Thursday, December 17, 2009

Cherish Silence

If you never insist on quiet time alone, if you allow your senses to be constantly bombarded, if you mindlessly parrot the thoughts and actions and styles of others, if you become addicted to the crashing din of daily life, you will never discover the person you are or what you need or what you have to give. You will swirl around in a cultural backwash without the ability to chart your own course . . . . ever. Technology is an amazing gift but let it be your slave and not your master.

You are an original unique creation and not simply a faded copy of others. The more time you devote to exploring the music of your breathing, the more time you meditate, the more quiet time you schedule, the greater your awareness will be of who you are. Don’t live as a stranger to yourself.

Schedule time each week without talking, without listening to radio or watching television. Yup. No IPod. Your inner spirit will never raise its voice. If you are very very quiet, you may learn to listen. As Baba Ram Dass said, “The quieter you become, the more you hear.”

Be well. Breathe beautifully.