By Leo Babauta

“The quieter you turn into, the extra you’ll be able to hear.”

― Rumi

There’s not often a second within the day when most of us cease transferring and cease the noise. For many of us, we’re working, we’re transferring, we’re driving, we’re listening to issues on our headphones, we’re watching issues, we’re filling up the little areas by checking our telephones.

This isn’t mistaken — it’s a really human tendency to need to be busy, productive, filling each area with one thing helpful or entertaining.

However what if we may let ourselves turn into quiet?

What occurs is one thing magical: we begin to uncover a brand new method of being alive, and a deeper expertise begins to disclose itself to us.

What does it imply to turn into quiet? There isn’t a easy reply to this, however listed below are a few of what I’ve been studying:

• It means slowing down for no less than a couple of minutes, bodily — chorus from transferring round doing numerous issues, chorus from doing a bunch of duties in your laptop or telephone, however as a substitute simply sit or come to some sort of stillness or slowness.
• It doesn’t imply it is advisable to meditate — although in fact that’s one approach to do it. As a substitute, you could possibly go for a quiet stroll in nature, or sit watching the sundown, or lie in a hammock and simply really feel the breeze.
• Transfer away from expertise, no less than for a couple of minutes. Disconnect. Let go of studying and listening as nicely. Simply sit nonetheless or transfer slowly, not attempting to get something carried out or devour something.
• It means you let go of being productive or being entertained. You don’t want to attain something, show something, be excited. You let go of those sorts of compulsions, even for a couple of minutes.
• It means you don’t have to really feel a sure method, or keep away from feeling a sure method. For instance, lots of people need to really feel productive, competent, entertained, so we do no matter we will to get these sorts of emotions. Additionally, we don’t need to really feel bored, lonely, unhappy, helpless … so we do all the things we will with a view to keep away from these emotions. Changing into quiet means we will enable ourselves to really feel nonetheless we really feel, simply permitting it to be our expertise. This provides us a freedom for all times to be simply as it’s, and for ourselves to be simply how we’re, nonetheless we’re feeling.

Stillness and quiet aren’t the sexiest issues, the place you may make some huge cash or get a bunch of followers or viewers. We don’t often notice we’re craving quiet. However in my expertise, that is the place the deepest expertise of life lies, within the quietude.

What would possibly you hear within the stillness and quiet? What life has to say.

“In stillness, the world is restored.” — Lao Tzu