March 2
Leaning Into Inner Silence
“To bring some solitude into our lives is one of the most necessary but also most difficult disciplines. Even though we may have a deep desire for real solitude, we also experience a certain apprehension as we approach that solitary place and time. As soon as we are alone, without people to talk with, books to read, TV to watch, or phone calls to make, an inner chaos opens up in us.
This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering a private room and shutting the door, therefore, does not mean that we immediately shut out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings, and impulsive desires. On the contrary, we often find that our inner distractions manifest themselves to us in full force.
We often use these outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. It is thus not surprising that we have a difficult time being alone. The confrontation with our inner conflicts can be too painful for us to endure.
This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important. Solitude is not a spontaneous response to an occupied and preoccupied life. There are too many reasons not to be alone."
—Making All Things New, by Henri Nouwen
It doesn't feel welcoming. Not at first. An empty room in your heart and mind. A place you don't visit often. It's openness. Space unfamiliar.
So much fills our moments that when this much is emptied out, cleared away for a bit, we realize we are unused to the freedom that comes from letting our minds and hearts stretch out, breathe in, relax, inhabit a place without limits. What will happen when we give ourselves time and opportunity to regularly be free?
The reason I often write in the morning, usually in the dark, with only a dim light to see, is that I intentionally try to create space for my mind and heart to speak. I seek solitude, without the distraction of the outside world. This helps me listen—heed what it is my heart is feeling. Through this practice of listening to my heart, in a quiet space, I am better able to connect with my deeper emotions.
In these quiet spaces, poetry can come. Words and images will rise that express our hearts. In silence, we can better engage with our heart's attempt at communication, better able to listen and articulate its deepest whispers.
Will you join me this week? Let’s write from the place of mental and emotional wide-open space that comes with the practice of silence and solitude. Write only after first allowing your mind to clear, to relax. Get yourself in a physical area of quiet—or create one for yourself. Stay here and allow your mind and heart to rest.
Be attentive to what springs up after you have been in this space of silence for five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes (how long can you go?) Try not to be physically active. Relax. Breathe deeply. Get comfortable. Slow. Let your mind quiet. And then see what lines form in your mind, your heart. Inner silence is going to speak in ways that surprise you. See what poem rises from this.
