A shout out for stillness

Recently I went for a walk along the River Thames. 

With the sky clearing after a rainy morning, I walked westwards towards the setting sun. All at once, in the midst of all the activity around me, I felt a sense of stillness. 

Light sparkling off the water. 

Rowers gliding along the river. 

People walking with their dogs along the path. 

And me, feeling something that I’m calling stillness. A palpable sense of lively peace. 

Have you ever been doing something when you felt something like this?

As if time slowed down and your senses came alive?

Were you in nature seeing something remarkable? Or with loved ones when everything was flowing along? Or doing something challenging that was also enjoyable?

Wherever you find it there’s something nourishing and strengthening about this. 

We define stillness as the absence of motion but of course, things are always moving. Whether it be light sparkling, rowers gliding, people and dogs walking. Or bodies breathing and electrons whizzing around in atoms. 

So what we call stillness is really a sense of stillness. A kind of peacefulness that is alive and awake. 

Most types of meditation involve being still. And most people find this hard, falling asleep or crawling up the walls. But with good guidance, it becomes totally doable and a resource you can draw on in the midst of any day.