I recently had a moment where I felt for the first time how there could be absolute stillness within me amongst the many sounds of life: cars, trucks, planes, television, people, children, animals, you name it, there is constant sound that goes on around us.
This feeling of being in stillness is something that most of us rarely get to feel or experience because of the busy-ness of life. It was not until recently that I got to feel there could be absolute stillness within all that goes on around me.
At first this was one of the oddest experiences I had ever felt: children playing around me, friends having a conversation and a pot sizzling away on the stove. All of this and yet, whilst I stood there amongst it all, there was a sense of complete stillness within and around me.
I had not ever truly stopped to appreciate this before. Sure I had felt it briefly but never had I actually stopped to allow myself to appreciate it to the level that I did that morning.
It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.
I realised in that moment it had been the appreciation I had been missing, something I had chosen to overlook and ignore for such a long time.
It was not something I had given a lot of thought to: life just happened, how I was or lived simply was. It was from this level of appreciation I was able to feel something I had never felt before – the stillness both within and around me.
In my body there was a relief, a letting go, and a complete surrender to all that was and is. The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there, I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life – traps that kept me in a momentum where I did not allow myself to “stop and smell the roses” you could say. And wow, what beautiful roses they are when we truly take the time to stop and appreciate.
In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me: being able to feel the absolute joy and beauty in people, children, animals and nature, blessing me in every way.
No longer pushing through, looking past what was directly in front of me, but now feeling how the appreciation in all that is supports me to hold, deepen and develop further the amazing connection I have with myself.
Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others. We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.
No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.
Within this stillness I could feel the strength of this inner quality, the inner being that supports us to be all that we are, if we so choose. And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.
The appreciation has since supported me to live in a way that is free from complication and overwhelm, forever bringing ‘stop’ moments to my day, even though they may be only for a second, constantly reminding me that the stillness is eternal: it never stops and it never leaves, no matter how busy or noisy we may think things are, there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.
A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.
As I sit here writing this, the sound around me goes on: a television, an electric saw and a cement truck in a backyard, a toddler singing, a baby eating and our daughter playing piano, and yet the stillness within is stronger than all else.
It is with the loving support and sharings of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon that I have been able to reach this level of appreciation for myself and all that I am surrounded by. I know this appreciation will continue to develop and deepen as my own level of self-appreciation does.
It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.
By Nicole Serafin, woman, wife, mother, hairdresser, Tintenbar NSW
Further Reading:
Stillness
Anxiousness, Stillness, God, and Me
Appreciation – A Pathway to Love
What is the Science of Appreciation and How Does It Evolve All of Our relationships?
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I love this statement, “a stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body”. This to me says the body is the focus and a lead in living our life from this place than something we become too reliant upon, the exterior.
So there could be a tornado occurring outside of us, but what is occurring inside of us, is the key to the kingdom of life that God continually presents to us. It is that simple…
“Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others.” An ever-deepening blessing for all.
I searched for an article about stillness today and came upon this one. The opening paragraphs were everything I needed to read. A sense and reminder of the absolute and exquisite stillness within us all, that is always there. To connect to and appreciate it in amongst a whirl of activity and noise is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Thank you for sharing this Nicole.
The funny thing is that the stillness is there all the time, it is just a question of whether we are aligned to feeling it and living from it or if we are allowing ourselves to be caught in all else that is there pulling us away from it.
Henrietta essentially stillness is all around us. It’s being in the middle of the merry-go-round and everything is a blur whilst you’re stood still, unaffected by it all. The madness can continue, but you remain with you and this offering is always there.
Nicole I love how you have talked about appreciation being the bridge to the stillness. This is such a simple and practical way of finding our way back to that part within us that holds us all so steady.
Yes I understand that appreciation is key to realising the significance of connecting to the stillness within when everything is going on around us and to then move with this quality. I reckon if we could master this… wowzers.
Thank you Nicole for your sharing – I too have experienced this one point where everything seems to open up and time ceases to exist. Like that split second between the in breath and the out breath where there is a lull and a moment of stillness so pure and so expanding. Like the waves breaking on the shore and that moment just before they begin to recede again. These are all split moments, microseconds really, but are the doorway to a deeper stilness that lies within simply waiting to be discovered.
Thank you Nicole, appreciation of our divine essences develops a way of letting people in or intimacy or an open-ness and transparency that we share with everyone and this is allowing us to deepen in our evolutionary path as we expand and reconnect to humanity.
These days I find it more than ever simple to connect to my heart and surrender to the warmth within. Appreciation of this feeling isn’t about mentally going “Oh yeah this feels nice” it feels like a settling into the feeling.
“And wow, what beautiful roses they are when we truly take the time to stop and appreciate.” Beautiful Nicole, and it’s as simple as taking small stop moments during the day, moments to pause and appreciate the many qualities of our essence and all the blessings around us.
Yes, the stillness is always there it is only a matter of allowing this stillness to be our living way, then life can be busy as it might around us and we in it but it won’t be in us, instead there is a deep steadiness within.
And connecting with this stillness feels so beautiful, ‘It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.’
Stillness is a quality that is deeply healing, and when we connect and express from stillness, it also inspires others to connect to stillness too. How this works is through the power of reflection and through the power of our movements and livingness.
I love the connection between stillness, space and appreciation. Reconnecting to stillness is spacious and allows the depth of appreciation that can be overlooked when we get caught in the busyness and distraction.
In stillness I have a deeper connection to my wisdom and truth, at times when I am in the busyness of life it is a simple choice to reconnect back, if needed I use the powerful Gentle Breath Meditation to guide me back to this quality.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is a powerful tool that supports us to reconnect to stillness. It is always great to be aware of what takes us away from stillness and be open and willing to discard them so we allow ourselves to be who we are, in stillness and in love.
Why not have this place inside of us, A place where we can be and observe all that is around without it affecting you. Then we can do the appropriate thing. Understanding that we always have this place, we just need to connect to it, has been a major revelation in my life and a key to my healing.
So simple Ken, how you have shared this and I could not agree more – it is there inside all of the time even if we ignore it, deny it or pretend it is not there.
Doesn’t this prove that whatever goes on around us does not need to effect us? We can be a hundred percent part of the world, be committed, get our hands dirty without loosing who we are.
Yes, and if we do loose it for a moment we can always return to the natural quality of stillness that resides within. ‘A stillness within, where time has no measure’..
I love the image that what you said brings to mind, that no matter how wayward we are, our homeport is always just there within us.
Very well said Meg, this is a brilliant example and we can sure learn so much from it. The beauty of stillness is that we can connect to it at any time and the choice to do so or not is always up to us, like Nicole shares, no one can do this for us.
“It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt.” Appreciating the stillness within is to feel the beauty and magnificence of who you are.
Appreciating is such an important tool for all of us, ‘I had not ever truly stopped to appreciate this before. Sure I had felt it briefly but never had I actually stopped to allow myself to appreciate it to the level that I did that morning.’
Bringing more appreciation into our lives is so supportive, ‘ It was from this level of appreciation I was able to feel something I had never felt before – the stillness both within and around me.’
When we have stillness within, we move in a quality that makes time stand still.
I love that feeling of the quiet of stillness inside me as everything whirls around me. I never used to be able to feel it, as I was so caught up in the whirl, which caused anxiousness and doubt. Re-discovering presence with my body has allowed me to not need to fix or enjoin the whirl and instead feel the settling effect one person in stillness can have.
I feel this too Fiona, a steady foundation means we need not be rocked by the outer in life. Presence is an oasis in the desert.
I love the feeling of stillness inside me, ‘A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.’
So beautifully shared Fiona, and I too love that feeling of being the eye of the storm so to speak, only all too often I find myself jumping into the storm itself! It is a work in progress for me!
Appreciating the stillness within as we reflect another way to be, in a world that runs in continuous motion.
A reflection of stillness is much needed in our world, ‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.’
Very inspiring to read this today and feel how much there is to appreciate about my stillness, but so much more also.
This is very beautiful Nicole, I can feel the stillness amid all the sound as I read what you’ve written … ‘the stillness within is stronger than all else’ and that’s what I feel no matter what if we connect to it nothing can disturb it.
The most gorgeous thing about stillness is how it holds not just you but everyone equally. It’s outward emanation does not isolate or distance you from others but instead grows the more you let your love out and them in.
Without stillness, we are subject to the whims of the vortex of the illusion… With it, we can be who we truly are.
Stillness is a supra-human quality that allows us to transcend the physical ream with our senses and feel the truth of us.
Very beautiful how connecting and appreciating the stillness within actually connects us with all that is around us.
I can feel how there is really no need for searching the stillness but simply allowing myself to settle within me and appreciate all that there is. Thank you Nicole.
The appreciation is a key factor in our evolution. When I truly clock something and appreciate it it becomes a marker, a point to not go below and can become part of my living way.
Thank you Nicole, you offer us an view on greater appreciation. When we don’t have it we talk badly, but even when things are truly going well, we find it hard to stop seeing the negative. Hence, appreciation in our lives is absolute key and allows us to sink deeper, feel more ourselves and the other and actually grow respect and love with each other.
Beautiful Nicole, we don’t need to sit cross-legged and meditate for hours to reach stillness, I tried that and I always felt tension in my body. Stillness is forever within us waiting for us to connect to, when we embrace and live this quality we feel how simple and easily life can flow.
It is so beautiful to feel this stillness and thank you Nicole for this beautiful reminder.
“I know this appreciation will continue to develop and deepen as my own level of self-appreciation does.” Appreciation is self-perpetuating and ever deepening once established.
This blog is a great reminder to appreciate the ‘stillness within where time has no measure’ as the world around us tries to tease and lure us back into its fast paced and unrelentness momentum.
I know the stillness within by holding the connection to all I know in my body.
When we have negative self critical thoughts, these are very harming to our bodies, whereas when we
appreciate ourselves, this is very nourishing for all the cells of our body, and the more we appreciate, there becomes less space to self-bash.
When we’re overly focused on getting tasks on our to-do list done and ticked off, could it be because we’re not connecting to this stillness, this feeling of space within us, that doesn’t demand anything of us and just allows us to be? Always our choice: identify with what’s ‘out there’ – getting things done, complete, ticked off – which yes, is important and does contribute to our wellbeing, but not when we’re overly identified with those things, or, connect to our bodies and that absolute knowing of who we are, through feeling that space and stillness within.
I experienced this sense of stillness the other day while with a group of people who were conversing, I felt a part of the group but at the same time I also had a sense of looking on and observing while feeling the stillness within me.
I love how bringing awareness to any form of rush or raciness in my day, it can be changed in an instant by simply pausing to observe it and choose to ‘drop into’ the innate stillness within. Esoteric Yoga continues to be an amazing foundation for this to deepen. http://www.unimedliving.com/yoga/stillness/stillness.html
“The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there, I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life.”
It is like we can be constantly going and going in our days, even when we sit still inside it can feel racy and this is very tiring. We need this stillness in harmony with the motion and a true moment of stillness is my day can be way more vitalising than a nap on the couch.
Yes, Nicole, I have experienced something similar recently, and very much enjoyed being in complete observation of life in all of its interactions and movements, not separate from it but very much in my own space and quality of being within it all.
Same here Janet, and it occurs in the early hours of the morning. I work in the community and I start work early when most people are still sleeping. It is at this time that i feel all the stillness around me, and when I feel the most settled in my body. Work in progress to maintain this throughout my day!
Nicole, thank you for sharing this, it is very beautiful to read; ‘The appreciation has since supported me to live in a way that is free from complication and overwhelm, forever bringing ‘stop’ moments to my day, even though they may be only for a second,’ what you are sharing feels very tangible and inspires me going into my working day, knowing that no matter what is going on around me I can always connect to my stillness within and that I do not need to get caught up in the busyness.
To realise that there is this enormous depth of stillness within our body, and that we walk around with this right under our nose, everyday, is like discovering an ‘Aladin’s Cave’ within… The wealth of this realisation is priceless, and one that makes us appreciate our body and how we treat it, with so much more honouring, value and respect.
I was recently reading about how sounds affect people. For example studies have been done showing that people playing loud music or speaking loudly on trains make other people angry or sad and this can last for hours afterwards. I am sitting on a very noisy and very late train right now and appreciating the reminder that being affected by things outside of us is actually a choice.
I had the wonderful experience yesterday of walking home from work after a heavy snowfall here where I live which brought the whole town and area to a standstill. There was a real sense of stillness in the air and I could see how it was an opportunity for everyone – adults and children alike to stop and reconnect with the stillness that is always there but often neglected or ignored in the constant busyness and hubbub of life.
When we feel the sacred stillness within we move in rhythm with the Divine beauty in and all around us.
Self appreciation is the nourishment our bodies love to receive as opposed to the usual critic and self bashing voice in our head that drives and pushes us to do more….whether our bodies are tired or not.
As a kid and sometimes as an adult these days I would get sensory overload from everything around me. These days when it happens and everything is “too much” it’s because I have lost my connection to my body and the Stillness within. A lot if not all of the buzz of life’s antics comes from a place that lacks Stillness and this gets (if isn’t already) out of control very fast. This busyness disturbs our sensitivity.
There is so much space when I am connected to the stillness within amongst the busyness of children coming and going.
When you connect deeply to stillness and through it to the pulse of the universe, you can see clearly how our mundane life does not truly belong to that order, while we do but not the physical form we apprehend through our senses.
There is so much more to us than meets the eye. We are multi-dimensional beings, who have access to universal intelligence when we return to a way of living that is simple, truthful and love-full which is the way of our Soul.
Stillness to me today feels like an appreciation of expansion, in movement. When we connect to and feel stillness, we also feel space.
Reading this again made me stop and appreciate my presence at work today, how I hold a stillness around everything that is going on and how I love the people I work with and for.
When the internal stillness becomes more familiar it has a clear reflection on the outside that we can often not appreciate. It is a steadiness others find supportive and is a reminder of how much more there is to life than we are living. When I feel it in others I am reminded of the all we are from.
Reading this is a great reminder to stop, feel my essence and appreciate. Beautifully shared, thank you Nicole.
Beautiful to stop and re-connect with this innate stillness, and that this is possible in a world that is not as yet reflecting this quality. In stillness there is space, depth and quality, which is so nourishing to feel and appreciate. Thank you Nicole.
To feel even a glimmer of the absolute stillness within and hold steady with oneself when everything around us is going crazy, is the greatest gift we offer to ourselves and to others.
Just before reading this blog I was appreciating how I allowed myself a super early night knowing I had an early start and how much more gorgeous and still I feel for having chosen that honouring of my body.
You have captured so perfectly how space expands when we appreciate the stillness that is always within and around us but so rarely acknowledged. Thank you for your heartfelt appreciation.
This is totally gorgeous Nicole, reading it you offer moments to feel the depth of our stillness and the power of appreciation.
This isn’t a one off,”It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” I have done this from time to time or attached it only to the ‘big ticket’ items and yet what is truly being said is “all” and so no matter the picture or the perceptions it matters not to stillness. I have found my feet again in this way and the awareness this article has supported me with touches deeper into what was being written about. In another way the true quality of this article has allowed and supported me to see and hold the very essence of what is being presented, magic.
Appreciation is a life-changer. No doubt about it.
Could it be when we are connected to our body, and feeling the Stillness that makes our way of living so amazing, we get to feel into the depth of who we are?
I was watching a bird of prey, still hovering above its prey yesterday, and it was as if the world stopped, the stillness was palpable.
Thank you Nicole for teaching me to appreciate all that which is stillness within.
This is a very settling blog Nicole – and one that asks us all to look at the grandness and absolute beauty we are part of and from and the fact that we can do that in ‘stop’ moments anytime, anywhere.
“I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life.” This is amazing because it is not always I allow myself to notice that it’s my choice to fall into the traps, that it doesn’t just ‘happen’. I make it that way.
To acknowledge this gives me responsibility and work to be done.
Yes, acknowledging that it is always a choice that things don’t ‘just happen’, is very empowering, freeing one from the victim mentality that can be so overwhelming.
“This feeling of being in stillness is something that most of us rarely get to feel or experience because of the busy-ness of life. It was not until recently that I got to feel there could be absolute stillness within all that goes on around me.” I feel most still after a session of Esoteric Yoga and it is very much like you describe here.
‘the stillness is eternal: it never stops and it never leaves, no matter how busy or noisy we may think things are, there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.’ … this is just beautiful and I can feel the well of stillness in how you are, and I love how you describe your experience and remind all of us that the stillness is always there no matter how crazy the world, and thank you for reminding me of that today.
That reminder that stillness is a constant, that we leave it, ignore it, twist it often, but it stays as a constant waiting for us to come back to. It is a holding that encapsulates movement and stillness at the same time. The more familiar we are with it, the more familiar we see how vital it is as a foundation in our lives.
The feeling of stillness is palpable through your words Nicole.
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.” beautiful Nicole. Esoteric Yoga supports me to feel the stillness within myself.
Through our choice to deeply surrender we get to feel the stillness within… a forever expansion knowing that we are connected to and a part of everyone and everything.
Nicole you have beautifully captured the expansion that appreciation offers. It seems to be the missing link that connects us back to the vastness God.
It was interesting reading this while I have so much noise going on around me, and all I can feel is tension in my body. It’s early morning, and I’m used to the quiet and not ready for the jolts of the clanging in the kitchen etc. I find it difficult to find the stillness within, and realise how I allow external factors to constantly affect me. I make what’s going on around me so much bigger than me, I give my power away to it and almost give up when I don’t like what I feel. I see there is another way to go about it though, and that’s a work in progress.
That was gorgeous to read Nicole. It gave me a moment to appreciate the stillness within. A moment to appreciate I’m not absorbing what is going on around me but observing, giving me space to smell the roses.
