Silence is for the brave.
Manuel Iris
As poet Manuel Iris writes in our Stories from the Well, "like any other truth, silence isn't easy." Pádraig Ó Tuama spoke of the same concept in our first Mindful Poetry virtual gathering, giving us all permission to feel what opposes gratitude, to not shirk the duty of understanding that fear and need and emotional drought are real, especially now.
Boy oh boy, do I get it. Sitting in silence while your digitial device taunts you nearby with the promise of new shiny, parsed parcels of dance/dog/meme media takes more muscle than this quarantined human has on most days. I've also found my dreams and meditation consciousness dropping into deep, dark research on any consciousness stones I may have left unturned, aka the stuff I don't want to look at and I sure don't want to feel.
Some days it feels like a bell jar, a lament. Other days, it feels like a glorious reprieve, an inexpensive retreat. No matter how our minds make sense of it, through the joy or the pain lens, it is all exquisite evidence of our personal attempts to express the universe as we see it and feel it. And just as David Whyte insists in Everything is Waiting for You that the "great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone," it is now, in this mandated solitude, I feel the truth of that more than ever.
It is in that spirit that we share The Well's resources with you. Let's be together, apart. Let's feel all the feels.
In health and harmony,
Stacy Sims
♥ JOIN. I have been pondering the space of silence in my free, morning meditations at The Well Facebook page Sunday - Friday. Join me!
♥♥ LEARN. We are very excited about new partnerships, in particular those within health care settings. Let us know if you have an idea for us.
