benchmarking popularity by how many followers and likes we gain. To prevent a sense of isolation we plug into our cultural mainframe where media transmits the cadence of our life. The reverberation of negative mind speak makes it hard to hear our own voice and spirit. As worry consumes, we comfort binge on TV, alcohol, snacks and food. Why do we have such an uncomfortable relationship with being still, silent and alone?

It true to say that often in these times of adversity the things we thought important somehow fall away…. Into an unconscious de-cluttering of the superfluous. These unexpected events can lead towards an express re-evaluation of our lives, viewing it through a new set of lenses so we can see what is essential to living more consciously. The word isolation immediately often imbues people with a sense of exclusion and restriction. The first priority is to change your perspective moving from restriction to retreat, start thinking of your home as a refuge, a sanctuary and how you would create this? It then becomes more about honouring yourself by taking time to sink down, fill up and expand, get comfortable with slow time.

In a world that’s programmed for taking action we seldom pause to invest in soft time - In Taoism life is seen as a dance between Yin and Yang in which the two forces are of equal importance, in fact the Yin, the more reflective and inward principle actually gives birth to Yang - the action. Somehow we’ve lost this relationship with life, its time to get comfortable with being still. Try to embrace stillness and take some essential time out to review your life and the way you live it, is it a cup that’s full to the brim, half full or empty? Now is a time to review and implement new strategies.