Spring is my favourite time of year. It’s alive and vibrant with colours, sounds and smells. I love waking up early and spending my mornings in silent contemplation. This has been a practice of mine for many years. The sound of traffic, the birds chirping and coffee brewing calls forward a deep capacity for listening and helps me remember the ease of simply being here.
The cool mornings wake up my senses and warm afternoons allow me to slip into a drowsiness that nourishes my soul.
Our internal and external environments are constantly changing but the practice of silent contemplation is always the same. Contemplation is a gentle practice of simply being here. It’s a practice of meeting what’s here in each moment including our shifting and changing internal environment. Just as there is always something new in our external environment there is also something new happening inside.
Let’s practice together:
Take a moment right now to simply notice what is happening around you. Just look around. Allow your gaze to slowly move around the room. Maybe you’ve never really noticed the space you occupy.
And listen. What sounds are coming to you?
Notice the chair you’re sitting in or the ground you’re standing on.
Can you feel yourself connected to your environment?
Now bring your attention to your internal environment. Our internal world is made up of images, sensations, emotions and thoughts. There are some we call pleasurable and some painful.
Can you just allow it all without moving one muscle to change anything?
Can you notice your breath without trying to change it.
We live in a fast paced world that tells us that we must be busy and accomplishing something all the time. Our feet barely touch the ground never mind feeling our contact with the ground. We breathe shallow and our bodies are often full of undigested stress and trauma. We long for peace but we are stuck and stagnant in our conditioning.
“What do you really care about? What pulls you into here and now this minute”.
~ Adyashanti
All of Candace’s services are Trauma, PTSD, Complex Grief, Chronic Illness and Benzo withdrawal symptom sensitive.