I wrote this article for a Chinese magazine, SISTERS. It was published in their October 2011 issue.
We are living in a world where being busy is the common denominator as to the worth of your existence. The more busy you are, it means that business must be good for you. If you are sitting alone and doing nothing, it may mean that you are lazy or without saying out loud, it also means that you are not successful.
With such remarks about work, you are already stressed out trying to look busy, trying to fit in. Unconsciously, you are so stressed out you shouted at your son for not able to tie his shoelaces. You scorned at some bad news you read about in the newspaper. You reacted so negatively to all the happenings and not knowing why. One thing for sure, it is stress. Yet, stress is not taken seriously. It is not often talked about because not many of us regard stress as a physical dysfunction. Until when someone is diagnosed with some heart conditions, then medicine is prescribed to relieve the heart discomfort. But we know now that treating heart condition by concentrating on the effects of the disease, then trying to get a cure for the effects instead of learning about the cause of the heart disease will get us nowhere.
Instead, it is time to sit down, be in silence and consciously think about healthy thoughts – where health is the original condition of the body when we were first created.
Being in silence, many may give it names and terms such as meditation, yoga, tantric and nirvana, but I would just call it silence. So, being in silence is consciously not doing anything. It is not about contorting any of our body parts to achieve silence. Unless, you find it comfortable to cross your leg sitting upright in the lotus position, or turn your body upside down against the wall to feel liberated.
These are the seven easy steps to your personal private retreat wherever you are and whenever you want to be in silence:
Step 1 –Fix yourself a ritualistic five-minute “me-time” to go into silence the moment you wake up.
Step 2 – Sit upright in a position your find most comfortable, and close your eyes.
Step 3 –Take a deep breath and exhale. Do it three times, while you relax more and more each time your breathe in and out.
Step 4 –Free your mind of all thoughts for five minutes.
Step 5 –After five minutes, with your eyes still closed, say an affirmation to yourself. For example: “I am happy.”
Step 6 –Take a strong and deep breath, as if you are inhaling your affirmation into every cell in your body.
Step 7 –Open your eyes and begin your day of work.