It seems to me that there is a choice. It is busy all around us no question – that is the way the world is configured, its demanding, its what we have grown up with. Yet we have all had experiences where we feel still inside, and I know I can move in the world with that stillness. So do we let the world draw us into its motion, or do we inspire those around us to have a bit more stillness by the quality in which we move?
Appreciation is a neverending path that I’ve just initiated and been aware of it since recently. The magic of this is that there are no timetables or rules for appreciation. It’s always at my hands and at anytime, to explore, deepen and receive what unfolds in my life when I live with appreciation… and the difference that is felt is huge
To appreciate our lives just where we are at, opens us up for so much more love to flow into them.
That stillness within for me is my connection with God and with that connection I stand strong, in whatever comes to me. I now can appreciate that life is an offering for healing, to heal the hurts I have allowed into my life from living to ideals and beliefs instead..
You are right, it is time to stop and appreciate what is inside us, something that has never left us and is there to be re-connected to at any point. Little moments of stop.
What you offer us here is beautiful Nicole and it is so precious to have, to live from one’s stillness despite the busyness and possible chaos around us.
We do get given these gifts, these windows of appreciation where we can stop and look and then be inspired to live in a way that makes what we have seen and everyday occourance.
Well said Chris, moments of grace giving us a marker of how we can live our everyday.
Beautifully expressed and deeply felt Nicole, this blog highlights the exquisite stillness we can all experince with every choice we make – living this everyday builds a true and loving consistency that has a powerful flow on effect to others.
Thanks for the beautiful sharing of the quality of stillness that is part of everyday-ness. It is surrendering to what is already with-in and is always there no matter what is around. It’s simply a choice – a truly beautiful choice when we give ourselves permission to stop for a moment and appreciate all we already are.
I used to think I could only achieve stillness when meditating in silence or when on my own, with no distractions, but this is not the case. Not that I have nailed it yet, but stillness can be part of our everyday, and I so enjoy those moments when I am connected. For me its worth the commitment to keep re-choosing it each time I forget.
I agree Debra, it is very worth coming back to as many times as required. Like anything I don’t do it once and say I can tick that box because it’s done. I have to allow it to become part of my rhythm moment to moment not days or weeks.
True Stillness is a ceaseless movement that is part of the breath of the Universe, an endless continuum through which we feel our connection with the All we are part of.
Nicole, as by your blog, it gives me the feeling inside me that I can not escape appreciation, even though I tried it and was the most committed to do so (escape).. But I sense from this blog, that the need to destruct, simply came from the lack of love I had carried inside my body for so long.. and that this has nothing to do with who I am. A huge lesson, and a space I am now offering myself to – APPRECIATE.
Beautiful to re-read and feel the changes within myself since writing my previous comment. As I begin to feel the beauty in others regardless what’s on the surface and appreciate it, I am finding it’s impossible to react in that moment as there is only love. What is becoming apparent is that there are so many moments in a day to appreciate but it is not just those moments to appreciate; the subtle feelings of appreciation towards myself which in deed can go deeper are certainly worth appreciating!
Appreciation, I am realising more and more, is what allows us to know and feel that we are so much more that what we think, whereby we can explore the stillness we are within and live this with this steadiness in the world we are in. As you have said ‘…stillness within is stronger than all else.’ – we need only to connect and surrender to it, and appreciate that this deliciousness is who we really are.
I have really felt how much easier it is to appreciate myself when I allow space in my day, along with making self honouring choices, but it is in allowing there to be space, when i am not rushing from here or there, what I am not ‘doing’ something or checking out. It is just allowing myself to be, this naturally allows for appreciation to be present naturally so.
It is through the appreciation of every clocked moment, that we can move in a way that allows us to live the future now.
When I was growing up stillness was something unfamiliar to me not that I ever knew that. It wasn’t until recent years I discovered the feeling I lived my entire life with was anxiousness – I had always thought this was a part of me. Chaos within a body that was paralysed with fear was with a body that presented as a quiet shy child.
An interesting take on stillness that is a movement. We often think of being still as having no movement at all but what I see is described in this article is a stillness that is moving. A stillness that is a part of every day and very much within the world but not being affected by what goes on around it. From this place it would seem everything is known and you are able to see clearly what is coming and going. I wonder why life is seemingly getting busier and busier or faster and faster, is it because the world knows that if you have stillness you have everything and then the world would cease to exist in the way it does? From what I see everything is geared away from us choosing to be still, all the more reason to dedicate to being still. The world isn’t working and statistics seem to be showing we are getting more and more unwell. It looks as though it’s a great time to read why we are being pushed so fast and possibly try a ‘moving’ stillness.
That is so true Nicole, as we deepen the love for ourselves (so through appreciation) we become more aware of our enviroment and the impact it has and we have on it.. we simply also become aware and appreciative of our enviroment. Simply gorgeous example of how love works.
Thank you, Nicole. Your sharing reminded me of my first Esoteric Breast Massage, well, first ever esoteric of all kinds – and I didn’t know the word stillness back then, but the quietness I recognized and felt despite everything that was going on around me was just amazing to behold. I had no idea what I was feeling, but I remember wanting to stay in that space forever.
Appreciating a moment of complete stillness; how gorgeous Nicole. Allowing yourself to appreciate the beautifully divine woman you are certainly does allow yourself to appreciate the same in others. Thank you for sharing this powerful message.
Hear Hear Shirl Scott – this awesome blog by Nicole Serafin reflects the quality of stillness with every work I read.
Beautiful Nicole. It is very inspiring when another embodies and embraces the appreciation within themselves and within the all and it then becomes another marker to gauge where they are at. I know appreciation is missing in my life and I also know that I cannot truly appreciate another unless I am appreciating me first… it starts with me.
‘Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others’ Before we can understand others, first we must love and appreciate ourselves.
Yep and that’s because the more we become still the more we feel, and feeling all of our hurts is not so easy.
Your blog is a gift showing people what we possess within and what is possible to choose and embrace in any moment
Truly appreciating ourselves allows us to observe ourselves and the world around us and step out of the game of life.
I love what you have expressed here Nicole; learning to appreciate and claim what we know to be true within our hearts, what a blessing. The choice and the responsibility as to the quality we live is always ours;
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism”.
When we give ourselves space to appreciate then our heart opens up a little bit more just like the petals on the rose.
One of the many qualities of the beauty of stillness is the space we are in, connected to something greater and there is no time.
Yes so true, in stillness we reconnect to the spaciousness we are part of; everything is more expansive and assessable when our movements are in rhythm with the quality of stillness.
Very beautiful sharing Nicole – stillness is within us all, and as you have said, we are often not living from this place, but the buzziness of life. I can feel the moment as you share it, still and appreciating this moment of stillness, a moment that can become more and more…
In stillness you are able to connect to the true movement of the universe and realise how much this is our truth too.
Thank you Nicole for this beautiful reminder, that the stillness is always there no matter what is going on around us.
So true Ester it is within us all the time, we do not need to create it, all we have do do is stop and connect to it.
Thank you Nicole because after reading your blog I can feel that I can make the space to appreciate those moments of stillness I feel throughout my day when I feel absolutely rock solid, yet very gentle and tender.
I agree Nicole, making time for stop moments to appreciate the stillness we hold within us, enables us to truly feel the joy in every moment, and with everything that is going on around us.
I had an experience of that yesterday afternoon as I sat outside a busy shopping centre, I just sat – no phone, no distraction. I observed people, noises, but they were just there. I have often felt assaulted in a sensory sense in busy shopping centres, there is the smell, the sound, the visual lures and the energy. It was such a gift to be there yesterday and simply observe all those things, not be affected by them or let them consume me.
I read this like a movie, where you look at your life and see all the precious moments you missed because of the rush, but you are there and simply observing it all, appreciating and sharing with us!
Yes, it’s like the stillness offers space to feel and observe it all, and then appreciate.
How beautiful to read your words today. “The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there, I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life.” I am finding this myself at the moment, that a reaction, worry or distress can feel quite big, almost unsolvable, yet despite it all the stillness is ever present within and undisturbed. It’s just up to me to choose to be with it.
Wow Nicole, wow.
There’s nothing like feeling the whole of life going around you but not actually changing how you feel, for me that’s when I really know how strong I am and begin to get a sense of what is possible.
This is a beautiful blog Nicole, there really is a spaciousness that is felt when we feel the stillness within us and how it emanates outward to the world, the space naturally holds and weaves between all that is going on and never does it naturally sway into taking anything else on.
‘There is a stillness within that outweighs whatever goes on outside of us.’- this can be so easy to forget, when we’re caught up in the busyness of life and disconnected from our own bodies. Making the choice, again and again, to turn our focus inwards, and focus on our breath and how our body feels, re-connects us to this stillness and spaciousness we hold within ourselves.
What I have started to explore is how holding our stillness encapsulates everything. It feels like time doesn’t stand still but the space around us embraces us and our movements expand and grow. Thank you Nicole, this is a very beautiful to read.
I love the fact that stillness is eternal and always within us and surrounds us and that Esoteric Yoga – http://www.unimedliving.com/yoga- is a simple and beautiful way to connect to that stillness. I have found this modality a real treat as someone who has favoured busyness and complication.
Getting to know ourselves by the stillness within and expressing it through our movements allows us become observant in life and not get involve in the complexities and emotions of others.
‘No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism’. Beautifully said Nicole.
Hi Nicole what you have described here is priceless yet available and accessible to us all. It is the space that expands within and around us when we deeply connect to the love that we innately are. It is our normal natural state. From this space we can observe life without taking it in and on. We can read and understand others, we can move responsively and precisely doing only what is require nothing more and nothing less.
Very beautiful to feel your surrendering into stillness, and I can feel how that is the key to observe life and not absorb.
Thank you Nicole. As I read your blog this morning I can feel that I too have the ability to connect to the stillness within if I choose to. “No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.”
This stillness that for me is not a ceasing of movement, as I cannot stop my heart beating, breathing, blinking etc, but a collective movement where my mind and body are focused together on the quality coming through my body. This is very different from being disjointed and my body doing one thing while my mind wanders off in past moments or planning future ones. When together in the moment all the dis-jointed movements and noise of the world stands out more, when I am in that same apart state everything becomes confusing and a blur. Is it possible that in the desperation to understand life we are unable to stop and ask the very thing that is experiencing said life, our bodies? My body knows and understands life far greater than my mind who without the bodies sensory input can only rely on previous experiences that are not happening now and act according to what was rather than having an up to date response.
I love the feeling after a busy day when I’m getting into bed and I am aware of this incredible stillness. Its a stillness that is always there and when I return home and stop it gives me a moment to realise all I needed to do was to connect to it.
Reading your blog I can feel how often I do not appreciate all that I have right here right now. Instead I get caught up in ‘what needs to be done’ rather than just allowing myself a moment to be, observe and appreciate all that is before me.
When we know that the stillness within us outweighs everything else, then we have that solid, knowing foundation and we will never be adrift in life.
When we stop appreciating we lose touch with the magic of life.
Love this line – “A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.” I knew this to be true but hadn’t appreciated it until I read your blog and felt it all around me as well as inside me.
Your blog is an equaliser in the way it describes how our inner quality is the same in everybody, just different facets of the same diamond… “We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts…”
And I completely agree with you Nicole, when I am in my stillness, with myself there is so much appreciation for all that surrounds me, there is an abundance of love in me to share with the world.
This is something I needed to read today, Appreciation of my stillness, my inner qualities is what I can do much more. These inner qualities feels natural to me but when I don’t appreciate my stillness or even my sacredness I am dismissing who I am and not living or developing the woman I am.
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before”. Nicole you have summed up the power of stillness. When we move in this stillness it is like what is often described as being in the zone; everything flows with impeccable timing.
The stillness you write about is eternal and ever-present; thanks for pointing out that appreciation is the gateway, I can so easily forget that.
This sentence resonates deeply within me, with this quality being appreciated and embraced, the less external bustle and noise disturbs me. Staying in conscious presence with my body makes this possible.
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body”
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” I have so often forgot to stop and feel and appreciate the stillness and surrounding around me. This blog has just reminded me to stop, connect to the stillness within and feel the stillness within the all and appreciate the beauty.
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.” This is a beautiful reminder that, all is with in us, we have never lost it, it is just for us to stop and connect and we can feel the flow.
Amidst the crazy ‘noise’ that is currently imposing upon our world, it is definitely time. That we have the power to do this, to stop and feel the stillness that underlies everything, is a great gift we often forget is there to be opened.
In stillness and surrender is our connection to the all, appreciating this is compounds this in our body. Knowing that we are from this stillness is a blessing, to connect and feel this is very important.
Yes there is a rock solid stability and space of functionality that comes with being able to feel our stillness. We are meant to function in motion. Appreciation confirms it. Beautifully shared Nicole.
At times I can still go into an old pattern of getting things done and lose my connection with stillness, and then need to stop and reconnect, I can then appreciate the space that opens up.
A beautiful blog Nicole. Appreciating myself is forever deepening within me too and what I am recognising is that it is the continuous level of appreciation for myself and to that which is around me that is bringing about the changes. There are many moments in my day where there is a lack of appreciation but becoming aware of those moments sets me free to allow a greater depth of appreciation for myself and therefore in life.
This quality is within us all along, we just have to choose to connect with it, and not get taken over by life’s demands, ‘The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there, I had simply chosen to ignore it ‘. When we allow this stillness to be present we bring a blessing to all.
Taking a moment to stop and connect to our stillness, or connect to the stillness in nature brings a surrendering that feels so delicious, ‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all’.
I have found that the more I connect to the stillness within the more aware I am of what my body is feeling and the way I am moving. When I am aware of my movements and choose to move with me, my thoughts are naturally more loving.
Recently I feel like I have opened the floodgates to appreciation, like in the moment I truly appreciate all that is being offered to me and all that is supporting me the appreciation is limitless. I’ve noticed how easily appreciation flows when this is what we choose or how easily we can spiral into negative thoughts if we allow it. We are only one small step away from choosing more loving choices and when we do life become a whole lot more simple.
This is so beautifully expressed Nicole;
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before”.
When I connect to my inner stillness I feel such joy and harmony, a feeling of deep love for all humanity.
This is beautiful Nicole, as it is to feel and live with this stillness, It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.’
It is yummy, nurturing, gorgeous – can’t even find the words to feel that longed for living stillness. A stillness that is our essence and always within and available. Makes me wonder why I so often choose to get caught up in the spin and raciness of the world instead. How lovely it will be when we all live from the quality of stillness. One of the interesting things about stillness is that it does not have to be slow at all and in fact the more still I am the more simple everything is and I get heaps more done.
Thank you Nicole, it was so very beautiful to read your blog this morning as I too felt the stillness within whilst reading it. That stillness is actually a tangible feeling and always available should we choose to connect to it. It is in fact our very essence.
My body has given me another ‘stop moment’, for me to reflect and observe where I have disconnected and stopped appreciating and honouring myself. Presently, I have much pain in my lower right leg, that I am limping when I go outdoors. Time it feels for me to deepen the self-love and to appreciate the beautiful, tender, graceful woman I am and all that I bring.
Its quite fascinating to have moments when you feel the stillness, and the simplicity of just being with yourself and then at the same time, to also recognise the movements and the sounds occurring all around the body. It reveals just how much the body is bombarded by energy, and that its our choice to react/respond to all that is going on around the stillness within.
Gold Nicole, “forever bringing ‘stop’ moments to my day, even though they may be only for a second, constantly reminding me that the stillness is eternal: it never stops and it never leaves, no matter how busy or noisy we may think things are, there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.” As you say we only need stop and become aware for the stillness to be there eternally. This is my experience and a place I return to when my body feels anything else. I do my best to not walk down a road without that ‘feeling’ in me because I will know my steps from this stillness and anything else has only led me around in circles.
‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.’ I love the simplicity you share in this blog Nicole, and the fact that it is possible to have stillness within no matter what noise or activity is going on around you. Thank you for this simple and beautiful reminder.
Our stillness never leaves us- I love this sharing Nicole as I can feel that as stillness is always with me I make the choice whether to connect to it or not. I can no longer use the busyness of the day as an excuse to not connect, as the stillness is still there in my body and I, at that moment, may be making a choice to not connect to it.
‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.’
This Nicole is very needed in society today and it is also so accessible to everyone.
I agree Johanna and equally it “is very needed” for those with awareness already of the “stillness within the all” to continue to grow this awareness and not wait or watch. This ‘growth’ doesn’t come from a course, book or anything else but from the dedication to living this quality in each moment, in the detail of each moment forever.
Hello Shirley-Ann, I agree and the realisation that this isn’t a one off thing or a once a day dedication. This is ongoing in every moment, to stop and feel and appreciate what you feel. So often I have been caught in ticking a box without dedicating every step to what we are saying. Thank you.
Wow Nicole, this blog really connects me back to me and all that I am! And how important it is to appreciate that and not get swept up in everything that is going on outside of me. Thank you for sharing your appreciation of this moment with us – it is a gem!
And it is this stillness that is so deeply missed by so many people, and when it is experienced, it is like a deep sense of returning home.
We often aren’t aware of how much we ‘miss’ this stillness and how this quality really sets up how we walk into the next moment or the next situation. For the people with this awareness it is up to them to keep walking deeper into what they are feeling which will inspire others to walk in those same steps. The world appears set up for preaching and teaching rather than an ongoing deeper walk, we all have an ever unfolding responsibility to being aware of what we are feeling in any and every moment.
stillness is always there, it is beautiful how you bring the attention to it. And remind me to fully appreciate this, there is actually nothing that can truly disturb it, only my choices that not honour it.
