As the title of this article came to me, part of my brain wanted me to say ‘The Science of Accomplishment” instead of “The Silence of Accomplishment.” There’s more certainty in the word ‘science’ isn’t there. Our personality likes it better. It feels more real.
But that’s not the word I chose. I chose Silence. Or rather it chose me during one of my recent meditations, actually.
As we start the New Year, most everyone is focused on what they want to accomplish during this year. Accomplishment is a word we use to describe things we create or achieve. It is our nature to want to accomplish things, to create things, to express our Self and to serve humanity.
We want to evolve into the next iteration of our Self. We want to express more of our Essence in the world. In my work I call this conscious evolution. It’s an impulse we all have, this impulse to evolve. We either align with it or not.
We also have the impulse to survive. That impulse is also innate and it fights with the impulse to evolve. Therefore, accomplishment can also be created from a disconnection with Essence, from a motivation to survive, to stay safe. Many people may live their entire life from this motivation and accomplish many things in terms of success and security. There’s nothing wrong with that but it is not the kind of accomplishment I’m talking about here.
There is an kind of accomplishment that is rooted in Silence.
Over New Year’s I attended a four-day Vipassana Silent Retreat. We were in silence the whole time with one another, about 30 of us. We did a sitting meditation 6 times a day for 45 minutes each. We did walking meditation 3 or 4 times a day for 30-45 minutes. We ate each meal in silence and maintained “noble silence” throughout. Robert Brumet did a dharma talk every day about the nature of Self based on Buddhism and the Vipassana training he has had. There was lots of Silence!
When I was thirty-four years old, I moved into an ashram where I lived for four years. There, I ate every meal in silence. Since that time—since those four years of training in spiritual lifestyle, mindfulness, meditation and yoga, I’ve known the power of that deep silence and have allowed it to influence my life in every way.
But this recent silent retreat was the first time I’ve actually been in intentional silence with other people since my ashram years. It was like coming home, in a way. It’s had an impact on my coaching and mentoring. I’ve noticed in all my sessions since the retreat a new depth of awareness and connection with everyone. It really is true that we are all connected, so my ‘going deep’ will support your journey also. I’ve always been committed to supporting you to go deeper within, and to see the ‘unreality’ of the personality, but now I am experiencing more of my own Spirit/Soul being present in my coaching and mentoring work. As a Spiritual Mentor, it is essential that I always develop my own experiences of accessing the dimension of Spirit and Soul, which is why I did the retreat. I also considered it training and knew it would impact my work with all of you.
The Silence that all the mystics talk about—it is within you. It is within all of us. Here’s how Rumi describes it:
Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world.
The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same.
Every wonderful sight will vanish, every sweet word will fade,
But do not be disheartened,
The source they come from is eternal, growing,
Branching out, giving new life and new joy.
Why do you weep?
The source is within you
And this whole world is springing up from it.
The whole world is springing up from it…. My challenge to you is to go into The Silence. Make it a practice. Know that your accomplishment and the path to the accomplishments you want to achieve this year are truly within you.
You don’t need to do a retreat but you do need to create consistency day to day. Consistency of becoming silent, exploring the space. You have to touch it, to feel it and experience it. (And if you can do a retreat that is great also. I’ll guide you to choose a good one if I can.)
Here are steps that can take you into the silence:
- Make a time each day to sit in silence.
- The same time each day works best.
- Close your eyes. Spine straight. Belly soft. And focus on your breath. Feel it coming into your nose and back out again.
- Sit and focus in this way for as long as you can.
- Notice your body as well, but always come back to your breath.
- Then notice your thoughts also, how they arise. And come back to the breath.
- As you sit, know that you are Spirit. Know that you are Silence. That there is a deep Silence within you from which all things arise. Your ideas, your thoughts, your path. At the deepest level, the thoughts are not those of the mind, but of God thinking through you.
- To get to these thoughts, you must become Still. You must touch the silence.
This is the practice.
Many of you have shared your goals for the year with me. They include writing, manifesting a divine relationship, clarifying your purpose, starting a business, bringing your deeper self into your existing business, and even letting go of some aspects of your ‘past’. No matter what you dare to accomplish, I challenge you to foster your relationship to the deep Silence within you; to let your actions come from there, to let your ideas come from that deep place.
These are the kinds of accomplishments the world needs. We don’t need replications. We need things that are original. This is how original work is created. From deep inside. Your Spirit came here to do this. It’s time to trust in your deeper Self. Won’t it be wonderful to look back a year from now and to literally see how transformed you are because you trusted and listened to the Silence?
Lastly, I do have a few places available for the Breakthrough Session 2015 so CLICK HERE if you want to sign up for one of those. It is a great way to start the year for sure! During this session (and all of my sessions) we will tap into this space of Silence I’m speaking of here. And we will listen together for its direction.
For those who are new to working with me and would like to talk about possibly working together this year CLICK HERE.
