I am sitting alone in the house, outside the air is cold, well freezing actually, at -10C.

Snow lies an inch thick on the balcony, and it is quiet, the sort of quiet that comes when people are not wanting to be outside.

I am peaceful. Sort of. Because paradoxically I long for this quiet, yet have a compelling egoic call to switch on the radio.., or the TV, or call someone on the phone…

What is that!! What is my inner voice saying to me – and why do I have this need to have talking or music to stroke my ears.  Is it just a desire for stimulation, or is it a wider attempt to divert myself from the state of being? Or are they both the same thing?

Today we are bombarded by clips. Clips of video, which in turn are even shorter two second scenes to keep the attention on the screen, clips of music, adverts, clips of stimulation like a sugar boost in a Twizzlers Sweet and Sour candy, clips of contact like a handshake or a cheek kiss.

And, I might also suggest, clips of regret, pain, anguish, anger, jealousy, etc, that we try and cut short instead of looking them directly in their emotional eye…

 peace

Try and think when were you last really safe and peaceful.

Was it just a clip, a moment in front of a beautiful piece of art or nature?

Or was it a time that you soaked in, like the warm bath of being held by someone who loves you, or a long slow walk in the countryside?

For me it is always the times of connection, to Jung’s “Collective Unconscious”, Wayne Dyers “Intention” or my own understanding of Love as a personality. Such connection is a rootedness that extends into my veins, my soul and, yes, even my mind.

This is more than “being in love” it is being part of the Universe of Love, and it transcends the experience of any clip, because it involves timelessness.

But I have never heard or read about this ecstatic zone being reached in the context of a noisy clip. Quiet, on the other hand, the quiet of contemplation, is always mentioned.  So how do we go from fast to slow, from busy to relaxed, from distant to close, from noise to quiet?

www.contemplativefire.org holds some interesting perspectives on this, and I offer these points from my own experience…..

1                     Wait till you are ready to seek peace.

2                     Find a place without clips. No distractions. A place of quiet.

3                     Get comfortable. Breathe. Deeply.

4                     Be open. Listen. Focus on the connection to your inner and higher self.

This is the library of meditative peace.

Quiet please.

Niagara Falls