My first connection to stillness came by way of an unexpected diagnosis.

“I think you have Parkinson’s,” he said as he placed his hand gently over mine. In that moment, all thought was suspended. Pema Chodron describes it as the ‘gap’.

“In any given moment,” she reminds. “you could just listen. In any moment, you could put your full attention on the immediacy of your experience.”

In that moment, I set aside all barriers to being, and instead just simply listened.

For the first time, I actually heard the stillness. They say, the quieting of mind is the most powerful meditation. In the laying down of these internal barriers, we are finally able to experience the fullness of this life.

“Only when the ocean is calm,” shares Thich Nhat Hanh, “can we see the moon reflected in it.”

Living from a space of silence is often misunderstood. Rather than clearing those external distractions, we should learn to remain ‘undisturbed’ by them.

And whereas, Parkinson’s may have slowed my pace, it has accelerated this path to mindfulness.

In every challenge, my darlings – there is a gift.

“What you need, what we all need,” he writes “is silence. Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of your heart to be heard.”

And so, on this day, my darlings – I’m wishing you the blessing of silence. That we may someday know the grace of a heart worth discovering.

Namaste ~