Stillness Begins When...

Stillness begins

Not after the storm,

But when you stop

Bracing for it.

You wait...body tense, eyes squinting, looking for signs of the storm letting up...holding yourself rigid until things settle down.

You hold your breath, anticipating what may happen next, mind whirring with the wind of unbalanced thought, fists clenched, ready for defense.

Storms may destroy what you've built and demolish the earthly treasures that you possess, and even those you hold dear. They may tear your garments and leave you scars, but they can never take stillness inside. They can never change the truth of who you are.

The Presence of the living Stillness.

Present Stillness...anchored into the Core of the Earth, rock solid, stable, and sure.

But you can't reach stillness by looking for it.

The Stillness cannot be bought or established...it cannot be gained or grasped. For the moment you reach for it, like water, it slips between your fingers or vanishes like the mist under the sun.

Stillness is there.

Amid the storm.

So subtle and light.

The storms may engulf everything you have, everything you thought you were, and cast it into the unseen realms as if it never was.

Try as you might, you cannot defend against the storm. You will not win. The tighter you grasp on to what you think is yours, what you think is you, the more violent the winds become...the harder the rain pounds...the deeper the thunder shakes.

With every flash of lightning drawing nearer, it asks you to look into the mirror of awareness, to let the light illuminate what the storm cannot touch.

So, throw your arms open wide awakeing ones, let your bones rattle as you walk outside into the storm of realization.

Let the storm take what it wants.

Everything REAL remains in stillness.