Silence and Tranquility along the Way

"Boy I am tired. This was a hard day at work. Wow, Marina prepared the delicious guacamole again. Yes!!! We have my favorite Tortilla chips in house. But wait, where the the beer? Ah, that is a life. I love Friday nights!"

"You idiot, who said you could drink two beers? Just look at this  mountain of chips you just ate! What happened to your New Year's resolution to lose 10 pounds?"

This exchange probably sounds familiar to you. I am sure we all had this discussion centered around food, weight and exercise, but when it comes to other areas of our lives we all differ somewhat. Professional success, status, looks, sex, money, relationships, you fill in the blanks. Back and forth an endless conversation goes in in our head.

Silence is the realization that this exchange is just a voice. It would be a little misleading to say that this voice isn't us. After all, it does summarize everything that seems to be going on within ourselves, the biology, the instincts, the psyche, the ambitions, the fears, the drives and so much more. The voice in our head is definitely part of the "I", but there is much more to us. There is the "I Am that I Am" that everyone can discover inside. Recognize a point of stability inside. Discover the yin and yang of this voice, understand the theater unfolding in front of your eyes without judging, criticizing or taking sides. Just observe and there will be silence.

You probably have experienced the same back and forth with emotions. Love for someone followed by anger, followed by love again. Excitement for a project followed by frustration. Boundless energy fizzling into fatigue. Aggression followed by defensiveness. You can monitor this yin and yang of your feelings and your state of emotions  very much as you can track the voice in your head. Again, saying that these emotions aren't the real you would be disowning them which is not that helpful. But finding this observer inside that understands what is going on is tranquility.

Spirituality is the discipline to put you in touch with that observer. The path of the Way is to understand that life works very hard in the background to connect you with Her.  The way of the Tao is to honor  and  welcome everything and everyone as a divine messenger to bring you Home, back to our Source. Let go of the steering wheel and let Her decide what the next action is going to be. You just monitor everything that goes on within you and your environment. Along the Way there is silence, there is tranquility and there is that blissful moment of being connected with Her.

4 Ways to Silence and Tranquility:

Tired of the voice in your head, meditate.

Exhausted by the constant back and forth of emotions, stand still.

Feeling the aggression and submissiveness, don't engage

Held back by the lingering fears, do it anyway