Absolutely Ben, the deep knowing and truth that stilllness is always there and actually belongs to our natural expression shows that if we leave it we have left our innate natural beingness, which on a long term would make us ill.
Great point Benkt, stillness is always there and it is up to us to connect to it or not.
Yes. It’s always there and it’s not an off and on switch. We literally have the choice to connect at every moment of the day.
Thank you Nicole, it is such a lovely reminder to stop, connect and appreciate the quality within me and carry that through my movements throughout the day.
I love the stillness that comes with an Esoteric Yoga class – taking this out into my day transforms it. Connecting and appreciating – love it.
Connecting to that stillness within gives us the clarity that is so much needed
Hello Joe and all this is just there every time we truly stop. I agree and this is not something we go to, more we stop running and this allows it to be heard. We have all manner of things and reason why this and that goes wrong or why we need to do something a certain way but our responsibility forever rests with a quality of how we are. The title of what we are doing isn’t the key point but more the quality of how we are within what ever we are doing, it always comes back to quality, it always comes back to us.
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies the way we complicate life.
This is a lovely blog to read Nicole, as it reminds us that, this quality of stillness is constantly there within, it doesn’t go anywhere, it is us who gets distracted away from it by the things and activities that go on around us.
“The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there…” – it’s easy to not feel this if we get caught up in life and stress and reacting to citations but we do always have an essence of stillness within us and is something that we can reconnect with at any time.
Yes Fiona, such a simple choice. The question that bothers me is why am I not making it as often as I could?
Nicole, I love the image of you sitting there with the piano, the baby, the toddler, the electric saw etc. not allowing yourself to absorb all this ‘noise’ into you. What a great alternative to what most of us do to avoid this noise, which is to numb ourselves in order to check out from the tension we feel, that really has nothing to do with the noise around us but more so the noise we create within us when we forget to listen to the sound of silence through which our Soul speaks.
‘The noise within us’ is a great description for what goes on – the constant chatter in our heads, the anxious voice, the serious planner, the sad regretter, the emotional drama, the busy, busy mind that never stops. Then there’s the constant jittery feeling of nervous tension in our bodies, the unwillingness to be still in case we get to feel what’s truly going on. Our bodies can be so busy inside, even when we are not moving. Allowing the stillness within allows what is there to be felt, and with a knowing heart and an acceptance that goes beyond the false beliefs that we have created, we can truly connect and evolve back to what God originally intended us to be.
Thankyou Nicole for this beautiful reminder to pause and feel the divinity we each hold deep within. It seems we keep ourselves in perpetual motion and totally consumed by the noise of life in order to not feel the true majesty and grandeur we are and are from. That is, we run from a love that cannot and will not ever run from us. What strange creatures we can be when we allow ourselves to live less than ‘the everything’ we truly are.
The stillness is like our own innate guidance system, patiently, consistently pointing in the direction of the way home, no matter how many detours and wrong turns we take.
Our goal here on Earth is to seek the love that we are in the living stillness within AND…once we have reconnected to this, share it with the world. For our world has starved itself of such truth and we who have created this existence have become lost in the hum and buzz of a life that is not yet being truly lived.
Hello Liane and bring an ever unfolding awareness to “the love that we are in the living stillness within”. This is an ongoing unfolding in each step and with each step this is us ‘sharing it with the world’. The deeper we walk the more that will be inspired by the way we walk. No need to share it but more forever truly connect to it and then everything we do will have an imprint, a quality that people we see a mile off and be pulled to be the ‘same’.
Our love is truly magnetic. Whether we are pulled or repelled by it will depend on how we are positioned and the level of resistance, if any that we employ to not be pulled back to all that we are.
I agree Liane, anything true is magnetic. It’s great to notice and appreciate that pull or indeed watch the repel but not make it a focus. Our dedication ongoing is to ‘love’ each step or moment deeper and deeper. In this way the ‘pull’ is stronger and harder to ‘repel’. Sit back and get involved in what is happening around you and the scale tips and you become part again of the repel. We have a responsibility in all of this to ‘be’ more and more who we truly are, this is for all of us and not just for one or a few. Until we are all ‘pulled’ there is much work to do.
Great Gill, it is important to realise, that it is a choice we have made to not choose stillness, and therefore a simple choice to return. This brings the responsibility back to us and how each choice we make plays a part in determining the quality of our life.
True Mary, raciness has a habit of creeping back in if we don’t stay aware and present in each moment. And once the raciness has taken hold, the stillness is lost and the quality we bring to the day and to everyone is compromised. Learning to stop and reconnect banishes the raciness and allows the true quality of stillness to return. It seems a simple step, but often so easy to miss – but observation and awareness is the key.
Reading the beginning of this blog, I had a flash back to childhood, and realized that this stillness was something I often felt. This stillness was my knowing that there was something more than what my eyes were seeing. This stillness was the magic of God that is eternally within.
Nicole I loooove this blog, it takes me straight to stillness and the magic of God that we all hold within. I could feel how growing our appreciation was like watering a plant. The more we look after it the more supported it is to grow. How the more it is looked after, the more noticed it becomes because we are seeing it all the time making sure it has been taken care of. With appreciation we feel all the love that surrounds us, and within that is the stillness of God.
It is a choice. Wow. How empowering. We choose.
And it is simple. If our moments, days or life feel complicated that is an indication that we can choose to pause, connect to ourselves, feel the stillness within and move from there, or simply choose the next move feeling our stillness as we go and then our next movement will support the stillness and the simplicity and so it goes. Complication will start to fall away if we allow it.
Yes I agree Gill is supportive to know the stillness is there in any moment we choose.
In the various places I have visited today (homes, office meeting rooms) I have been aware of the different sounds of clocks all ticking away steadily in the background. To observe and accept this as simply a sound whilst in the deep re-connection to the stillness within has brought a magical quality to the day – no sense of being a slave to time or allowing it to be dictating everything to be in a rush to meet deadlines. The constant ticking sounds have been like a confirmation of the beautiful, gentle rhythm and consistency in my day to be enjoyed as a timeless support in the quality of stillness.
How powerful is buying flowers for our self! One because we are worth it and how can you love and appreciate others if we do not practice and show this with the most important person in the world, yourself.
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” What a beautiful way to be in the world and with the world in every moment. Stillness is with us always and it we can connect to it anytime. The responsibility is ours. Thank you Nicole.
The choosing to stop for a moment feels like a big key to appreciating feeling what is truly inside us, beyond the noise of life. No one else has access to our own unique stillness it is our choice to connect to this and move from here or be run by the thoughts in our heads. I know from experience when my thoughts run the show I’m easily over whelmed and exhaustion comes with it. Stillness brings harmony and supports my movements in a very way.
I agree Sandra – allowing ourselves to stop and feel and with that appreciate the stillness deep within us is really supportive and needn’t take long. Taking that quality then into all that we do is game-changing.
An absolute game changer. And one I am glad I have chosen to explore.
I love revisiting this blog Nicole, the profound depth in which you express from the lived quality of stillness is a joy to read. As I deepen my own re-connection to the stillness within, there is a sense of spaciousness around and supporting every external sound without disturbance within. An acceptance of how things are moment by moment, rather than wanting something to be different (that there is no control over anyway!).
“In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me: being able to feel the absolute joy and beauty in people, children, animals and nature, blessing me in every way”.
It really was beautiful to revisit your sharing, Nicole. You have proven that we never have to go into the mountains and retreat from the world to be enlightened, you simply live with your light within and let the world go by.
Beautifully said Fumiyo, and this is what Serge Benhayons teachings are all about. God is on earth, within and all around us, we need not search far and wide, we need only search within.
A beautiful experience of stillness which once felt can only be appreciated for all it is. Thank you Nicole for sharing lifes amazingness through our stillness and the appreciation of this.
Beautifully expressed Ariana – valuing and appreciating ourselves is key to deepening our relationship with ourselves and thus the divine. A gorgeous way to arise from our bed in the morning and take to the day, naturally connecting and inspiring others along the way.
“It is valuing our quality and who we are when we open our eyes each morning, for we are the key person missing from the world if we are not walking in our fullness each day”.
Love this Stephanie. bringing true appreciation for ourselves and for the Divinity we live within and are innately a part of, brings a whole new understanding and purpose when we wake up to start fresh a new day – learning to live the fullness of who we are.
If you speak to someone it is common to hear them say how stressed they are, how they need a holiday and to ‘get away’.Yet what you see is that like a picture of a carrot held out before a donkey, the state of surrender is something we never achieve. The airport, the phone call, the tour bus, there’s always something for us to be wrapped up in. In fact when you look at it, with the vast amounts of coffee and sugar we are eating we seem to be seeking to be faster and faster. So whilst we might say we want the rest, it is like there is a part of us, that would climb a mountain or run a marathon, rather than feel this quality. When you consider like you say Nicole that stillness is actually around us in everything , well no wonder we have to become so stressed and mentally active today. For more than ever it’s harder to deny the fact that stillness is our true nature and ever-present in this world in you and I, just like the sky.
We can seek appreciation from others for the things we have done but its a whole new experience to appreciate yourself for who you are, when you may not be doing anything at all, except feeling the profoundness of stillness within you. I find the details are so important in appreciation and taking a fresh look at everything. It is in the details that I can feel my appreciation going deeper.
We can easily overlook stillness, as it doesn’t appear to do anything or get us noticed by anyone (i.e. it is not valued in society). But we can and need to appreciate it. The more stillness is experienced and the huge contrast it brings to the crazy business of life, the more precious stillness becomes.
I have found this too Fiona, it is easily overlooked while in the stimulation of the spin and drama, but once stillness is rediscovered we understand it is a priceless treasure that we would never want to lose ever again.
So true Fiona. Stillness seems to have no value in today’s society. Yet drama and busyness get brownie points. I know which I’d rather have in my life.
What a gorgeous ode to stillness. This quality is so easily overlooked, undervalued or seen as an ideal utopia, yet it is there waiting for all of us to experience, not just for a moment but throughout the day. I also love the feeling of space and of time stopping when I am choosing a way of living that allows stillness to felt.
Your blog Nicole offers us all an opportunity to feel your words, connect and return to our beautiful stillness within. A gorgeous sharing.
I agree Jane, Nicole has done an incredible job creating alchemy with words. I loved re reading and feeling the connection that’s on offer.
In a world that presently champions gaining more and more speed this sentence really stood out when I read your blog Nicole. ‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.’
Jane your observation of how much life is championed to be, do and have more offer the question of why are people so intent to rush at everything. Are they running away from their innate stillness?
As a man I can certainly say it is confronting to be faced with a moment in time when nothing is being asked of you.
Yes, and as a woman, I fully agree with your statement Adam, it was so alien and very confronting to simply stop and be and let go off all the ‘doing’ and begin to feel and appreciate the depth and quality of the innate living stillness within.
“it is confronting to be faced with a moment in time when nothing is being asked of you”.
I love coming back to re-read this blog. I find that through your sharing and your imagery, Nicole, I have and do experience a powerful support that I carry through my day to remind me to stay connected with myself and feel the world around me rather than me lost in it. Thank you.
‘It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.’ I have only experienced this in my day to day life a few times to this absolute level but it is truly amazing just how unattached we can feel to the life around us whilst being totally connected.
Agreed Michael, it is like at that moment we lose our individuality and experience the oneness of the all.
Spot on Michael and Francisco, it is like loosing your individuality and just moving in this flow of love and absolute stillness and being totally connected with everything and fully alive and open.
It is so easy to get caught up in all the things that need to be done and before you know it overwhelm has kicked in and the tension in your body is rising… To be able to keep coming back each time to this stillness you have a steady base that doesn’t go into any drama’s or overwhelm. You are strong, clear and capable for what ever is required for the next moment. Bring awareness to ourselves and the tension and overwhelm we go into as a default mode is the first stages of breaking such a strong holding behaviour/habit.
Thanks Ariana – what a beautiful reminder to waken each morning with a deep appreciation of ourselves and what we bring.
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” Thank you deeply for this Nicole. I came to read this again, but this time valuing me enough to allow myself the time to really feel what you are sharing as I read. In doing so, I went deeper into the stillness, the part of me that is the holding love of me and all, no matter what is happening on the surface and out in the world. Whatever happens or has happened , I realize this place, this quality within us is always there for us to return to.
Thank you Ariana, appreciation is the most powerful tool for turning our skewed view of life and ourselves around. Particularly, I find for myself…”Being our own greatest love is…. all about value. It is valuing our quality and who we are when we open our eyes each morning, for we are the key person missing from the world if we are not walking in our fullness each day.” I realize how much of a prison I have been living in, feeling locked out of my own compassionate love, care, deep acceptance and cherishing of my body and self which I must have, to feel myself whole and complete.
Nicole. you describe so beautifully how it is possible to observe life and not absorb it. Perhaps there is stillness in everything, and it is how we are around these things that makes a difference. There is rhythm in how a child plays, how a crane operates, and we can either see it as a noise and a distraction, or respect it as a rhythm and connect to ourselves and our stillness first.
I also like how you described, Nicole, the way of observing life and what kind of consequences this has on us, that’s to say how we can be so we are not affected by things, even sound. However this constant observation requires a steadyness in choosing one’s own rhythm, otherwise it is more likely we get into reaction and absorb.
That is the key hvmorden, to learn to observe life and not absorb it.. This will bring all the awareness and understanding that we need to evolve all together, but if we absorb, and get involved in the spin – we take it on and can easily become lost in that energy, and thus diminishing our awareness of life and its learning. It is harming to ourselves and deeply harming to others in the process.
Absolutely Annie – and you say this so clearly. This is how we should be talking to our children – to make them aware of what their choices mean, but let them know they always have a choice – observe or absorb. It is amazing what happens to the body, how we feel, how we are with others, when we do not take things on. And given the state of where we all are, it can’t hurt to try this for a few days and clock the difference. But perhaps we hesitate because if we were to say ‘observe and not absorb’ in the workplace for example, it will then show us even more so when we are absorbing in other areas of our lives. And then to choose observation in all areas means we feel the real difference of how we have lived in absorbing – which doesn’t feel great. So the question becomes – how willing are we to let go of our behaviours?
This is a great definition of appreciation for me Ariana so thank you for sharing it, as it is something that I still find hard to define and understand fully, and your words here have brought me more understanding of this great art and science.
True Andrew, if we were to understand the science and art of appreciation we would allow the depths of grandness of this life to be revealed to us.
It constantly amazes me that when I am connected to the natural stillness within me it feels like I have all the time in the world and when I am not connected to my stillness it feels like there is never enough time and I am racing the clock.
Great sharing Andrew, ‘when we connect to our stillness there is no such thing as time and the day feels so much more spacious.
it does Mariette, and not only does the day feel spacious, but our bodies and being expand into that space and find ever deeper insight and awareness. Time is no longer running the show.
So true, time is not running the show, but we are, and our innate qualities.
Spot on Andrew, that is my own experience as well and the more I connect to that stillness the more my body surrenders to what is, creating space for what needs to be done.
I am learning this too andrew, stillness allows space to be and in that observation, understanding and greater awareness are possible. It is a way of arresting the imposition and incarcerating ways of time.
Time can indeed be a tyrant, controlling our state of being if we let it.. but once we learn to develop stillness, and the space it allows, then time loses its grip on us and life can be lived in a rhythm that no longer is controlled by time, but rather presents to us a series of moments for us to allow an ever expanding awareness.
In the past I studied and practiced a lot of different techniques believing that stillness and settlement in my body was something that had to be achieved, attained, obtained or learnt. And that this was going to be a long and arduous process. Since coming into contact with Universal Medicine it has been a revelation to discover for myself that the stillness I was always looking for is with me all the time just waiting to be re-connected to and it can be done in an instant through will or choice. It is a bit like we always have stillness in our back pocket we just need to take it out!
Yes andrew, funny how we can travel around the world a zillion times in search of something that was in our back pocket all along. It pays to seek within first. 🙂
Thank you Nicole for a beautiful blog. It is great to be reminded that the stillness that we have inside is always greater than any busy-ness or intensity we experience in every day life.
Thank you Ariana, that is a powerful and important reminder. It’s a responsibility we have at every given moment to either abuse ourselves or love and cherish ourselves.
Great call Katerina, we have a choice and a responsibility, we can choose to self-abuse and make a life of judgement, struggle and hardship, or choose to appreciate, love and nurture ourselves, allowing us to grow and hold steady no matter what life presents to us. If we held this quality for ourselves, we cannot but help extend it to all we meet, offering them a reflection of something they may feel is true for them also.
A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before. Knowing this it makes no sense to choose anything but stillness.
So true Margaret – ‘it makes no sense to choose anything but stillness’. We experience this, we know it, and yet we lose it and the awareness of it so easily because we live in a world designed to keep us anywhere but in that stillness. So, no beat up of the self, just remembering that it is a choice to reconnect and deepen once more into that place of infinite stillness.
Beautifully said Annie, “So, no beat up of the self, just remembering that it is a choice to reconnect and deepen once more into that place of infinite stillness.” jut the reminder I need right now.
I realised reading this wonderful blog once again that I always ““stop and smell the roses”, I simply cannot walk past a rose without smelling it, but I don’t always stop for me. So it’s time to look at me as one of the roses that I find so beautiful and take the precious time to stop when my body is asking me too.
Beautiful Ingrid, the more we take time to stop and appreciate the beauty within us the more space we create to be the love that we truly are.
