Finding Stillness

The Art of Stillness –

The art of stillness is an acquired skill and with that skill you can create art. I relate to life as art, and so you are creating or discovering you, a work of art. Through stillness you discover the connection to your essence, the you within you. Stillness is one of the places where your soul hangs out, and where with practice you can learn to be open to hear it. The you that is you.

To develop stillness there are some helpful techniques. The stillness quality of being does not include doing or exertion. There is no mountain to climb mentally or physically. You are not trying to run yourself to an endorphin high. So, your first obstacle may be boredom. There is no distraction here, no phone to check, no client to manage, no kids to raise. There is no outer objective for stillness as it is an inward accomplishment. You are being still with yourself.

Stillness can be found in some activities like unscripted dance, a walking meditation, a shower even. A key is a still mind, there is no thinking mind in stillness. When using dance to locate your stillness know it is movement without agenda and an oxymoron of life. You are Looking for methods that develop your capacity of being with you.

For instance, at first while sitting in nature, you might need music to distract your brain, a thinking brain is an obstacle to stillness. For me movement helped allot in learning to be stillness; it certainly helped allot with the initial boredom and overthinking. We are so used to doing, that being may feel foreign at first.

Over time, I have come to truly appreciate being with myself by the river, or a boulder, or sitting outside with the sun touching my face while a light cool breeze washes over me, just being, it is simply healing.

Total presence and permission to feel the dance step, the light of the sun on your cheek, the presence and magnificent of a boulder, and the beauty sometimes gentle sometimes raging of a mountain stream, it is awe inspiring. It is freeing, it is a moment of stillness, out of time. The art of communion with your soul.

This sounds simple I know, yet there are obstacles to overcome and it takes practice, along with a willingness to know yourself, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. Stillness will also bring up the thing you haven’t dealt with yet, so to truly reach it, requires doing your work of self-honesty. Where are you selfish? Where does your life need your presence or effort? Are your coping tools working? Do you need to develop better relationship skills? Do you have unhealed family or divorce wounds? What are you having a hard time accepting? The list goes on and on. Stillness is not a space to walk into until you are ready to meet yourself. For it’s about authenticity, and the realness of you.

Can stillness be faked, yes. It’s easy to look still while being busy. If your mind is racing, strategizing, thinking you are not being still. Stillness comes with a quality of peacefulness, an inner calm, perhaps even a connection to your surroundings. You don’t just see the tree, you connect to its presence. Stillness is a state of being. From that state of being you can connect to your own essence and truth, your soul. Stillness is a place where communion with your soul happens. Your soul rarely speaks with you while you are in a state of doing, and even if it did, we are all too busy to listen, while we focus on the acts of doing. Culturally doing is seen as valuable and being is seen as a waste of time, so you have to be a bit of a rebel to be, to connect to the moment, to life, and to your essence.

I will discuss some obstacles to stillness in next podcast. For now, ask yourself am I willing to take the time to learn stillness, to develop my inner knowing and peace, to pause in the moment, to feel presence of life around me, to walk the journey of life to find the real jewel, me.

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Our Author L. Kay Smith – Copyright © 2025

Used with Permission – New Moon Sisters Inc. 2025