Staying Quiet in Turbulent Times

Even though things in the outside world are turbulent, we can stay quiet within ourselves.

One major suggestion is to turn off the news. I have not watched the news in years. I find that things that I need to know are revealed to me. Recently I turned on the news to find out about something. I noticed how quickly my mind and energy went downhill and I quickly turned it back off. Trust that what you need to know will be revealed.

Getting quiet on the inside allows us to get grounded in ourselves -- from this place, not only are we more peaceful, but new creative ideas can bubble forth that we did not have access to before. We are also more receptive to opportunities as they appear.

There are a million and one reasons to get quiet. So make time today -- even just a minute will help.

Warmly,
Stacey

Center for Balanced Living

What will help you to remember to be still?

I know that remembering to be still even for a minute can be a challenge.

So let's talk about what would help.

Many of you thought a physical reminder on your desk would be helpful.
Perhaps, a screen saver would be great.

If you are a creative type, and would like to submit a screensaver design for remembering to be still, please submit it to info at balancedliving.com. The winning design will have a link to your website.

About 30% of you thought coaching would be helpful to keep you in the stillness conversation. For those of you, I recommend Life Transformation Tools and More as a wonderful and inexpensive 12 month program to help you clear what is in the way of stillness and anything else you desire.

I also offer deeper one-on-one coaching which helps you clear what in the way of truly being free to be yourself. To schedule a consultation to find out more, go here.

Many of you (40%) said that the email reminders were helpful to remember to take time to be still and to know you were part of a collective community.

I have been much more lax about the email reminders this second 30 days what with being on vacation and a family medical emergency. Because this project has begun to catch on and many want to continue beyond 30 days, I will to continue and send more inspiring email reminders with quotes and more to inspire you to stillness.

I have found that posting and blogging takes much more of my time than expected. If you think email reminders will be helpful for you, feel free to make a donation below. I prefer this to a required fee because I want everyone to be able to benefit whether or not they have the money. A donation of any size from $1.00 on up is appreciated where feasible. And even if you can't do it, please continue to participate. I want everyone to have access to stillness regardless of your monetary situation.

Let's see what else is possible when we are still more and more of the time.

Here's what's possible from stillness

I shared some of the survey data last week showing that people had improvement in peace of mind, dealing with stress, intuition, flow and more a result of spending very short periods of time in stillness. (see below)

To give you more of a flavor of what's possible, here are just a couple of the many of comments that were submitted in the survey. Because the survey was anonymous, the comments are anonymous.

This experiment really helped me to "get OUT of my head and back into my body" and stop the noise, at least for a good while! I will continue to practice the eye scans as I had never heard of this before. They are very effective in focusing energy to the present moment. I look forward to learning more.

The very first time I did it at my desk, I sensed that the bright sunshine outside my window was more brilliant than ever. Also, I felt that it opened up my soul such that all this love and well-being rushed in. It was so calming and healing . . .

I was able to be present and mindful of whatever I was doing. This in turn quieted the chatter and helped relieve the stress of "what I have to do next". I was able to engage in conversations and really listen and pay attention to the speaker - not only at work but also at home with my children. Thank you for helping to make my life more peaceful and meaningful.

I am pursuing a new career that I would never had suspected would be my path before the exercise.

Feeling more centered so able to deal with every day challenges better. Also a feeling of understanding myself better/listening to myself because of this proactive approach vs. reactive approach

Your experiences may have been very different from this. It doesn't matter. This is just to give you a sense of what is possible.

So what will you do with this information? Don't let it be just another interesting article. Rather make a decision to do something with it - i.e., make inner peace a priority in your life.

The vast majority of survey participants said they want to continue the Stillness Experiment.

What will help?

Since most people just dabbled in the experiment, it would seem that some type of help would be appropriate.

I will talk more about the options next time.

In the meantime, take a moment to be still now.

Inspiring Results

Thanks to everyone who participated in my survey after completing the first 30 days of The Stillness Experiment. I have some exciting results to share with you that will hopefully inspire you to continue the practice of stillness.

One hundred and eighty people participated in the survey. Of those, more than 80% are females who are 40 years of age or older. It would seem that stillness is more important to the baby boomer generation. - or perhaps that is just the market I reach.

I have summarized some of the results here along with a couple of bar graphs for those of you who are more visual; they are quite dramatic.