Beautiful, Ingrid. To deeply appreciate the awesome beauty in nature and see it as a reflection of that which is already within ourselves confirms the divinity, love, stillness and spaciousness that we are in truth. The delicate perfume of a rose, the vast dark night sky covered with shining stars, a magical sunrise or sunset with incredible colours, the sound of birdsong filling the air, the delicateness and abundance of blossom on the trees and so much more – this is the Magic of God reminding us constantly of who we are offering an invite to return and claim that which is always there deep in our essence within.
In the inner stillness that everyone has within if they choose to access it, is everything we need in life. In the stillness is confirmation of who we truly are, a connection to God and the universe and the wisdom and knowing to understand life, evolution and humanity. When we live from our inner stillness we no longer need to look outside ourselves for confirmation of who we are or that we are ok, we can bring ourselves, in full, to life knowing who that is and all we have to bring.
That is so true Ariana “The power of appreciation is very under-rated.” So thank you for revealing it . . . it is really time to start an appreciation day world wide – just to let them all feel how powerful appreciation of oneself is.
Ariana, I love the lightness, joy and power of your expression… let’s “appreciate every day, then every hour, then every half hour, until we are able to bring every moment being an appreciation of the loving beauty we are, from the inside out.
I agree Linda – it takes some practice to consistently be holding or returning to that connection and the stillness within, but through appreciation that connection deepens, and the spin of life is rendered powerless as we can now see more clearly the choice we can make either to enjoin the spin or to hold that stillness and simply observe.
Yes, Annie, I am coming to see just how important it is to appreciate our ability to hold our connection, and can now see that it is through appreciation that our connection deepens. Very much a work in progress for me, but so enormously rewarding to be able more and more to hold my stillness and purely observe what is going on with no reaction.
Having mastered the spin and adding to the din that surrounds us all, I am now en-joying the stillness and observing the calamity we call life.
When I really appreciate the stillness in my body, it is often as a reflection to something happening in nature, the birds singing, or playing, and that stillness is there all day, whenever I need to reconnect back to it.
In stillness we discover space, and in space we discover a new meaning for time, for no longer do we seem to be owned by its seeming constraints.
Yes Adam, in stillness there is a deeper acceptance of who we are which allows us the opportunity not be constrained by time and surrender to what is divine which is timeless!
Beautiful Adam and Francisco. In ‘space’, we are beyond ‘time’ and there is a different understanding to our place in the Universal order of the cosmos. And space is there for us the minute we choose to connect to that stillness.
Thanks Nicole, through reading your blog I could feel how by making the choice to connect in every moment is what gives me the solid foundation to come back to.
Absolutely Christopher, I too realise the importance of consistently choosing to come back to me, that way I am building a solid foundation as you say, that is strengthened every time I choose to reconnect to myself, as each of those moments is a confirmation and knowing, that I am so much more and that I am actually Divine.
Great Julie, it is about building the foundation that holds us steady and supports us in every way, and it can be strengthened or undermined through every choice we make. Consistently choosing to recconect and move from that quality of stillness, a simple choice but profound in its power of transformation.
Beautifully expressed Ariana, that we miss ourselves if we don’t appreciate our quality and bring it to the world. I particularly resonate to ‘Appreciation of this is crucial, for we are all that missing person if we do not fully appreciate who we are.’
I love this, Ariana. It really brings home the importance of valuing what we each uniquely have a responsibility to bring to the world.
Taking a moment to smell the roses is apt – to allow myself to stop and smell the rose my whole body must soften and open as I choose to appreciate the quality of colour and texture of the velvety petals, and the depth of the exquisite perfume. Life is like that, we must take the moment to appreciate if we are to plumb the depths it offers.
I so agree Anne that it is important to take the time to appreciate all that life is offering us in its many colours, textures and perfumes. Taking this time I have found to be such a simple way to reconnect to me and then the glory of this life shows itself ever so clearly.
beautiful, an appreciation of life and its offerings will uncover a magic that we have been missing out on, but that is with us and beside us each and every day, to support our understanding and unfoldment into the realisation of who we truly are.
Thank you Ariana for that reminder. I like the call to responsibility here and to not be a ‘missing person’ from our own lives, the lives of others or indeed life itself.
Thank you for this reminder about appreciation. I, like Jonathan, will take it onto my day and have no doubt it will strengthen my relationship with stillness and how I can create space rather than be swept along by the busy-ness of life.
I look forward to hearing about it!
Beautifully said Lucy, at times I still get swept up in the stress of getting things done and lose my connection with stillness and need to stop and reconnect understanding and appreciating the space that is there when I am in my stillness. Cycles are great aren’t they always offering us an opportunity to break patterns and momentums.
Yes Margaret, they always come round to remind us again if we are a tad forgetful or confirm the choices we are now making. It is not about judgement but a deep love and opportunity for evolution rather than remain on the hamster wheel.
It is with this understanding we can appreciate the little reminders presented to us rather that judge ourselves.
Gorgeous blog, Just as you sat there writing with all those noises going on around you, I sit here reading this with my body speaking really loudly from the inside. Talking about the day, week, even month it had, what it needs in this moment and for the coming days to rebuild. There are many noises going on but I can still feel that underneath there is stillness and that is what means I can feel the little conversations my body is having with me. Tenderness and awareness is what I must bring with me today in my work day, I cannot go to bed, or rest at home, but it doesn’t mean I negate the call from my body or leave the stillness here as I go to work. Thank you for the reminder Nicole.
Wow! Nicole I appreciate the moment of stillness reading this blog has brought to me. You have reminded me that appreciating ourselves and what surrounds us is the key to feeling that timeless space within that is ever present within the activity of the day.
‘It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world. I realised in that moment it had been the appreciation I had been missing, something I had chosen to overlook and ignore for such a long time.’ Without appreciation, we can’t shine.
‘Without appreciation, we can’t shine.’ This is so true, Jenny, appreciation of ourselves can be quite a challenge but makes such a difference and makes it easier to appreciate others too.
True Jenny ‘Without appreciation we can’t shine’ and the world has plenty of examples to show what happens when we choose criticism, judgement and abuse of people rather than an open appreciation of the beauty and sensitivity we all naturally carry within. Imagine if all those who have felt judged and abused which may possibly include everyone on the planet, were to decide never to take those same steps, but treat everyone – themselves, partners, children, friends, family and colleagues with the same absolute appreciation, respect and love, how we could transform our lives.
Truly meeting another from our stillness, allows them to be confirmed and appreciated just for who they are, as they can receive the reflection of the stillness that lies within them too.
Yes, I completely agree with you Linda. It is a beautiful reminder and over the last few days because of her reminding it has supported me to deepen my connection with my stillness in my everyday living.
Imagine a world where this is nurtured from when we are young and that this our natural state of being. To be in this quality in all that we do and not have any highs and lows that has become our normal way of living. This explains a lot of illness and disease, exhaustion and the current way we are living in. The responsibility is for us to make the change for our own health and wellbeing.
Absolutely Natalie, and inspire that in others not from talking but by leading by example.
agree Lucy.. it is too easy to look at the world from judgement and reaction which is already a separation, (meaning we are in it as much as the next person), rather than holding true our own quality and by offering that reflection to allow others to know the potential they too hold within equally.
Natalie you raise an important point here. Whenever I get caught in the whirlpool of activity I soon become exhausted and with that self-care is neglected, sleep is shallow and the times I fail to arrest this momentum I quickly develop my minor warning symptoms, such as a cold sore, runny nose, flu-ish aches & pains etc. It is amazing how quickly health and balance is restored by taking stop moments to connect and appreciate the beauty that resides within and without.
hartanne60 I know exactly what you mean as I only can agree: ” It is amazing how quickly health and balance is restored by taking stop moments to connect and appreciate the beauty that resides within and without.” For me that is the best, the cheapest and the best healing medicine ever.
So true Natalie. If stillness is our natural state, (like putting a car into neutral where it can idle quietly) then it is no wonder we have so much illness, disease and especially exhaustion today. We are currently running our bodies in overdrive, using a lot of excess energy, which would not be used if we ran our bodies in stillness.
In my experience that place of stillness holds endless treasures, it feels like another world. It fosters a confidence that comes from the knowingness of truth that the stillness beholds.
It certainly is another world to our current reality of raciness, constant doing and stimulation. However there is nothing airy fairy about stillness. It allows you to feel more grounded and solid in your body and keeps life very simple and flowing.
So true, the stillness supports you to feel connected to everything in a very real way.
It really goes to show how nearly everything of this world is designed to take us away from our natural stillness, except nature, which is constantly reminding us of this state as it moves and constellates in order with the universe – not against it.
Nature is such a beautiful and consistent reflection for us all.
I agree Kate, if we were to appreciate more what Nature offers in in reflection of its cycles, and order in the Universe, we may be able to better appreciate our own natural place in that Universal Order and how the cycles are offering us an opportunity to learn and become more deeply aware of our natural, innate connection with the All.
So amazing that something so natural and so innate is something we all lose touch with. It never leaves us, is always there, just waiting for us to connect back to the deep stillness of who we are and where we come from.
It is very true as all have expressed that we may get to it and complete a task but our doing is the quality of us we bring to our task and day. Do we choose a quality of love, connection and purpose in appreciation and respect of all other beings or do we bring a deep lack of commitment, rush and the relief to get through? For all that we are is not only with us in that activity, but the next and the next and our loveless actions remain, inviting others to bring less of themselves too – we set the bar at a far greater less than True.
Yes, there is a great responsibility in living what is true, for everyone gets to see and feel what is possible.
And True Living is deeply needed for all.
Well said Deborah and we have been comfortable with living less for a long time. Well I know I have, and each time I expose this and commit to living the quality that I naturally am, there a moments when I slip back into the comfort of self. So it is a consistent approach with living this Love all of the time and remembering that nothing else is acceptable.
Less than Love is simply not Love at all.
I seem to be seeing more and more vans or cars on the road that are promoting energy drinks. These drinks don’t look energising but instead really toxic and full to the brim of sugar. Products like these definietly do not help us to re-connect and appreciate the stillness within, something I am feeling (stillness) a little bit more of every day when I allow myself too. It’s lovely, why would we not want to feel this? …because then we would have to feel everything else, all of what we have lived that hasn’t been true? Better to start feeling our loveliness now rather than later 💕
Linda I completely agree, there is much that needs to be “done” in life. Without appreciating ourselves then the quality we do those things in, is less that it naturally can be. I am constantly amazed how much deeper we can appreciate and when we do what naturally changes/occurs.
Mmm, not sure how, but I often get swept up by the things that need to be done and forget that the appreciation will ensure space and quality are more valued than my check list. I will be reimprinting that attitude today. That is the best thing about cycles in life…we get to try it another way!
Me too David, constantly amazed… The depth of appreciation we can have for ourselves that we then bring in such a beautifully and divine way to all that we do knows no bounds. I’m finding that the self-appreciation I might have had say last week is not enough this week, I’m constantly being asked to deepen — as we all are.
Appreciation is like going for a walk and stopping to smell the roses that are there along the pathway. These pause moments are rich with beauty and confirmation.
Those pauses open up the space to notice the detail.
Connecting to the stillness within offers us the opportunity to let others in at a deeper level by appreciating the essence of who they are.
At first when I heard of stillness and was meditating or in a healing session I thought I was feeling still however it was just because the motion in my body had stopped temporarily and could feel again but it was not the quality I then chose to continue my day in. It has taken practise to feel how stillness is a quality that lies within and is there all the time but it is our drive in life we pile on top. Feeling and holding our stillness within in the motion of life is a beautiful foundation to live life from.
Appreciating the stillness is taking notice of the quality and feeling, of stillness. It is quite extraordinary to capture this moment yet it is always consistently there, for us to choose.
There are moments when it appears the volume of everything going on around us has increased, and we have a choice to either allow that volume to take over or connect to the stillness that we all innately have inside.
A beautiful sharing Nicole and a great reminder to not get caught in the outer world to the detriment of our inner one.
Connecting to the stillness with in me really has changed my life and I can never stop appreciating what I feel and the importance and joy of simply feeling and being from the inside out. Magic happens when we stop and feel. Thank you for this beautiful blog.
‘Magic happens when we stop and feel.’ This has been the case for me whether I feel great inside or not, the fact that I make the space to actually register how I am feeling always comes with a drop of magic in that I feel confirmed and understand more deeply the choices I have been making.
“it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.” I have often felt like I was run by the outer world, only stopping when it allowed me to. Realising it is a choice to stop and a choice to appreciate myself and the stillness I hold has been life changing and is a forever work in progress because there is always a deeper level to go to.
I so felt this is a choice today. I went for a walk during lunchtime. I have a lot on but this was my opportunity to just be with me and feel stillness as I walked. It was quite something to feel, how each time a thought came about what I must remember I felt a measure of stress. And then when I cam back to me I felt lovely again. this kept on for the walk and I could see how I make myself ill when I continue ‘being busy’ doing one thing when thinking of another – then at the day’s end I feel exhausted and in need of a break mentally so usually resort to TV to ‘take my mind off things.’ A very unhealthy cycle if left to continue.
But I kept coming back to me initially I felt an anxiousness that plates I was spinning would fall so to speak. But then common sense said I can’t be doing anything on this walk except walk and enjoy it so I cam back to me and I felt refreshed and enjoyed the rest of my day.
Those stop-moments you talk about, Nicole, can be there with every breath. The more appreciative I am the more I am aware of my breath and those little pauses at the beginning and at the end of each in- and outbreath.
Yes, Felix, in those micro moments between breaths we can re-connect to the exquisiteness of our essence and the vastness of the whole universe.
I loved what you shared about not pushing through and past what was directly in front of you to stop and deeply appreciate the moment you find yourself in and then look to hold, deepen and develop the connection you have with you. This is a truly beautiful way to live and allow yourself to be nourished by.
Stillness does not equate to silence or an absence of action. It is a quality we connect to deep with in, which we then naturally bring to all that we do.
Re-reading this I was struck by how what is described here is a state of being that a few hundred years ago (or even less) – to connect with stillness in this way – would have been described as an exalted state, one that people would dedicate their lives to attaining.
Yet, what we are being given here is the fact that that connection to stillness is our future normality, one that is available to be connected to every day and in every moment we so choose. No meditating on a mountain for years, no living in a monastery. Just live and appreciate the life you live.
Stillness really opens up a space for us to feel and appreciate life. Without stillness our minds can be racy and cluttered up with thoughts, leaving little space to feel and appreciate life.
Next to appreciation is spaciousness necessary for me to connect to my stillness. When I am running around and not finishing the things I started before I start a new thing there is no space for stillness. On a practical level this means to let another finish their sentence (or coughing) before I speak and allowing myself enough time on the toilet!
Gorgeous Nicole: “It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” So that time makes place for space.
Nicole the ordinariness of what you have shared is very beautiful. How everyday being in stillness actually is and how we can live everyday in all our activities in this way. Appreciation is the key. Observing a moment, noting it for ourselves, but deeply appreciating our observations and appreciating that the previous choice we made resulted in the way we are feeling. I had a few similar feelings today, even at the gym. I hadn’t been for over a month, with being away. It felt amazing and there was no struggle or difficulty with anything and I felt so long and aware of my body as I left. As I walked across the road and then sat in my car, I was moving in appreciation of the joy of that experience. It was a beautiful confirmation of the choices I have made today.
I love that Jennifer the stillness is in fact ordinary, a normal way to be for us when in connection to our body. What we all live and have accepted as normal is in fact not ordinary at all.
When I read this blog I can see how stillness simply supports us to feel and be who we are. Thank you Nicole.
“No longer pushing through, looking past what was directly in front of me” how often do we live in this way? I know I can fall for it whenever I am busy or much is going on at the same time. And yet being in the moment, fully present in and with ourselves creates the space to be with it all, to know what is next and to be in the appreciation of that which is directly in front of us.
I have recently found too that in stillness appreciation is naturally there. So instead of trying to appreciate I am now learning to connect deeper to my stillness whenever I feel to appreciate more.
Agreed Carolien, connecting to our stillness allows us a deeper level of appreciation of the power of our reflection we bring to others and also of the responsibility that this entails.
Nicole what a gorgeous blog. One of the things that struck me was how easy we adapt to how we are living either way. We get used to disregard, anxiousness, stress etc but when we make changes they very quickly become normal and what we omit is as you say Nicole the factor of appreciation. To appreciate what we choose in life, the changes we make and the love and beauty we allow is very important as a foundation to keep building on.
Yes Carolien, I have found this too that it has been easy to forget how I used to live. Appreciation of the changes made and the returning to what is natural, our stillness, is to be deeply appreciated – thank you for the reminder.
What a beautiful celebration and appreciation of stillness. ‘It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt.’ This has been the case for me too Nicole.
Yes such a beautiful sharing Nicole. It is certainly a choice that we make to deeply feel and know our inner stillness and wisdom;
“And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us”.
Yes Shirl, that line stood out for me also – it is easy to get stuck in the trap of waiting for something to happen to us, waiting for someone to tell us “how” to do something, when in actual fact it all comes back to the choices we make. It’s actually super empowering.
‘…there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us’. Yes Nicole, I am finding this to be so true. I work in the babies room of a childcare centre and there are times when it is very loud with many children crying at the same time. A couple of the women find it difficult to deal with and do anything and everything to try to stop their crying. One of my colleagues asked me how I was finding it in that room and I said, “life is noisy and full on, it’s really no different, you have to feel settled with it within yourself, then you are fine. When it becomes very unsettled in the room especially when some children first arrive, I smile to myself as it is an amazing opportunity to bring more stillness to the moment.
