Still
Hello
Firstly, thank you for the kind and interested personal reflections that I’ve been sent following last month’s blog on being comfortably uncomfortable and Jackdaws!
The blog seemed to echo with people for different reasons. Feedback ranged from the post being helpful for reflecting on psychological safety and comfort zones, to deepening or beginning a new interest in corvids, and Jackdaws in particular.
I’m glad that the writing is resonating, and that my love of corvids has influenced anyone to care more deeply about these awesome beings.
Over a year ago now I started writing a monthly post on my website which began with three blogs on the theme of stillness. I now publish the blog on Substack and LinkedIn. This month I’m saving a little of the long time it takes to write these posts, by editing and republishing the June 2023 version of the third blog in that stillness series. Considering stilling the mind and the sun standing still.
Circling back a year on, we are heading again into the week which holds the UK’s longest day. Late evening, Thursday 20 June, 2024, we will be in the time of the solstice: ‘sun stands still’. I think of solstice as a whole day/evening, yet in reality, according to the Greenwich Observatory, the solstice is an exact moment in time that falls this year at 21.51 BST. This moment is when whichever hemisphere you are in is most tilted towards the sun. At this moment, the Northern Hemisphere will have its summer solstice, and the Southern Hemisphere will have its winter solstice. It is swap-time on 21 December when we will be marking our Northern midwinter, and the South will be in midsummer. Sun stands still. Maybe we can all take a moment of stillness at 21.51 on Thursday. Take a few more moments if you can!
The poet William Butler Yeats’ said:
‘We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us, that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.’
There is such sense for me in these words. About quieting our own noise, in order to notice and allow a more fullness of all presence. About not clinging on so hard to ourselves, and getting out of the way of ourselves in order to take the time to be. To be a being.
Helen MacDonald, makes an observation early on in the book H is for Hawk. They describe the ‘sixth sense of the practised animal trainer’. Making yourself disappear in order to be closer to another being. MacDonald notes when you become at one with a hawk:
‘You are exercising what the poet Keats called your chameleon quality, the ability to “tolerate a loss of self and a loss of rationality by trusting in the capacity to recreate oneself in another character or another environment”. …it’s part of being a watcher, forgetting who you are and putting yourself in the thing you are watching.’
Thich Nacht Han said:
‘The river must be calm
to reflect the full moon
The clear mind has insight into
the true nature of things’
Mindfulness practice trains us to look at our thoughts rather than from them. My mind is all over the place, curious, speedily changing direction. Sometimes the drifts, wild goose chases and rabbit holes are magical, pleasant, comfortable. Sometimes they are truly unpleasant, with much inner criticism, loud judging, fear and feeling pain. Whether pleasant, unpleasant, or something inbetween, our thoughts and feelings are not necessarily facts. Listening deeply, training ourselves to notice, creating the conditions for moments of stillness can create precious opportunities to quieten down, to be still, to let be. To check in with our amazing breathing bodies. To notice other beings.
I rarely have a ‘clear’ mind, although through practice I can get closer to a stiller calmer one. I’m not an animal trainer, yet in practice, I attempt to still my thoughts, create less choppy waters, become a watcher. Trying to train my unruly mischievous mind can feel like observing a particularly wild being. Earlier this week, my mind seemed goldfinch-like, so brightly coloured, vivacious, connected with others, and apparently cheerful. Today I have been mired in deep dark. Fluidity and change at every turn, and wow can my imagination run!
The world can be a noisy place. The sounds around us are not always pleasant and can threaten to overwhelm us, especially when we have no control or choice on the external racket. Listening deeply, stilling the mind, definitely comes easier when the external world is also quieter. Our internal soundscape is another matter, and can also be overwhelming. We do have some control in reducing the volume of our internal chatter.
Can we create a little bit of quiet, a moment of still water, a calm river, in order to better reflect ‘the true nature of things’, to allow others to live with a ‘fiercer’ being because of our quiet?
So, to Open Practice! This month will be a 30-40 minute online moment of stillness and some quiet for anyone who wants to attend.
This month’s is next Monday 17 June 6.30 pm.
If you’d like to come, please let me know and I’ll send you a Zoom link and details. Please do invite anyone else who might like to try a meditation practice. No assumption, no judging, no previous experience required, and no need to turn your camera on if you’d rather not. Pay what you can. No questions asked. Suggested donation: £2-£5.
The sessions have a loose focus (often related to themes that reoccur in my individual practice and when I’m working with others). The aim is to shift our awareness into the present moment and create (even if only a tiny sliver) a chance to notice ourselves between the many distractions of having a life, and all the stuff we have going on.
If you know anyone who would like to delve deeper into mindfulness and extend their skills; I run Breathworks accredited Mindfulness courses and will be setting new dates soon.
New course dates will also be posted on Outside Thought website.
I run bespoke courses, one to one and small group sessions. Please do contact me if you’d like to chat about a course, are thinking about learning and practicing some skills to allow a little bit more peace of mind in this challenging world we live in. Or if you’d like a top-up on your existing practices and training.
I work outdoors, indoors, or online, focused on reflective practices and mindfulness techniques. I am an expert facilitator, I’m currently facilitating leadership programmes, organisational away days, workshops, planning sessions and considering the yet to be imagined…
Wishing you well
Thank you for reading
Karen