Writing deeply or creating anything deeply requires deep listening. In order to listen deeply to ourselves, we must be willing to enter the silence.
Our tendency as a culture is to avoid silence, to run from it, and essentially we end up running from ourselves. We run from what most needs our attention, and we turn to compulsive busyness, eating too much, spending too much, spending too much time on Facebook, drinking too much, etc.
We can learn to view silence as an ally. Taking the time to enter silence and practice deep listening to ourselves, we make room to hear what it is that most needs our attention. Our anticipation of this experience is usually much more anxiety provoking than the experience itself.
Once we really hear what it is that most needs our attention, we are free to choose to be with it, to offer our presence. We come to trust that we are cultivating the heart to be present with whatever arises. We learn that the few moments that it takes to be present with ourselves can save us hours of suffering in the running and the compulsive doing whatever we do to avoid it.
Robert Sardello, in Silence, writes “…in Silence everything displays its depth, and we find that we are part of the depth of everything around us.” In connecting deeply with ourselves in the Silence, we experience a sense of belonging to the world around us.
When we listen deeply to ourselves, we are able to hear what most needs our kind and loving attention in order to heal and grow. Healing begins with turning toward what most needs our attention and approaching it with kindness.
See if you can spend 15 minutes in silence today. Listen deeply within and notice what most needs your kind and loving attention. Just listen inside to what needs to be heard. Write about your experience or create something in response to your experience in the silence.
Contact Jen for a free 15-minute consultation to see if you’re a good fit for working together.
This post was originally published on December 3, 2010 and has been revised and updated.