A very beautiful blog Nicole, reminding us that if we take time to pause and feel what is in us and around us we are given the wonderful gift of the present. I remember being with friends once looking out over countryside but with traffic thundering past on the nearby road. In a pause in our conversation we all suddenly felt the stillness beneath and within it all, as though the earth was breathing gently. We could still hear the noise, but the presence of the stillness expanded to encompass it and so it faded into insignificance. When this happens everything becomes alive and present, and I see more clearly, the colours are more vibrant and the sounds clearer, it’s as though every particle is scintillating and dancing together.
Love this Joan, “We could still hear the noise, but the presence of stillness expanded to encompass it so it faded into insignificance’. I have experienced this too and the noise a few moments ago that was loud and almost annoying disappears into a background noise. I have found this when in a children’s playground the noise is not as strong as the joy of watching the children play, they come to the fore ground not the noise.
Yes Alison, we only have to stop and listen, and the stillness is louder than anything else! Nothing is more powerful than Love, we just miss out on it a lot of the time because we get distracted by other things, usually having an emotional reaction to them. Listening to and being with the stillness within and without takes all that unnecessary reaction away.
“It’s great practice to practice stillness when there is lots of motion because that’s life! It brings the reality of meditation into daily activity and makes it real.” This is a really good point you make here Gill as mediation and the feeling we feel whilst meditating is often thought of as only being possible during this time.
“Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others. We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.” Reading this I can feel the stillness and beauty within me and others. Thank you Nicole.
Such a beautiful sharing Nicole. What a reflection for your children! The exploration of stillness through the gentle breath could support a child enormously to develop their relationship with themselves. Imagine this foundation being introduced to schools! Learning to feel the difference between stillness and motion would have a significant impact on behaviour and what it means to be responsible for one’s actions and reactions.
Very beautifully said Bernadette. The impact we have on others is so underestimated whether we are in stillness or lets say anxiousness. But we do notice this all the time.
‘…there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.’ If I take this truth with me every day, my life cannot but be changed forever because I can then live from this stillness and respond to the outside world, not react to it as if I am somehow dependent upon it.
This is a lovely blog to read every morning for a reminder to feel am I still connected to my stillness as my day begins? Knowing it’s always there and it is we who disconnect away from it is very powerful because there is the knowing that we can choose again and again to reconnect to our breath. All our choices to go with the flow and appreciate our inner quality of stillness, thank you Nicole.
Our world is driven by this idea that we must ‘get there’, like the wackiest of races. But it seems all along, this natural still quality has always been there, just waiting underneath. No matter the occasion, if we lose this sense of stillness, its beautiful to know it is just a stop and a breath away from returning. Thank you, Nicole, for pointing out what our true stillness is all about.
Amazing, isn’t it, that we drive ourselves to such extremes to reach a ‘peak experience’ through sports, training, achievement, success, etc. etc. And here is someone who is relating an experience of connection that is the stuff of ancient tomes of wisdom, in her kitchen! Living life! So inspiring.
Very true Joseph,humanity as a whole is driven in so many ways and this is the illusion we have all subscribed to that we must be driven in order to survive! at the same time, many are not ready to feel what is there to be felt when we connect to the stillness within so it is easier to check out or create stress, busyness or issues as it gives us an excuse to not go there and connect to the love that we all are.
Stillness once you have truly felt it nothing else can compare to it. Through the Gentle Breath Meditation technique presented by Serge Benhayon I felt this for the first time and it was a day that I have never forgotten. Over time this connection and stillness has gotten stronger and stronger and now is becoming a normal part of my life. I love this from your blog Nicole – “And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.” – Each and every moment of the day.
By reading your sharing Nicole I got stiller and stiller – just wonderful. I loved every bit of your sharing, especially the point, when we get more tender and delicate, we actually feel stronger. It sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. The more tender we are, ther more powerful we feel. And stillness itself is pure power – means, we are connected to ourselves, to our inner heart and joy is felt. That is priceless. No money in this world can outweigh this feeling of joy in the body.
I love this Alexander – “stillness itself is pure power”. When we finally accept that this is true, we have access to all-knowing, as within the stillness we re-connect to our soul and to God.
…”“stillness itself is pure power…” what a statement of truth this is… it redefines the meaning of power
This is so true Alexander. The self empowerment felt is like nothing else. In surrendering to oneself and one’s stillness everything else fades into insignificance for the power comes from within.
Well said Alexander, we can’t place any price when we consider the joy and the quality of movement in our bodies when we honour the delicateness and tenderness within, we can definitely feel the power of the reflection that we offer to others so they too get inspired to live that for themselves and reap the benefits of their connection .
Coming back to this blog again makes me realise that I actually love the Stillness in both me and around me. What I would like to develop is connecting to the Stillness. What is ‘it’ actually communicating. Rather than having a relationship that is based on a kind of neediness, rather than a connection. Already now I can feel that the Stillness actually communicates a lot of Love and Understanding. Something I’ve never chosen up until now to feel, surrender to. A beholding Love.
Already now I can feel that the Stillness actually communicates a lot of Love and Understanding. Yes Floris, and also a sense of being complete and in the rhythm of heaven. In stillness, everything is known and beauty abounds within it.
What a powerful words Julie “a sense of being complete and in the rhythm of heaven”. I love it. Makes me even more aware and supporting me in acccepting the fact that I am from Heaven. And so everybody is. We’re so so held. We’re our own enemies basically. Whenever we choose to be with ourselves and let Life in, we’re surrounded by so much Love and Wisdom.
I so appreciate your beautiful blog, Nicole, for deepening my awareness for and understanding of stillness and the absolutely gorgeous comments that everyone is sharing as a consequence. Each individual expression of stillness is so exquisite, it blows me away and I find myself just re-reading comment after comment as there is so much to appreciate.
Nicole this is so beautiful and a real gift to read feeling the appreciation and stillness within flowing out from you and it is a real inspiration and very relatable to. The simplicity of feeling the stillness and space inside us and around us is very joyful and real and allows an expansion and knowing of who we really are.
What a beautiful blog to read Nicole; I loved how you deeply felt and appreciate the steadiness and stillness within and around you. Yes it is time to stop, be in repose and appreciate all that we are,
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all”.
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.” love this sentence Nicole and it is true that our essence is only a breath away for us to connect to and live the joys of our hearts.
I agree, Francisco Clara, the sharing of Nicole already brings me back into my inner stillness. The beautiful thing is when we surrender to this stillness more and more our body starts to open up to a deeper level of stillness when we let go of the racyness which wants to tell us that there is no stillness.
A blog linking stillness and appreciation is a gift – I know I will read this many times for the quality of stillness conveyed in the words- thank you Nicole
How many women and men across the world would also like to be able to say “The appreciation has since supported me to live in a way that is free from complication and overwhelm………” It is interesting what preceded this line “And yes, it (stillness) is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves……’
Nicole, your description captures the exquisiteness and beauty of stillness. When I allow myself to settle and rest in the stillness within I get to feel a way of moving and being in the world that is reassuring, all knowing and ready to embrace life with joy. When stillness is remembered it feels as vital as oxygen, an inbuilt life support, an SOS call we can deliver ourselves.
It is from this stillness that we can truly connect to other people. It is the biggest present you can bring in any relationship.
Yes, Mariette, the connection with another is true when we connect from our stillness, there is no need, no wished outcome and no agenda. There is connection with everyone without any effort or trying, it simply is our natural way of being.
Connecting to our stillness when we interact with others is such a precious gift as it allows more intimacy in all our relationships as people get to express and be who they truly are with no impositions or images just themselves and this is gold and very healing for everyone.
So beautifully expressed Francisco thank you. Our stillness is our biggest present, for ourselves and for others.
Being connected to the stillness feels like being in an ocean or field of energy that holds and imbues the world with all its sounds of life, revealing the temporal affairs as occurrences in an otherwise eternal consistency of beingness.
Beautiful, Alex. We can live in stillness and feel the pulse of life, or be caught in the chaos of temporal affairs – the choice is ours in every moment.
Thank you Janet and Alex. I can see more clearly how it is that I go into motion and lose myself. This way of behaving is not truly who I am. Staying in stillness at all times is my true way of being.
It is as though there are behaviours that I do that I have no control over but this is not true. It is only by seeing these behaviours for what they are that I can choose to not go in to them and thus stay in stillness and harmony with all.
When you put it like that Janet, the choice is incredibly clear and beautifully simple!
Sometimes I am walking along and just have to stop and appreciate the incredible stillness that is always there. It holds me, nurtures me, confirms me and reflects our love and truth in an instant.
Having just been for a walk outside, I am aware that, for me, stillness far more accessible when I am outside, appreciating nature. It’s very confirming to feel the rhythms, consistency, harmony, beauty all around me and know I am equally a part of the whole. Now it’s for me to surrender and allow this to develop further into my day to day life. A work in progress.
So true Alison. We have so many reflections of stillness all around us. God’s way of constantly reminding us to not get caught up in the outer and to observe and be with life from our stillness.
In what you describe here Nicole I can feel the steadiness and simplicity that stillness offers; “As I sit here writing this, the sound around me goes on: a television, an electric saw and a cement truck in a backyard, a toddler singing, a baby eating and our daughter playing piano, and yet the stillness within is stronger than all else.”
The stillness I now feel in my body is something for me to deeply appreciate and acknowledge and how this stillness supports me to trust and from this trusting in myself I can open up more to life and people.
Jacqmcfadden04 I love how you’ve presented here the connection between stillness and being open to life and others, and all that offers.
Rosanna, it is an important connection, especially for me as I felt unsafe to express as a child, and so held back in protection and hiding. The stillness I am building in my body is deeply supporting for me, allowing me to feel that it is safe for me to express and that my contribution is valuable and needed, no less or no more than my neighbours….
I make a similar experience, being connected with the stillness and all that comes with it I feel a trust and confidence, purpose and order that allows me to relate to life and people in new ways that at the same time feel very natural. Not only is there a sense of detachment whereby one is less or not reactive to impositions that otherwise use to knock you out of your center but also a beholding quality that in turn has an effect on life, ie. those who are in touch with me (and beyond). THAT is a Way of LIVING !
Yes Alex, That is the Way of Living and as we walk in our stillness, we remind all others that we meet that they are this too, and we all have equal acces to it.
“It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. ” it’s amazing what appreciation allows… Something I too should bring more awareness to.
Absolutely Emily. Appreciation brings about a totally different perspective on life, and there is such a difference between appreciating ourselves and all that we do and being self critical or doubtful towards it.
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.” Another gem in your beautiful blog, Nicole, it seems to be full of them. Why would we all not want to live this way always? What a simple way of living, why do we make it all seem so hard to achieve? We are so, so crazy that we complicate things so. The word SURRENDER comes to me, this is the key to being in this stillness all the time, oh why do I find it so hard to truly deeply surrender? This is the path for me now to let go deeper and deeper, and really surrender to that gorgeous stillness that is there within me.
Your comment re Stillness, Nicole had such an impact on me, “It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.” As I read those words, I had exactly the same feeling, such a feeling of something that I could feel I knew of from a long, long time ago. I felt such a longing to go back to that way of being, such a feeling of freedom from all the constraints that we put on ourselves, free of the need to be doing anything whatsoever, but of just being who I am, just being this glorious being that I now realise is the true me. Thank you so much for expressing this, I can feel this is what I am now very gradually going back to, learning to let go of all the need for doing, but to be doing as is impulsed by my body which knows what needs to be done at any point in time. A wonderful blog for us all.
To be still is to know and understand the pulse of the universe.
Well said, Adam. When we are still we connect to something so powerful and absolutely joyful, that we are constantly reminded of where we all come from. Our perspective on life shifts to one of purpose and love for all.
At-one-ment.
Since reading this blog I have become more aware of moments of stillness and held a much deeper appreciation for them and how when I chose to stop and connect the stillness is always there.
Nicole this is so deeply beautiful and a powerful reminder of who we all are in essence. Through your experience it is clear to see how it is through our stillness that we know who we are and it is through our stillness that we can live all that we are. There is then no struggle, push, fight or drive in our bodies to move in a way that needs to protect, be recognised or appreciated just an openness from surrendering to simply being with ourselves. As we can feel the richness of knowing that we are already everything, we are enough. The more we appreciate this quality within ourselves the more we affirm the truth of who we are, and are able to appreciate the same in others. ‘I know this appreciation will continue to develop and deepen as my own level of self-appreciation does.’ – gorgeously said, I absolutely agree.
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” Thank you Nicole-Beautiful.
With no strong awareness of stillness within, only a sense of knowing there is something more, it can appear that there is no other choice than to be caught up in the thinking mode and all the busy random thoughts running our day. Attending presentations by Serge Benhayon and participating in Esoteric Yoga sessions was the beginning of being able to break this numbness around the quality of stillness. The beauty is, the deeper I give myself permission to return to it, the more there is to continually return to.
“And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us”.
Understanding the movement of stillness in my body and learning to connect to it has helped me understand that it is always there.
This is so true nicolesjardin,it has always been there, we have just chosen to get caught up in how we think we need to be and left that divine impulse. It never left us.
It is great to read this, Nicole, having felt something similar at work recently, where there was a medley of sounds, movements and conversations all at the same time and I was struck by how still I felt within myself. I marvelled at how it is possible to not be affected by the world around us when we choose to stay connected to the quality of our breath.
I have also noticed the ripple effect this then has on the kaos that the children seem to be in. It brings a calm to the whole household.
I love the confirmation, the simplicity, that stillness is a quality. It is not something that we do or do not do. This takes away the ideals and beliefs we are so indoctrinated in about meditation, yoga and so many other truly supportive systems.
I can relate to what you shared about time. I find that the more I am connected to my stillness the more time I appear to have. The morning goes so smoothly and I seem to have so much time to spare, which on many other mornings is not the case in the busyness of getting children ready for school.
Stillness is not part of time, but time can occur inside stillness – at least for the time being 😉
Absolutely beautiful, inspirational blog Nicole, thank you. You have inspired me to have more stop moments to truly feel the stillness of the woman within.
‘We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.’ This is something that combines all of us, all over the world, without exception.
This article is a beautiful reminder that no matter what is going on around us at any one moment we always have the choice to connect to our stillness and our power within and be with this. If we are in the complications or ups and downs of life, it is a direct choice to be here, instead of with the stillness that is always there and never goes.
It is in the Stillness that we are most alive.
Such an exquisite blog Nicole that shows the true link between stillness and appreciation. I agree it is beautiful to know that when we appreciate we make more space to feel the stillness we are and from there our awareness of stillness continues to grow. A forever deepening and unfolding of who we are.
Nicole your piece on stillness is a beautiful reminder that we are all the same at heart, that stillness is a quality that we all hold, that it is a natural rhythm within us. And so it stands to reason appreciation of our selves in a true sense (appreciating our innermost nature) allows the stillness to be there in our day to day.
‘that stillness is a quality that we all hold, that it is a natural rhythm within us’ – this is agreat point Rosanna. There is no denying that when we connect to ourselves, to our stillness, there is a quality of presence that cannot be matched with anything from the world outside of ourselves. And the beautiful thing is that we all are of this same Divine quality yet are free to express this in our way, though our bodies, through our every day.
Reminding us that we are not going anywhere but back within to where we come from and appreciation being the way to confirm we are on the right track.
Alex that’s beautiful, it touches very deeply, an undeniable truth.
Appreciating the details in our connection, expression and movements is so key if we are to begin reconnecting to who we truly are.
What i love about this blog is how you have captured the dual fold quality of stillness; glorious steadiness.
Yes Lucinda well said. Nicole has shared how it is possible to hold ourselves, who we are in essence as we move in the world and so reflect the true quality of who we all are.
I have moments of feeling the absolute stillness and just now have reflected how even though I note and feel them; on some level I also dismiss them and do not build this as a new marker for me to live from. This is good to see and feel but more so something to lovingly change.
“there was a sense of complete stillness within and around me.” Nicole thank-you for your description of the magic of stillness, the eternal space that it creates is like finding the Universe within.
Stillness and spaciousness go hand in hand, feeling again that we are part of the Universe, being held and beholding, awareness expanding.
This blog is a great confirmation that the stillness we crave is within. I used to think I had to be alone, or be out in the middle of nature away from traffic and noise to experience this stillness. I was always looking for an outside escape that would help me feel stillness. I too have now discovered it is accessible to me anywhere, regardless of the activity and noise that is all around. I don’t always choose it because I still let myself get caught up by the busy-ness of life, but I know its there.
Wow knowing stillness is always there and how different we can feel in this quality makes me wonder why we create a life that means we live in everything but stillness, which is simple, holding and evolving for everyone.
Just as there is a pull for us to be more of the love that we all are, there is an equal pull just waiting to take us away from our gorgeous selves, not wanting us to be the power houses that we all can be, radiating our divinity for all to feel.
Nicole, I can relate to this, ‘ I got to feel there could be absolute stillness within all that goes on around me.’ I have noticed that with car journeys my son can be really grumpy and noisy sometimes and there can be a lot of distractions in and outside of the car but I can feel absolutley still and not be affected by this, I do not react and join in I simply speak calmly and deal with the situation practically, staying steady and still – this feels amazing
Nicole this is spot on – the more we stop and give ourselves space to appreciate and feel all of who we are and the stillness that resides within, life becomes one of joy. I work in an extremely busy cafe and it is constant from the moment I walk in the door to the moment I leave and this is something that I have been deepening my connection to every day and will continue to do so. Not letting your environment impose and have an impact on how your feel is key. Being able to keep this connection with yourself definitely creates a flow in this busy environment to be you in it. It is a great reminder to not take this for granted and to deeply appreciate how this stillness within is such a support for everyone. I notice less dramas happen and it is just an effective way of working with what comes up along the way.
That’s beautiful Natalie and my experience too that when we bring that connection it is a support for everyone.