Many people just dabbled in the experiment .... trying it out a few times but not really keeping up with it. The interesting news is, that even when people just tried the One Minute Meditation (tm) a few times, over 40% experienced a significant increase in their peace of mind when they did it. That was an unexpected result.

Did the One Minute Meditation a Few Times Over 30 Days
Click on image to view larger


Click on image to view larger.

And,it should come as no surprise that when people did the One Minute Meditation (tm) more often (3-5 times/a day), the results were significantly better. Nearly 90% experienced greater peace. Also more people saw significant improvement in their ability to deal with stress better, be in the flow more and access their intuition and creativity and connect with their higher source.

I should note that of the people who did the One Minute Meditation (tm) 3-5 times/day, 70% of them also did the 5 minute meditation 2-4 times/week. But let's add that up, a 5 minute meditation plus 3-5 one minute meditations per day is no more than 10 minutes a day throughout your day spent meditating. Ten minutes a day can and often does result in significant improvement in peace of mind.

Did the One Minute Meditation(tm) 3-5 times/day
(70% also did 5 min. meditation 2-4 times/week)
Click on image to view larger


Click on image to view larger.

So, does that you to do these short meditations more. Whether they be your meditations or mine?

What is the ability to handle stress and peace of mind worth to you? Is it worth 10 minutes/day?

Stay tuned for some inspiring comments from those who completed the first 30 days of the Stillness Experiment.

In the meantime take one minute to be still right now.

And let us know how you are doing.

Back in the Saddle

I have been away on vacation for the past week. I fully admit that I took time off from the formal stillness experiment while I was gone. I was celebrating a friend's 60th birthday and then added on time to spend in the mountains of North Carolina.

The location where we stayed is at the end of a road and hugged by the mountains. Talk about stillness. It is awesome.

When I would take time to be with the mountains and the peace, the feeling was very much the same as when I take time to be still inside myself. Sure the scenery was different :) But the feeling is similar.

The thing is you can't carry the mountains around with you but you can take a moment to be still anywhere. It was a great reminder.

Take a moment now to be still. If you have fallen off the saddle, there is no time like the present to get back on.

While I was gone, a couple of people mentioned getting dizzy when doing the eye scan. If that is your experience, I recommend trying 2 things: 1) drink a class of water first 2) try doing the eye scan at a slower pace and see if that helps.

Let us know how you are doing and what support you need.



Warmly,
Stacey

What is Your Why?

It is important to remember what is available when we are still. It is so easy to forget; to allow other things to take precedence, to think we do not need it -- that we have everything handled (that's my ego's favorite excuse).

When I am still, it is easy to remember why I want this. Because it is deliciously wonderful, and peaceful and I want to stay here forever and I think that I will.

But when I am busy with other things or my body aches, I think everything else is more important.

But really, is anything else more important than our own peace, than being in touch with our own essence?

Being still does not preclude being productive, rather the reverse is true, when we are still, things happen with more ease.

Why do you want to be still? Why did you sign up for this experiment? Get back in touch with your why and you will naturally resume being still. Or better yet, get still first. Do the 5 minute or the one minute meditation. Then ask yourself, why do I want more of this?

Let us know what you discover.

Forward, backward and forward again

Well I lost a little momentum here due to lack of sleep. I have been sleeping on the couch due to my shoulder injury and it has become increasingly more uncomfortable as the couch springs are just not made for sleeping. Therefore, I have been getting up late and napping in the afternoon.
Tough to be productive that way :(

I also fell out of step with my meditations for a couple of days there. It really does make a difference for me when I start out the day with the five minute meditation. It gets my body and mind in a good place and just sets the stage for continuing every hour. I am pretty much back on track now.

The good news is that my shoulder is healing well and I made up for any lost time from re-injury by doing some energy work on it. I actually get to take the sling off when I am at home now and am able to type with 2 hands for short periods of time. You have know idea how much easier that makes it for me to write this. It took about ten times as long using the voice recognition software as there were so many errors to correct.

I am getting the feedback that the one minute meditations really make a difference for people when we do them. So just a reminder to do them :) Even if you don't do it every hour, it still helps.

If you have gotten off track, then you can easily get back on track. There is no time like the present.

I will be exploring other structures to support people in this and would love to hear your ideas. Feel free to post anonymously if you prefer.

Warmly,
Stacey