Creative Action Springs from Silence
As the cycles turn in my life, I am in the midst of my 57th year. According to astrology, this particular time of life is a major moment of life review, integration, release of old stories and reinvention. Not surprisingly the range of my outer activities has become streamlined at the moment with primary focus on two things:
Writing a book about leadership
Training my horses
Drinking my afternoon cup of tea, our monthly day of Silence next weekend was percolating in consciousness. Sitting here in the misty, overcast quiet of this late summer day, it dawned on me that these two particular activities are honing my practice of Silence in a most specific way. Both of them require a quality of surrender into silence. Prior to my daily writing, after I have planted my bottom in my chair and before the actual flow of thinking from which new insights and ideas come, there is this space of silence ~ a certain kind of quiet emptying. Although I may be rustling around with a page or two, re-reading a chapter, listening for an entry point, the abiding energy is one of silence and alert relaxation. Each morning when I walk out to halter up my horses and open myself to the active process of greeting them, seeing where they are at, discerning what might be the best simple starting activity most precisely accurate for them at this moment in time ~ once again a certain kind of quiet emptying occurs. In the midst of this quiet emptying, as my focus comes fully into the moment, all my senses seem to automatically open. Noticing places of tension in my body, I exhale deeply or shake or stretch. Although images of possible things to work on move through consciousness, I take time to watch my horse with soft eyes or simply walk around near them perceiving their overall mood and atmosphere. Slowly, or sometimes very quickly, into this space of silence and full aliveness, action begins ~ often I am being moved and hardly aware of the movement until the interaction has taken place and I once again return to emptiness and observation. Looking up at the horse, I notice their ears perked up and ready for the next initiation ~ or I become aware at my computer that an hour and half has just passed and several pages of writing have tumbled forth. Although I have no way of proving that my monthly practice contributes to the effectiveness of my current activities, I have to believe that there is a direct correlation. Meditation in Motion ~ Silence in the Aliveness. Life being lived. Enjoy your silent Sunday, however it unfolds for you. With love and blessings, Peri (and Barbara)