‘the more we stop and give ourselves space to appreciate and feel all of who we are and the stillness that resides within, life becomes one of joy.’ – yes Natalie beautifully said. Where there is true stillness there is true love and where ever true Love is lived there can be nothing else but joy.
Developing a rhythm in our life that supports us to deepen that quality of stillness and connection helps us to hold steady in the hectic busy chaos that the world often presses upon us – and so makes the choice easier to remain with ourselves and less affected by its spin and noise.
Love what you share here, Natalie ….. in my job I am taking calls from confused and stressed elderly people who often come across as being very abrupt, it’s gorgeous to feel how their whole demeanor can change so quickly, it’s as though they are looking for reassurance that everything is going to be ok. I am appreciating how much is felt by the other person when I am totally present with myself, listening, without judgment or reaction, it’s as though the stillness allows them the space to let go of their angst.
It is worth stopping, being still and observing life – then we can feel what is required in life and respond in a way that holds us and everyone else in love, consideration and there is a natural harmony. Without this we are a mere puppet completely immersed and enmeshed in what is going on around us and our only course of action reacting to life.
So true Golnaz, it is imperative to understand just how much we are a puppet of energies orchestrating and playing us off each other, if we do not learn to stop, be still and connect back to ourselves. It means we are choosing to allow ourselves to be played if we continue to run in disconnection, giving our power away to the dramas and situations, rather than learning to hold steady and observe, feel and understand without enjoining in the dynamics – thus perpetuating its harmful outplay. Awareness is key, and this can only be there, if we stop and observe.
Beautiful, Golnaz, ‘being still and observing life – then we can feel what is required in life and respond in a way that holds us and everyone else in love, consideration and there is a natural harmony’ …. this is evolution, as opposed to the constant spin so much of society seems to be in – a moving whirl of emotion that stifles and exhausts us, leaving us reaching for stimulants just to get us through.
It is our lack of understanding of stillness that is the root of so many of our problems.
These moments of appreciating the quality of stillness within, really do bring a ‘stop’ or ‘pause’ moment of confirmation of ourselves, of our presence.
Yes Johanne, and that appreciation opens the way to a deeper connection with our true self, and an expanding awareness of the truth of all of us.
Nicole, it occured to me that there is no sense at all that your sharing is any way the ‘oneupmanship’ that so many sharings of where people are at in life can be. What you have offered here is a platform for others to climb up on. This is true brotherhood and our natural way of being. We share ourselves not to compare but to offer a platform so that others can climb aboard, they then turn around and extend their hands out to others, to help them climb up, in the meantime groups are standing shoulder to shoulder and making another higher platform for more to stand on and go ever higher in our collective evolution. Higher and higher we go in botherhood, this is the purpose of life, to evolve the whole.
Appreciation – definite key to deeper acceptance of the space and stillness within…
It sure is Joel. Something I am currently learning is to appreciate what I already have, the love that I naturally am – without any trying. Appreciating acknowledges that we already are everything we could ever want to be, it puts a holt on the endless external seeking for things outside of ourselves, we are taught that life is a series of events where we accumulate things : knowledges, skills, love, material objects, etc.. But what if we already have and come from everything that we could possibly want? What if we do not need to seek outside of ourselves, rather we simply need to look within?
The biggest learning for me in this James, is appreciating my quality…the tenderness, joy, strength, playfulness etc etc that I can feel (or not at times) – appreciation at this quality level brings something very profound to my life. A solidness and openness to others
As Nicole said, a body in stillness, that is connected to its inner heart, feels and is stronger than ever before because it is part of the whole and does not stand apart during that time.
Christoph the truth is we can never actually stand apart, we can only act as if we are standing apart.
Gorgeously said Christoph and so true. Our greatest strength is our connection to the Love we are. As the Love we are is the Love of us all, all that we equally are and all that we equally are part of and connected to.
“In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me: being able to feel the absolute joy and beauty in people, children, animals and nature, blessing me in every way.” Aah the true power of connection through loving appreciation for who we are and all others equally so. Awesome thank you Nicole.
Thanks for your blog Nicole, I read it at the perfect time, whilst sitting in a busy airport, where the plane is delayed, noise everywhere and yet your blog reminds me to connect back to the stillness within, and I love how you shared, it is always there for us, all we need to do is just connect. So simple.
It is amazing that we would otherwise not connect to our natural rhythm and stillness and need the stops to bring this awareness to us. Living this way of being has to be one of the most amazing and important steps we can make.
True – what a great reminder that it matters not where we are and what we are doing, connection is there available always and is key to how we will live our next moments and whether they will be with us or without.
Rosie, your comment gave me a moment to appreciate how supportive these blogs are on this website. I so often feel a coming back to me when I sit read and comment on a blog. What is amazing about the modern world is you can be caught in a busy noisy airport and still have access to the wealth of wisdom on these pages. That’s awesome.
Totally agree, I love and appreciate everyones contributions. One person writes a blog and from there so many others add to the conversation and expand to a level that no one could have imagined, and together we all inspired and grow. Beautiful!
It is a simple choice of connection, so why is it so seemingly difficult to choose? This becomes more clear as I learn to make the choice more consistently to keep the connection. There is familiarity and identity with the spin and noise either on the outside, or in the inner racy thoughts and anxiousness. But learning to discern and relinquish those false energies at play opens up a deeper connection to the stillness within.
Your blog inspired me to connect to the stillness that is always there – it makes it difficult to ignore.
“Within this stillness I could feel the strength of this inner quality, the inner being that supports us to be all that we are, if we so choose. And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.” We all have this beautiful inner quality . It is a beautiful reminder that it is just a choice to live this more and more, no need for the complication. We can choose to heal the things that get in the way of this.
“No longer pushing through, looking past what was directly in front of me, but now feeling how the appreciation in all that is supports me to hold, deepen and develop further the amazing connection I have with myself”. The choice to not push through what is infront of us is a choice to stay connected to the All, the bigger picture. We can lose sight of the wonderment of what is around us when we focus on what’s wrong rather than appreciate everything that is being offered to us.
“In my body there was a relief, a letting go, and a complete surrender to all that was and is.” The acceptance of life and how things are is key to allowing stillness, which is just a breath away. A lovely reminder for me – thank you.
I feel such joy when i read and hear the word surrender – I cherish surrender, our natural way- the tension leaves as I give myself permission to let go of all that is not true.
Thank you Nicole for sharing the simplicity of connecting with the Stillness that is within us all and in doing so your ability to connect with this in others and to hold yourself steady in the busyness and noise around you. This is deeply inspiring and since I read this article the other day I have noticed a greater acceptance and appreciation of myself, thank you.
‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all’ Appreciation is such an important key in stop moments, to feel how we are connected through the stillness with the divine, how could we not appreciate.
It is true and a great question ‘How could we not?’ and yet this is a worldwide dilemma and something for us all to master. Many would simply say why bother, what’s the point and what difference would it really make anyway and yet appreciation is key to embodying the simplicity of our true selves and living with this connection each and everyday. This is something that needs much time and attention and requires a strong foundation just like the building of a house.
i agree amina, it is something that proves itself through testing for oneself. appreciation keeps opening the portal to a deeper understanding and knowing of who we are and where we are from. Lack of appreciation allows the force of everything that we are not to keep us in the spin of false pictures that we are fed. It is important to remember that it is a choice we make.
Indeed Annelies through connection to the divine, we are free from the individuated path and return to a oneness that is absolute.
So true Annelies, I realised that in a world that is upping its game where speed is concerned there is little if any appreciation of stillness. Nicole’s blog is a beautiful celebration of what stillness is.
Stillness is a quality not a movement (or lack of). I used to think that in order for me to feel stillness I needed a calm environment and for me to be almost mediating. But as you so beautifully describe Nicole, stillness is a quality we hold within and that we can connect to at any moment.
True Nikki – many of us would equate stillness to lack of activity, a slowing down and a calmness when stillness is a living quality that we can embody in any given moment or activity.
Spot on Nikki. You’ve explained it so well
Agree Nikki, stillness is a quality that we can connect to at any moment, but we can so often set up our day to sabotage this connection – and it may seem we have a thousand valid excuses why, but in fact it is a deliberate choice to do so, because in that stillness we connect to our true power… and we are not always ready to accept that power and the responsibility that comes with it.
Yesterday I experienced a ‘stop moment’ that came with an injury. Today I ponder the relationship between this forced stop and the possibility that I wasn’t choosing a true stop with the stillness I already am.
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.” Gorgeously written Nicole, and an awareness about stillness that is so so very needed in today’s action-packed, driven, hardened world.
Yes it is Jenny, this is not something we are raised to experience in a world that champions achievements, drive and 24/7 action. How blessed to be able to read and feel in Nicole’s blog the immensely delicate and powerful quality stillness truly is and that it can be felt within all of us if we choose to stop all the stimulation and take regular moments to connect with this richness spaciousness within.
Such a beautiful blog Nicole and a wonderful reminder of the stillness that is possible when we choose to appreciate ourselves and all that we are surrounded by.
“As I sit here writing this, the sound around me goes on: a television, an electric saw and a cement truck in a backyard, a toddler singing, a baby eating and our daughter playing piano, and yet the stillness within is stronger than all else.” That is inspiring to read Nicole! Especially having so many different noises and energies around.
This is what I call perfectly constructed and an amazing confirmation of what is so clearly true. Thank you Janina for expressing this timely and detail comment.
It is a joy to be still and from here observe the noises of life.
Yes Deborah, the more still we can be within the more we can accept and be in the world and allow others to be how they are and simply observe.
And a harmonious way of living this is.
It is so lovely to not be affected by others and the noise they create and to feel the stillness within when there is so much going on around us. Definitely something that I am practising and I love it the more and more I develop this ability.
True. There is a deep knowing and returning home to a place that is ancient, deeply nurturing and exquisitely spacious.
‘It is a joy to be still and from here observe the noises of life.’ This is beautiful, Deborah, very inspiring.
So true Deborah and in these moments we can feel that there are no corners or edges, just a sense of space expanding.
Yes, all part of observing and allowing things to just be which is our natural way of being when we hold that quality of stillness within.
I felt this the other day in a playground full of children playing. Simple and still… ALL in one. Magic!
As i don’t have children of my own and am very sensitive i am quickly challenged by the noises children make especially when there are several.
I find this too Janina, I have children of my own that I have part time and when I am with them I find I have to step up my level of being present. I do find that when I am connected to my stillness the more aligned the children are, when I’m not, I can feel a bit agitated by expecting them to be a certain way and feeling some disappointment when they are not living up to my expectations.
That is a great point you make Christopher that to have an expectation how the children should behave not nervous or arguing-and of course that is often not the case. Learning to allow the children to be how they are and not imposing on them….
We are so removed from the meaning of stillness when we consider the ceaseless activity of society.
Even in the moments of rest, we are seldom still rather continuing in the motion, drive, push and momentum of our day. How many of us would equate standing still to stillness, when stillness is a living quality that we can live in throughout our day, in movement and in rest.
Well said Deborah. As stillness is a quality, even in rest we may not choose it nor is it a given. I know that I can rest and my mind is still racing through things. And likewise I can be doing something surrounded by much activity and be in complete stillness.
True, Nikki, and it is so easy and common to get to a state of pure functioning, where there is no stillness, however to choose moments to stop to reconnect to the stillness within sets us free from this pressure outside.
Indeed Deborah – stillness in motion is the steadiness with which we are able to discern the quality around us alongside the quality within.
agree Lucinda, bringing the quality of stillness to our living and full presence to each moment, allows greater discernment and understanding of what is truly happening before us, and in that greater space we have opened into, we can feel and know what is needed in that moment. Living this we can live with true confidence.
True Lucinda – a marker of absolute known quality to us that we can trust.
So true lucindag. When we connect to this innate stillness and all our movements reflect this quality of stillness, we are offered the space to discern all around us what is true or not true.
There is very little to no stillness in most activities in society, including most meditations or places where people go to rest. Growing up in so much motion and business, and not having parents who connect to and express the quality of stillness it can be at first difficult to understand and feel what stillness actually is, especially what stillness in motion is. It can also at first take a consistent commitment and practice of stopping and surrendering to actually get to stillness. Motion is like a steam train at full speed and it can take time to slow down to a stop.
Excellent point Danielle, about how even much of what is being proclaimed in society as ‘calm’ or ‘tranquil’ is in fact just another quality of motion and not true stillness at all. But these are just words unless you have experienced the true stillness that lives within you and each and every person with complete equality.
There are many courses, teachers and presenters world wide who are saying that they are offering or presenting stillness but it is in fact not. It’s a stillness or an emptiness of thoughts in the head, but the body is still racing a million miles an hour.
True and particularly when we consider there are countless trains full steam ahead with few and far between stops. We no sooner step off one and another is there to step on to. It takes loving discipline to stop, take a moment and consider the platform we are on.
It’s common to take a lot of stop moments in life, but not realise that it’s possible to stay in the stillness of the stop when we go into motion, and instead when we go back into motion we end up letting go of the stillness within and going back into racy within.
‘Motion is like a steam train at full speed and it can take time to slow down to a stop.’ – so true, Danielle, I have felt that steam train!! When we are in motion, there can be a lot of momentum pushing it along, particularly when it’s an old pattern for us. Love your point about gently applying the brakes, often, to allow ourselves to stop and surrender.
Sometimes we can have been on the steam train of motion for so long that we think we are getting off or applying the breaks but we actually aren’t, because it’s so familiar we don’t realise we are still in it.
Very true Danielle, I have found that when practiced daily, there is a point where the Gentle Breath Meditation is carried through your day and I suddenly found myself walking with a still confidence, an ease that was so void from my life before I was introduced to Universal Medicine.
My life before Universal Medicine did not have an ounce of stillness in it. When my body was still I was totally checked out and exhausted and my insides and my energy were still going a million miles an hour because I had not actually made the choice to stop. Actually I didn’t know there was a choice and would’ve had no idea what so ever how to do it. Thank God for Universal Medicine and the re-introduction of the Gentle Breath Meditation.
Well said Deborah. Stillness ? What is stillness in the world full of motion. A gorgeous quality within.
Great point Deborah, stillness is related to not moving but rarely considered in relation to our inner quality, and this is of great relevance in these times where stimulation is found in every aspect of our days from food to technology and the fast pace of life. To deal with and really enjoy life the move towards stillness in motion is one that is really worth exploring. What better way to cope with the stresses and demands of modern life.
Well said, Stephen, ‘stimulation is found in every aspect of our days from food to technology’, it’s all around us, constantly, as the pace of life just keeps ramping up and the use of stimulants forever increasing as people struggle to keep up, adding to the enormous plague of exhaustion, not to mention dis-ease. To be able to connect to the stillness within is an absolute Godsend.
Beautifully said Deborah… it is worth considering why the world puts so much energy into the ceaseless activity, stimulation and raciness – is it because to stop would mean we would have to face too much that we have not wanted to really look at.. and yet the stop gives us our greatest power, in awareness, to be able to deal with that which we have tried to bury, but in truth is affecting us in every way in every moment.
And thus we avoid our true power by denying the awareness we all have that equips us to live life and to bring our all.
Stillness is quality we can take with us into all aspects of our lives in all we do. I used to think stillness was just a physical state, this is not true stillness if our minds are still ticking away. i find stillness as a wholeness of being.
True Christopher – stillness is a living quality and not something confined to the mind or our body being at rest.
Very beautiful Nicole ~ ‘It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all’
The stillness within the all is alive in us all.
‘No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.’ …. we are so very supported, in spite of our choices, which we are free to change in the very next moment.
Beautiful line Sara, thanks for highlighting it.
In the rush, in the doing, we miss this profound gift…the beholder of truth that is the all.
A great line, that reminds us to bring it back to simplicity.
Yes it absolutely is time to stop and feel all that we are. When we are in motion and drive there is no space to even consider that there is a possibility of stillness that resides within. Giving ourselves those moments to stop to connect to this stillness supported by the Gentle Breath Mediation by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon is a huge support in connecting with this stillness. When I first realised this was a quality that I had within myself was when I participated in this technique and my life has not been the same since. I can be busy and still have a quality that reflects this stillness within.
I agree Natalie, when we get into a momentum of drive it feels like the stillness disappears, but its just the choices we have made to get us to that place. The stillness is always there its our choices that keep us away from it.
it is indeed beautiful and it is what we surrender to when we dare to let go.
The link you have highlighted between Stillness and Appreciation is powerful yet simple. When I appreciate I expand and stillness emanates from within – a simple but profound truth we can all choose to practice. Thanks Nicole
Connecting to nature and opening my heart to people helps to me connect to this stillness and appreciation.
Yes, Annie- I too find nature a wonderful place to walk amongst to appreciate the awesome reflection of who we are e.g. roses reflect to me my divine beauty, preciousness, delicateness, uniqueness and love within. My body expands and I feel the warm loving connection to God.
Yes Christine I agree as when we connect deeply to our stillness and move in this quality how can we not but appreciate the divinity we innately are.
‘When I appreciate I expand and stillness emanates from within.’ Appreciation is an often forgotten quality, it is good to receive this reflection of how it can be the foundation of much more. Thank you Christine
As you said Christine is it something we can all choose. And that is the key to remember we all have a choice in each and every moment – the rest is up to us! It is a great reminder that it is our inner quality that is what is important then no matter what is going on around us it does not have such a strong propensity to affect us.
Love this Christine and it is a beautiful and profound link Nicole has made between stillness and appreciation with each feeding the other. It simply begins with us taking the time to connect to that quality within and from there we can begin to see that quality is within all else, from there our appreciation and awareness of stillness grows, expands and emanates. Appreciation absolutely makes space for us to feel the stillness and beauty in life.
