What if you sat in a quiet chair in a quiet room all day? What would you experience?

Most people wouldn’t do that for all the money in the world. So addicted they are to external stimulus.

“Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within,” said Franz Kafka.

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen.

Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

The problem with people who have not learned to experience a mind shift is that they race around trying to fix what’s outside them all day. Trying to alter the external world, giving into the false impression that the outside means everything.

Pascal said, “All people’s troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly in a room.”

So what happens for people when they sit quietly with no external input to their brain? Nothing but the birds outside and the wind in the willow tree.

What happens?

The mind settles down and begins to reorder itself into a state of harmony and grace.

True power begins to gather. Clarity rings like a crystal tapped by a finger.

A subtle shift occurs. Subtle but major.

[Steve Chandler]

This is why I go to this place again this year: www.thesanctuarythailand.com

While I agree with all of the above, I have a hard time “being still” in my own home or the environment I’m used to. There’s always something to do. There’s always this sort of guilt about being “lazy”.

But hey, the solution is to simply take myself out of my environment and go somewhere where there’s no guilt, no judgement, nothing to do except gently rocking in a hammock for as long as I want and letting my mind settle.

The Chinese say, “If you want a hot cup of tea, pour the cold one out of the cup first.”

So if you’re looking for clarity and new inspiration, break your daily habits, take your mind, body and spirit somewhere where you can allow yourself to be still.

Relaxation is in the mind. A relaxed mind sees more opportunities and makes better decisions and is open for even more creativity.

See the related post “Nurturing the gardener“.