Care of Soul Encore: Breaking Through the Noise

It seems like the noise, confusion, and tension of the world just keeps building and building. I am back in Maine and contemplating the ever-increasing noise of daily life. It’s the perfect time to look again at how we can break through the noise.

I talk a lot about how silence and stillness nourish me. Every year, I retreat with my wife to Maine to breathe in silence and stillness. As I sit on my favorite coast listening to the choppy waves signal a coming storm, I become more deeply aware of the music of silence and stillness in my life. I am learning that silence is not about escaping life, its challenges, nor its pleasures. Stillness is not about hiding from other people in my house or sitting isolated in a meditative pose. Our traditional notions about stillness and silence can be surrounded by noise. You can be alone in a quiet room or a mountaintop and still be surrounded by noise. Noise isn’t always sound waves we can physically hear. Noise can be grasping after something – not being present to the reality “that is”. For example, we may wish for a better past, a bigger (or smaller) house, and so on. Our brains are crowded with the noise of “shoulda, woulda, coulda” and “what if’s”.

Stillness is quiet surrender to realities that exist on multiple planes and knowing that we are not limited to the small stories that circumscribe our lives. We are not limited to the stories of our jobs or careers, our marital or economic status. Stillness lets us know that we are more than our labels, identities and that we are not limited by what we have or haven’t done, nor by the mistakes or accomplishments of our pasts.

What I find most important about this time of retreat is that I have the precious opportunity to settle more fully into life – as it is. Stillness permits me to understand how limitless my life is. Stillness allows me to accept that my life is a blessing to share – just as other people’s lives are blessings to me (whether I agree with them on anything of importance to me or not). With this realization, I feel at ease and calm. A quiet space opens up when I am still and allows new perspectives on the daily life challenges we experience as human beings. With stillness, I am learning the importance of not grasping – for a better version of myself or anyone else.

Be well,

Bill