Beautifully said Jade, the more we can appreciate the stillness within ourselves, the more we can see and feel that everyone has the same stillness within. we have all just chosen a different outer form of identity to survive in a chaotic world. As more remember the stillness they come from, the world will return towards a deeper stillness and more harmonious way of living and loving together.
There is something extraordinary that happens when we live from our essence, and fill our lives with appreciation. Our senses become richer and far deeper. We start to see with more clarity, it is as though we can see beneath the surface of life. Our sense of touch comes to life as our body becomes more tender. And our hearing changes to become subtle, refined and extraordinarily sensitive. My experience has been one of hearing with my whole body and not just my ears, as strange as this may sound. This state, so beautifully described by Nicole, allows us to hear beyond the noise to the stillness. This ever-present stillness is a part of us, inseparably so, even though it is easily ignored in the craziness of our hectic, noisy lives.
Beautifully said Rachel, when we live from our essence and allow for the appreciation that lies within the stillness and harmony, we detach ourselves from the busy-ness and dramas of life that we would otherwise be swept away by. It is how we observe and not absorb.
So true Christine. When one is in doubt, judgment, self-criticism etc one can never connect with the stillness. Instead with appreciation the door is opened.
Yes, Christine, that link between Stillness and Appreciation is so important. That is where so many of us can fall down, failing to express the appreciation that we feel when we can feel that Stillness. It is so needed for us to express this, to constantly recognise it when it is present in us and constantly appreciate it. I have not always found it easy to appreciate things within myself, although I find it easier to appreciate what is in others. Maybe a throw-back on the old way I was brought up, to think of myself was regarded as being selfish. More to let go of here for me, all old stuff.
Love this, Christine, “When I appreciate I expand and stillness emanates from within” …. when we are feeling appreciation it’s as though there is a magnetism pulling people towards us, it’s felt by others and it’s very delicious to be around.
I agree Christine. The link between stillness and appreciation is huge… Today I felt a much deeper connection to me, to my stillness which has been there for most of the day because I was appreciating me, choosing thoughts that nourish instead of thoughts that debase and critique.
Christine just reading your comment I can feel how true this is. How powerful it is too, wiping away complication in an instant.
Yes, let the appreciation continue forever more, a vital part of living Soulfully on earth. Thank you Nicole – a whole lot more to come.
I agree Rik- when we appreciate the beauty-full innate qualities we all have within our inner heart – stillness being one of them, we emanate joy and the love we are so others can see this awesome reflection and know it is in them also. The quality in how we move is therefore so important.
Stillness is within us all the time. There is the responsibility to choose a livingness that supports us to truly connect with our essence and feel and deeply appreciate the beauty and the expansiveness of our stillness.
You are right Margaret to call it a responsibility to live in a way that supports our connection within as the stillness is always there waiting to be connected to.
Connecting to the stillness within is a step of deep joy and confirmation, and from there life can unfold into deeper and far grander dimensions. It is definitely worth a try.
Beautifully said Margaret and so very true it is our responsibility to live and reflect this and it is there the whole time.
I have spent so much time in my life allowing my spirit to distract me by searching outside of my body, looking for stillness that was within me all the while.
I agree Margaret and the more we live this stillness the more we natural cannot live without it.
Absolutely aminatumi “the more we live this stillness the more we natural cannot live without it.” and may I add what was stillness yesterday may not feel like stillness today as the level of stillness we feel is forever deepening.
Beautifully said Amina, it makes me appreciate how i now so naturally feel stillness when in the past I would not even be aware of the possibility of feeling stillness in my body.
I agree Amina. The stillness literally calls us back, because it is so beautiful to feel it.
Absolutely Amina. When we live with stillness more and more, the foundation is so rock solid because it is the undeniable truth of God held within us and reverberating from our souls.
I agree with you Amina and Margaret, the more we hold the stillness, the more natural it is to keep holding it, and it is an ever unfolding ever deepening state of being. Once it has been felt we begin to know our true home.
I so agree, Margaret, we have a huge responsibility here to live in a way that “supports us to truly connect with our essence and feel and deeply appreciate the beauty and the expansiveness of our stillness”. Responsibility for me is key for us all now, those of us who are aware of this different way of living are so needed to live that way so that others may observe us and how we are living in a much less stressful and far more loving and self-loving way and may be drawn, through alchemy, to maybe also give this way of life a ‘go’. For me, this is so important for everyone in his awfully chaotic world that we live in.
Agreed Beverley, for those of us who are aware we have a huge responsibility to express the qualities of love, self love, stillness, truth and appreciation. We’re living islands of stillness within this chaotic world that offer another way to be.
Absolutely Beverley it is our responsibility to share our loving way of living this is becoming so clear to me in every interaction I have with people in the community they are screaming out for change in their lives
And it is so natural for us to do so.
A beautiful reminder Emily.
Gorgeous Margaret. Yes stillness is our natural way of being and when we connect to that way our quality of living is completely changed. There is much to appreciate from our stillness in every moment it is chosen.
So true Kelly. In stillness we can feel true joy of life, ourselves and appreciate what we have to offer humanity as we are all unique in our expression.
The beautiful quality of stillness that we connect to, is the living truth that is naturally our essence.
Agree Margaret, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to all to choose a way of living that supports us to hold connection with our essence. But that responsibility is not onerous, but rather deeply joyful, and confirming as we get to feel and know more of who we truly are, and all others equally.
Same here Ariana, having spent most of my life trying to get or find something i thought I was lacking as I never would feel enough, then learning and feeling and starting to appreciate it’s all inside and has always been there just waiting to be connected to is a real life changer. As you’ve highlighted though with that stillness inside there is a responsibility we have to choose a way of living that allows us to be with it.
There sure is plenty of distractions presented for us to choose and I’ve got to say sometimes I still fall for checking out with a distraction at times but soon choose to come back to stillness.
Yes Margaret and I would go further to say that stillness is in fact who we are — and so much more. Stillness is an innate part of us, when we choose to connect with ourselves we cannot but feel the stillness that is always there.
“Stillness is in fact who we are — and so much more. Stillness is an innate part of us, when we choose to connect with ourselves we cannot but feel the stillness that is always there.” and you reflect that so beautifully in your livingness Katerina.
Responsibility and appreciation are the keys to life. They are living and breathing things that constantly needs work by committing and deepening to and allowing space for them in your life. If these become the foundation of your life, then it creates a way of living that brings much harmony, joy, stillness and love into your world.
So true Sarah committing and deepening my level of conscious presence is my responsibility something I am appreciating more and more as I feel the joy and harmony I emanate to the world is felt by others.
Yes, it is always there, it is a constant in every one of us. But is up to us to make choices that support the connection to this stillness, as life lived from this place is vastly different to the one most of us know.
The reflection of our stillness provides a mirror supporting others to choose to re-connect with their essence and feel the stillness with.
Yes it is simply living what is true and absolute so others can see it is possible for them to do so as well.
It is interesting just how many people around us observe us I know for me with friends and colleagues in the work place we have so much to share and part of that is we are not perfect we lose our connection and have an opportunity to share the practices we use to reconnect back to stillness. There is no them and us we are all one that’s what I love about life we all have so much to offer one another.
In the stillness there is an absolute oneness and no separation at all. Competition and comparison dissolve, like the illusion they are.
So true Margaret. Stillness cannot be ‘conjured’ up in moment, it is a innate connection that is lived and deepens with our surrender.
So true Jenny it has taken me a long time of constantly bringing myself back to myself, re-connecting with essence and gradually holding that connection long and longer as I let go of my hurts that drove me that I am able to feel stillness in my body to the depth I feel it today.
The fact that we do at times make choices that take us out of our stillness is a shocker Ariana I absolutely agree it is our responsibility to choose the familiar old pattern of the comfort we have found in raciness and chaos of disconnection or the truth of who we are with our essence. It a bit of a no brainer really isn’t it. So why do we do it? I am sitting feeling into what it is I see as the payoff for choosing to disconnect from my essence.
Thank you Nicole for writing about this subject, a subject that should be a part of many story books. A story I would read every night to myself and to whoever it was in the family. A story of love – the Stillness within.
And from that place so much can be done Mary, this is what’s amazing and so powerful that humanity has forgotten. From stillness we move with purpose, there isn’t procrastination and delay, we get on with it in the grace that we feel — and whatever it is we do is underpinned by this grace. What the world very much needs today.
I just read this beautiful blog whilst on a busy tram with Friday evening noises and excitement reverberating everywhere. Amidst it all I am still, resting in me and the beauty I can feel within. When we are with ourselves that communion surpasses any noise, the stillness reverberates and we can simply observe. This is the truly normal way to live.
A blessing for the entire tram Katerina:)
These comments are inspiring and confirm the stillness I sometimes feel within as a possibility for a permanent way of being – very different from the buzzy way many of us live.
I always knew how much I loved stillness years ago when I had a house full of children,TV and noise around me and would love to go into the garden for some quiet. But it didn’t occur to me at that time that I could’ve held onto my stillness with all the hubbub happening as you describe Nicole. There’s plenty of places still to practice this like supermarkets or shops with musak on, we can all work on not getting drawn into these distractions but hold the stillness within us.
Beautifully said Mary, the feeling of fullness in the body, an expansion to be more of who we are.
This blog is such a simple and powerful reflection of how we can not blame anything from outside of us for our experience. We always have the power in us to strengthen our foundation of stillness, inner wisdom, harmony, love and joy from within.
A beautiful blog Nicole. As you so wisely point out, in stillness there is so much space to love and appreciate everything. There is just so much to appreciate in what you have expressed; I particularly loved your following words;
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism”.
Stillness and space are one and the same and are qualities that we ought to bring with us from the moment we are born, as they are natural and innate and completely normal. Yet we learn to get busy and live in motion and contract away from the spaciousness of our living stillness.
“It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.” Yes I so agree – it feels so beautiful when we know we have this stillness within us all the time. Yet I so often override it – crackers!
Stillness can seem like a lifetime away. It is so easy to pull in all of the excuses under the sun. In truth it is just a choice, a second away. How beautiful and simple is that?
So simple…and yes, very beautiful! Thank you Jenny
Inspiring to feel the stillness in your expression also – I realised that when reading this blog I had let go of nervousness in my body about my day ahead.
Nicole this sentence got me “. . . constantly reminding me that the stillness is eternal: it never stops and it never leaves, no matter how busy or noisy we may think things are, there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.” That is the best reminder ever!
I feel the stillness in me and the truth of it when I read your article, thank you Nicole.
It is truly something to find a quality within us that can be expressed and touch others so simply and deeply beyond the words.
What a beautiful contribution, Nicole – I have not felt it so much in the midst of the hustle and bustle but more so when I go for a walk early in the morning and all that is reflected back to me is stillness and beauty.
Watch out for calm mascarading as stillness. Calm is like throwing a big suffocating blanket over all of our crap and momentarily stifling the scream.
So true Alexis. ‘Calm’ is simply a control. Stillness does not have an ounce of control.
I never thought of it that way – calm being control
Well said Rebecca, Control in such an insidious thing particular insidious when presented as calmness.. whereas stillness is totally unimposing like a breath of fresh air.
What an awesome image — and so true!!
I like that Alexis…very true! Stillness comes from the depth of our being whereas calm is something that happens on the outside, that we create.
Knowing that stillness is actually who we are, really highlights just how far from ourselves we have got.
Stillness i have found is about allowing the natural stasis of harmony to be in the body to create a way or quality of being, that is the backbone of ease in life. Without it, the race, rush and riot of life work to dismantle and in this create imbalance, or an autopilot way of being. Stillness is self-connection and keeping oneself clean and clear in times of any ‘rubbish’ (!) It is complete joy to live and work in this natural way.
Yes Zofia, and it is our cells that crave the harmony that stillness bring . It is a scientific fact that all cells even in a chaotic state are pulled or impulsed to work their way back into harmony. It is the natural state of being for every cell in the universe.So it takes a great force of opposing energy to keep things in chaos.
In the stillness we stop being individuals, expand and become part of the whole.
I am appreciating that I have come to know the quality of stillness in a real and lived way through Esoteric Yoga. Thank you to Serge Benhayon for this heaven sent modality that offers an opportunity for us to know what true movement feels like in the body.
‘No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.’
Nicole this is just gorgeous. It’s a line to feel and return to if I am ever being harsh with myself for my choices.The love that I am communicates with me what is not loving in how I’ve been living but from a knowing I am love and have no need for what is not love.
Exactly Katie and I agree. We can’t keep running the world at this pace or intensity something will eventually break, like anything really. This to me is one of the keys of life, “choose to connect to our body and focus on that connection with ourselves it gives us the opportunity to be in the moment” That moment is everything, not the next deadline, meeting, pick up the kids, dinner etc, simply the moment. If we see life as a series of moments, each being a point or a building to the next then the choice to ‘be’ in each moment would seem important, possibly fundamental.
I love this comment Ray. Yes I agree life is about moments and breaking it down to living in the moment, not in the past and not in the projected future makes it possible for me to maintain a connection to my body, to the best of my ability in each moment.
Thank you Kathleen and this is a key to life to always dedicate back to. No matter what is before you or what has happened your presence in the moment will have all you need, thinking anything else, you will find yourself turning in a circle.
Another inspiring comment Ray and so true we do have everything we need if we stay in our presence and furthermore we must all know this on some level for when we are not fully present we are in an anxiety. And when you think of it in this way why wouldn’t you be anxious if you are ill equipped for the moment because you are beside yourself rather than with yourself?
It is all so simple when you put it that way and yet we have a momentum to deal with of being in complexity. No more delay and as you say choose to be present in the moment, any and every moment the best you can. When you find yourself anxious or ‘beside yourself’, don’t argue about the route that got you there but simply return.
Good point Ray, I will do just that. I will simply note the next time that I have drifted off somewhere far, far away in my mind and come back to feeling that I am in my body with my feet on the ground, fully present and alert.
It’s great to write this down and now to read it again for me. We can go anywhere in our thoughts but at this point we can only truly be in one place at a time. You could say it is good Medicine to have all of you in one place. So if your body is in one place and your mind wanders off somewhere else, as you are saying simply bring you mind back to your body.
Nicole what an awesome experience you have had in the midst of everyday noise and life in general. I agree that we can find that inner stillness and see life as more than a series of events tied to time. Not allowing it to be our Master and therefor we can appreciate the stillness that is the true us.
Hello Nicola and beautifully written. The ‘stillness’ you speak of is a feeling, a feeling that can forever be felt if you choose to be aware of it. You can have it anywhere and when it’s with you you see the world through different eyes.
Yes Ray, we then can see the world through the eyes of this feeling of stillness and with that comes far greater understanding of our self, others and the world we are living in.
Yes Kathleen and the dedication is always back to the feeling and not to allow ourselves to chase whatever we perceive our eyes see. Only from inside out does our world open up; chase outwards and we are forever running.
Oh yes Ray, and believe you me I know just how exhausting that running is having found myself on that treadmill many times only to stop for a while and then get sucked back on by my own choices.
Spot on Kathleen and when we make something else more important than us, this is usually the result. It’s funny how when we say things like, how we treat ourselves is important part of everything it will bring up thoughts of being self centred etc when in fact it’s super important. As you know the quality we are with ourselves then flows out to everything else so it makes sense to take great care of yourself first.
I agree Ray and the more we take care of ourselves the more we can truly be there for others. It is the appreciation of what we bring to the world that grows and deepens the love and care of our self. And we all have our unique expression to bring.
Again that is bang on for me Kathleen and when I read this with respect it now seems more of a common sense thing, “the more we take care of ourselves the more we can truly be there for others”. It wasn’t always this clear for me, enter Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, bringing life clearer.
Yes, once more I will have to agree with you there Ray, this very simple truth was made all the more accessible and doable through the presentations of Serge Benhayon. This woke me up and had me wonder why I had not figured that out for myself because as you say it is purely common sense.
Thanks Kathleen and through ‘this work’ by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I am being awakened at every moment. I love the way that this is all presented, the fact that I just needed support to see that all that is said, I already knew. I’m not being taught something new but merely connecting and returning to something I had already, no pressure, no learning, simply a return.
Yes Ray a return to the stillness that lies within.
Absolutely Kathleen and the dedication and consistency to do so at every turn.
Spot on Ray it is in fact a dance, a dance with stillness as our partner.
Thank you Kathleen and a ‘dance’ that is not concerned about looks or technique but is dedicated to quality, a true quality first.
Yes Ray a dance dedicated to the true quality of movement. A movement that is in keeping with a deep connection with the stillness that is our very essence.
So we are simply saying we need not do anything else, no mountain to climb, no mortgage to take care of, no work to be late for until we are connected to a ‘stillness’ that is there within us forever waiting and all we need do is move to it. This is truly ground breaking in a world set up where achieving is a focus. No achievement needed as what we speak of is innate, in other words we are it at our core and all we need to do is stop and be aware.
Yes Ray, stopping and reconnecting to ourselves through a change in movement when we feel we are not fully our self is all that is truly required..
Confirming ourselves through appreciation is a way to more deeply surrender in our body as with appreciation comes the recognition that we are already enough, that we are already whole. Through surrender, we come to know stillness.
Thank you Nicole for a very beautiful blog, just reading it, I can feel the stillness within and without, deepening my appreciation of myself and this then follows on to others, and life.
Agreed Katie, it is awesome to be able to connect and appreciate that level of stillness in our bodies amongst the busyness of the world and also to feel the responsibility of that reflection to others so they too know it is innate to us all.
Thank you Nicole, appreciating the stillness within has become an important part of my rhythm as I have found that the more I live in the appreciation of what is, the more space is created for everything to unfold and for true love to be enjoyed in my life.
