Texing
Facebook
T.V.
Talking to people
Did I mention no texting ?
Nothing that can occupy your mind…Nothing at all…. for 2 days…Really…
Seems strange when you think about it in fact a bit scary, just think for two days you’ll have no contact with another person. The first thing that pops into your mind is how am I going to take two days away from my work or my family?
That was my initial thought, then I started to think about it a bit more , what is so important that I’m unable to unplug for a few days ? Is the world going to stop ? Not a chance…However there is always something that needs attention !!
I decided that any journey begins with a starting point and it doesn’t matter if you begin with two days or just a few hours you just need to get started you’ll figure out how to extend the time. Over the years I’ve had some experience with breaks of time where I’ve had little or no contact with people, the only issue was I never fully unplugged from electronic devices.
After that weekend I’ve grown to enjoy time alone once a month or so. Although I had short breaks of silence I never was able to totally unplug myself, I never knew how important that was until I spent that weekend alone.
When you “unplug” it feels strange at first…It has been said that great minds seek solitude frequently, it is here where your natural intuition appears.Find a comfortable place, It can be your office, bedroom, the backyard, find a place where you can spend at least 15 minutes each day to just “sit” in the silence.
It’s time to make that connection with our authentic self…
During that time in the silence your mind may go from thing to thing not focusing on one subject matter for long, Don’t worry this is perfectly normal, you may began to focus on why that is ?? Then it’s time to let go of all thought…slow down, relax …before long the thoughts will began to slow down and then…a small “break” in thought… You will feel totally relaxed like connecting with a part of your mind you’ve never experienced before. The only thoughts that should be entering your mind love, gratefulness, faith, and happiness. It may be a short ” dash” of time though, Don’t get discouraged…
That “dash” is addictive and quite tranquil.
One of the biggest mistakes we can make is expecting to get something from this time alone we must learn to be patient but persistent at the same time.
This time in the silence is like an extended 15 minute sit on steroids…What it means is get in a comfortable spot and just relax.
I’ve found out it works best if you plan ahead for the things you’ll need during the day like food and water keep them close by so when your hungry you’re not distracted thinking about what to eat (I did that last week)
My wish for you is to embrace this silence exercise on a regular basis, don’t stress out if you can only get away for a few hours congratulate yourself that you took the first step in this process, we’ll all improve with time, just like going to the gym, the frequency with which you lift weights the stronger you’ll become.
Did this help you? If so I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on Facebook.
~Steven~
And I thought I was the sensible one. Thanks for setting me sttiaghr.