The Gift of a Silent Mind
Many of us are meditators, students of meditation or wannabees. I have been them all…I think the reason it can be challenging to meditate is because there might be a misunderstanding of what a silent mind is all about. When I took the TM training many years ago- I found the focus on a mantra to be helpful to keep pesky thoughts from intruding and I also thought the point was to have No thoughts. Let me just say clearly- that is a futile goal. The personal mind is a thought machine – and that is its job.
A silent mind is more like – there are thoughts, and we allow them to come and go. We give them no attention-instead we drop behind all those thoughts to a place that is always present – peace – a sense as one of my teachers calls it, of coming home. Meditation has sometimes been entered as an acquisition – got to get that peace-a searching and striving. When it truth it’s knowing it is already present; it is who we are, and we can get there in a minute – we don’t need 30 minutes or 3 hours, although that is lovely…it’s a remembering, a moving away from our personal mind. When you experience this, it becomes easier and easier to have a silent mind – a mind that is quiet regardless of what is happening with our thoughts or in the world.
Since this is a series about gifting – you might ask – how do I give a silent Mind to another. And it’s another easy answer – by being in a place of peace yourself it will permeate the space you are in – whether that is a zoom space, a YouTube space, or outer space. 😊 And it begins to seep into the awareness of those you are interacting with, and they receive the gift (after all who doesn’t want peace of mind). I do this with my active terriers and when I am in my peace, they curl up near me for a snooze. (not always normal behavior for terriers.)
Once you stop looking and start noticing, it begins to show up in the most interesting places. Again, this same teacher pointed to the metaphors hidden in the Christmas Carol – Silent Night. When you strip away the judgements and any religious connotations – you can hear Wisdom speaking -silent night – holy night.
I couldn’t say I have a favorite rendering but the one included here is a top 5 selection. Give a gift to yourself of the beauty of your own quiet Mind and share it with everyone -Enjoy!