To have that ‘stop’ moment, connecting to that inner stillness and to truly appreciate that in itself is a gift that we can gift ourselves at any given moment within our day.
Marion exactly and the gift that I have found is greater than any other gift on earth.
Yes Marion and what a gift!
I really love reading your writing Nicole and feeling the depth of the quality of your stillness in this one is delicious!
So so beauty-full. This is just heaven on earth and so simple. Thank You for reminding me of appreciation. It is the best medicine ever and I’ve just started to apply it.
Thank you Nicole for this most beautiful description of what it means to be still.
Being still from within allows us to to be aware of everything around us but that what is around does not penetrate this stillness. Things are happening around us but not in us.
That is a great reminder Esther, to not take things on and become them, and with awareness we can read the situation and not get caught in it.
I love the innocent way you’re appreciating yourself and everything and everyone in life here Nicole. It reminds me of both myself and others when they feel the stillness inside for the first time. Literally all are actually surprised that they can be so still with the world around them being very busy. It is extraordinary, yet also very natural to feel the stillness that we all hold within and all do belong to.
Yes, coming back to our body is key and listening to our own wisdom and knowing.
To be still and free of breathing the activity around us is key to living life.
To breath our own breath connects us to the vast stillness that is our natural state.
If you read what people say today, it’s often about how incredibly hard it is to find a moment to rest. It seems we believe to be busy is to be the best. Yet this seems to come at a great cost to our body. In this landscape, stillness becomes like a golden oasis we can dip our toe in. But what if, in reality, it’s the other way around? What if this stillness is actually always here? What if the business comes as a fight and movement against a stillness we constantly feel? Have you ever stopped for a moment in front of a sunset and just let out a big sigh? Experiences like Nicole’s show that however deep down, this stillness is always around.
This is a beautiful blog Nicole, I love how you describe being able to connect to that place of stillness even with so much happening around you. A great reminder that we don’t have to be in a quiet place or on our own without any disturbance to still feel the inner quality of stillness. This is indeed truly worth appreciating.
‘… the stillness is eternal: it never stops and it never leaves, no matter how busy or noisy we may think things are,….’ The stillness is absolute.
Thank you once again for ‘bringing it’ Nicole. You and your loving expression is deeply appreciated. 🙂
Yesterday I was playfully riding my bike with my daughter and our dogs and this blog came to mind as I felt the world around me being the world around me as everyone raced home from work yet within me and our family was a gorgeous spacious feeling.
I can relate to this Johanna, as whilst walking around a busy shopping centre yesterday this blog came to mind and I was more aware of staying with myself and feeling the quality of my movements.
Nicole you present how appreciation can lead to stillness and how through choosing stillness, it can lead to a deepening appreciation of who we are – a cycle that is well worth claiming as a naturally healing and evolving way of living.
I agree Katie – to live life in a way that is deeply honouring of ourselves.
For a long time I thought that it had to be silent outside of me to become still within. Now I know that this is not true. The stillness I was looking for has always been inside of me and regardless of the sounds outside, I can make the choice to connect to that stillness.
Nicole, you have just described the antidote to exhaustion. It is because we allow ourselves to get caught up in the spin of the world that we get so exhausted. By stopping, connecting to and appreciating the stillness within us we can then observe the world around us and even begin to appreciate it! Overwhelm and stress are not a recipe for a fulfilling life, but living life connected to our inner stillness is.
Nicole, I know this feeling, working in a busy school, often the other staff say to me ‘that was crazy’ after a busy lunch hour because there is so much going on, noise wise etc… but I always reply that I found it ok much to everyones surprise, I realised that the difference was that I stayed steady and still no matter what was going on around me, so for me it was not a stressful experience being amongst the business.
Rebecca I’ve had this too but in the past have felt puzzled as to why people have felt this way when I didn’t. Then I started noticing when people were stressed and weren’t with themselves they got all flustered. I’ve noticed this in me too, being stressed by what I saw were outside demands on me when now I know it’s not what’s going on on the outside but about me reconnecting with me and coming from a beautiful stillness.
Nicole, I have been able to appreciate this level of stillness you describe but as yet have not got to the stage where I accept that this stillness can easily be part of my everyday, every moment. It is worth working on as it is an exquisite, healthy and very energising way to live. Stillness in motion is little appreciated but is worth taking the time to develop and live in.
Yes stillness is not static, but a fine quality (self-connectedness) that is included in every expression, activity or move, i.e. movement with connected quality. I’m enjoying developing, deepening and feeling the huge benefits of having this quality of stillness gracing my life, a quality that before was so absent, and i could say that was how i felt about life itself – with an absence. Living with stillness closes the sense of absence to a lived presence.
I like the way you express that Zofia, that living in stillness has bought presence to life where as before there was a sense of absence. I agree, with presence and stillness there is an absolute fullness, a wealth to access and no need to go searching for it outside of oneself.
Absolutely Stephen, ‘ It is worth working on as it is an exquisite, healthy and very energising way to live. Stillness in motion is little appreciated but is worth taking the time to develop and live in.’ When I live this way as you say it is very energising, it makes me realise how draining it is getting caught up in the drama of life, getting stressed, rushing etc… walking and being in stillness feels amazing and is an amazing reflection to others for what is possible.
Nicole its really wonderful to stop, read your blog and appreciate. I love when you share this sentence “It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all” as its something we can all do, by choice. I also love how the key to stillness and not being caught up in all the distractions around us is through appreciation.
Great blog Nicole, appreciating the stillness within when all around us is buzzing felt tricky initially because I was used to joining the buzz. Connecting and holding the stillness with activity around feels beautiful and then realising we can move with this stillness and still not be in the buzz is another step to feel. There’s a great article to read on the quality of stillness in the Unimedpedia sphere of unimedliving.com
There is no image in this world that can even approach the feeling of the quality called stillness when one connects deeply to it and feels the Universe pulsing.
I agree Eduardo, no image at all only the feeling that there a movie going on all around you that cannot affect you as you are with you. In moments like these we are not ‘taken’. On the other hand when we run with movie we are very ‘taken’.
Connecting deeply to stillness is a very powerful nadi experience (that is how it feels to me at least). Really present in the body; really present beyond the body. The body becomes what it truly is, a point that belongs to the universe. Time stops indeed. You tap into a different movement; the movement of the Universe. Once that happens, the body melts because it recognises deeply the smell of home that is waiting for us.
Beautiful expression Eduardo, “the body becomes what it truly is, a point that belongs to the universe”. In stillness we become one with the movement of the universe.
Yes life is constantly pulling us to get into our heads and racy about how much there is to accomplish to the detriment of our bodies but choosing to consciously stop and connect to our stillness or just allow the awareness of it changes how we are with what we need to do and as you say Katie supports us to bring all of ourselves to what we need to do in a way that does not deplete us.
It is so inspiring to read how your appreciation of the stillness within and around you supported you to surrender further and deepen your connection to yourself. There is no need to step outside of life to feel this and committing to feeling and appreciating it allows us to be fully present in whatever we are doing and thus more purposeful in our lives.
“In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me: being able to feel the absolute joy and beauty in people, children, animals and nature, blessing me in every way.” I love this Nicole within the stillness we can begin to bring appreciation to everyone and everything in life. How the birds sing, the smile of a baby, there is a much deeper awareness to life, there is no longer that feeling that life just is, and that we are just functioning human beings.
This is truly inspirational Nicole, I’m not sure if I have ever managed to be in complete stillness with all the chaos of life going on around but with appreciation I look forward to reaching that level, it sounds truly beautiful and something we are all capable of whether we know it or live it yet or not.
Ah Kevin you are too modest and as you know this is simply a true connection to what we feel. It matters not at what level compared to others, how it may seem but as you are appreciate how it feels, no matter how big or small, appreciate what you truly feel.
Love this Ray, if we have felt the stillness in another, it confirms we know this innate stillness as it is equally within us all. So the choice is always there for us to re-connect to the quality of stillness. Appreciation ….
Exactly Victoria and often we will compare or go into jealousy about what we see in other without first realising that anything we can see or appreciate in another is within us at the same level first. Otherwise you wouldn’t see it, it all starts and ends within and as you say all we need do is truly “re-connnect”.
As well as the sounds that surrounds us all the time, there is the war inside of us taking place as we can battle with our own noisy thoughts. The way to come to stillness within is through responsibility in movement of your body. Move with care, love and attention to detail. then the kingdom of heaven is within.
Great sharing. Whilst reading your blog I could feel the stillness in me loud and clear. And all the sounds within this stillness – the birds with their morning song, the heater with this buzzy sound trying to heat up my whole house, my fingers ticking on my Ipad. As if the stillness is holding all these sounds with a graceful smile. Something to indeed appreciate. Thanks for the reminder.
I have lived in the countryside and lived in a large city and both are filled with sounds. Being in stillness is as you have said Nicole a time to truly feel ourselves and how amazing the world we live in is.
The stillness you remind me of here, Nicole, is the same that the stars on a crystal clear night’s sky communicate to me. We don’t see the stars during our bright busy days, but they are “still” there, just not perceived with our eyes. So why on earth shouldn’t we be able to feel the same amazing stillness day AND night?
Beautiful Felix, stillness is ever there.. when we have the eyes to ‘see’ and the heart to feel
I agree with Victoria beautiful comment Felix. We always have nature to remind us of the true harmony and stillness that we are able to access by connecting to that which lies within . . .such is the magic of God.
“We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.” This is a glorious and beautiful truth.
Having read it in the morning, this article ‘walked’ with me yesterday. It was a steady reminder that as the whirl of life continued around me, I had the choice and responsibility to stay in relationship with myself – aware of and connected to this inner stillness. There were plenty of knocks but the support of this was an inspiring constant.
Hello Matilda and I agree. The stillness doesn’t and has never left and it is us that make the choice to leave it. As you are saying, “I had the choice and responsibility to stay in relationship with myself”. We can be distracted in any direction but the constant is coming back to this stillness before we step.
In the rhythm of my connection, I can consistently observe and watch life as it falls into place. When the cyclones come, and they do, all I have to do is be honest and it blows over, leaving little damage these days, and just simply choose my connection again, with greater awareness.
I find this too emmadanchin, that as I become increasingly familiar with stillness, the cyclones do not take a hold as once they might have. And once that inner stillness is known we can connect to it again – my body calls me back much quicker now.
“And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.”
Indeed, at every breath we have a choice, to choose the stillness, the connection, the strength and the delicateness; Or, the overwhelm, raciness, momentum and blame, wishing that life would be another way. We are so much more powerful than we give ourselves credit for and have willingly handed over this power. To realize this is a great awakening.
Absolutely Nicole, the stillness within is there for us to claim all of the time; it never leaves us. We are with it and it is with us, throughout whatever goes on in the day around us. It is profound, and deeply honouring and appreciating this quality is an essential ingredient to living a loving, joyful and true life.
The key to life, to connect with the stillness that lies within and then fully commit to being in the world.
Within stillness we discover that everything is space and time is only a marker, not something we have to keep up with. Therefore, the key to knowing life is to live with stillness and see everything as space, the quality of everything will be known and the divine expression that emanates from within can be seen clearly when one is in this space.
Wow – this is such deep wisdom you are sharing here Harryjwhite! It inspires me to start a quote book where I can collect such gems.
Beautifully said harryjwhite. Stillness is a natural quality within us, and when we move in and with this quality all else is in divine rhythm and order…and in perfect ‘time’.
I love how in stillness time disappears, and you have described it so beautifully Nicole.
There is great space when one is still and time has no place within a sphere.
Very true Harry – when we allow stillness, time disappears and space is all around us. It is such a wonderful feeling – a completely different way to live, a joyful way, which we can share with everybody around us.
In this world of busy-ness it is not possible to belief that “in stillness time disappears”, but once we have felt this stillness we know that all the stress and busy-ness in this world is only something we keep us busy with and does not make us in any way more efficient and/or faster.
Nicole this is beautiful, moments of stillness are totally awesome. I love the feeling of being able to let go, accept the stillness within and just allow all that is going on around me to go as it is, with no need to protect myself form what I might be feeling.
Wow Nicole – your blog brings a whole new level of understanding to the ultimate importance of Appreciation.
In appreciating and acknowledging our inner qualities that live within our inner hearts, we are naturally in connection with the one Source, this takes away all pressure and drive to be anything but who we are by divine design.
I love this Merrilee. The simplicity by which we can live is so beautiful. We don’t need a heading on our navigational map, as everything is already laid out before us.
Absolutely – from Love, all is. There is equalness, ease and grace in stillness and in activity.
Totally agree Merrilee, and it is living in constant appreciation of the love in our hearts and all around us until it becomes a normal way of being , a way of living we all are coming back to.
Stillness is quite a humble quality, it can be easy to overlook it. Though the Esoteric Yoga Stillness Program for Women I have been making a stronger connection to my own stillness. I’m currently working on both being more aware of how still I am and appreciating the stillness I have. Appreciation is the key!
The Esoteric Yoga Programs for Women and Men support us to re-connect to the quality of stillness through our bodies. It offers an opportunity to build a loving and gentle way of being in our movements; it truly is the Yoga of Stillness.
This is exquisite Nicole, what an enormous inspiration your blog is. I often feel that self-appreciation is still a work in progress for me, but your blog shows me that the depth and joy of forever deepening this is ongoing.
Whilst it has to be said that the practice of stillness is yet to be my default setting, I have experienced glimpses of it. As I was reading about all the noise going on around you Nicole, it reminded me of how easily agitated I can be so often by any noise at all….and I reflected on how when I am not with my body, I’m often in anxiousness which leaves me so distracted by everything that is going on outside of me. Something I’ve been trying to practice recently is being with the person who is talking to me and not have my concentration drift off to the conversation happening 2 feet away. By staying with me, I can then be fully with the other person.
Yes,that is key Elodie I agree, staying present with ourselves and with what we are doing as we do it, whether that be walking or talking or typing on the computer. We tend to champion the fact that we can multitask but at what expense if we are losing the presence and connection with ourselves in the process.
Anxiousness creeps in when we are not fully present with our bodies and what is before us.
Nicole, such a joy to appreciate that stillness is a quality within each and everyone of us. It is our gateway to the depth of love and expansiveness we are.
Stillness is a divine quality. As such we can all access it. Yet, for some people is also its primary quality and the gateway to access the other ones.
I especially notice these treasured moments in the many classrooms I teach in doing relief work. Everyday I catch these beautiful moments where another is reflecting a beautiful natural still quality, often it’s the children but at times the adults. And at that moment I feel full of appreciation for that to exist in the quite demanding education system.
Beautiful Victoria …. to re-discover stillness is the joy of us all, for to receive a person or be in their presence when they are in their stillness is as exquisite as being in stillness yourself. The quality not of any pull or ‘nagging’ but instead left alone, as you are, held by ease, harmony and an allowing — is not only so beautiful, but also our naturally designed way too that is indeed “our gateway to the depth of love and expansiveness we are”.
Stillness is the rhythm of God in motion. Every step we walk in the quality stillness blesses the earth we walk upon.
JOY 🙂
This Blog brings a really beautiful understanding to our stillness within that is always with us and the appreciation we can have from this always . Thank you Nicole for your wisdom and joy shared from this stillness and knowing, real treasure shared from love.
Connecting to our stillness is a divine point of appreciation for us all and one shared so exquisitely here. Thank you Nicole.
l agree Kelly and l also feel that this quote below is a wonderful definition of femaleness-
“A stillness within, where time has no measure, with the inner heart making the decisions – decisions that are in line with and supportive of the body: a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before.” As you say Kelly, exquisite!
Wow Irena this line is gorgeous and so timely for me right now. Stillness is within us all as women and yet sometimes we disconnect from its power with being busy and in the male energy of doing. There is so much to appreciate from our bodies and the stillness we hold.
This paragraph really got me, I reflected on the day I have had and how still I have felt, my new normal feels normal and so it should but how I am now is very different to how racy and unsettled I once was….I am still, I feel still much the time “…and yet the stillness within is stronger than all else.” I can appreciate this more, knowing I am with Love and with God. Reading articles such as this support this knowing.
Some real gems of quotes to ponder and enjoy in this article “We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.”, competition, comparison and not being ‘good enough’ disappears when we begin to really appreciate how divinely equal we all are…
I really appreciate the lining up of these two things: our uniqueness alongside our sameness; our personal way to live and express the same essence and the fact that we are all equal.
Very cool, stillness offers space for appreciation “In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me:” Stillness enables us to observe life and so it enables appreciation to be enjoyed and shared. I have been taking some moments to deepen both my appreciation and my commit to feel the stillness available. So supportive and fundamental.
When living with stillness I find that the barriers between people (usually mental constructs about perceived differences) dissolve. And yes, this is something to really appreciate when we consider the impact worldwide.
There are so many gems within your blog Nicole…”..how the appreciation in all that is supports me to hold, deepen and develop further the amazing connection I have with myself”… and… “Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others… what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.” Thank you for a very inspiring blog and one I will return to read again and again.
I almost stopped in my tracks the firs time I felt stillness within whilst there was noise and busyness all around me. It was as if everything was going on around me and I felt solid in my stillness and presence. It was such an incredible feeling, I then started to notice how these pockets of stillness are always there and all I have to do is stop and connect, which is well worth appreciating.
Thats it, the connection grows through our steady commitment to ourselves and therefore others.
The power of appreciation… I had not appreciated just how powerful this simple act of appreciation can be until reading your blog Nicole – thank you for sharing and for your inspiration.
Paula I too had not really understood the power of Appreciation until recently. I had viewed it as rather a one dimentional word and yet as I have practiced self appreciation I have come to understand that it is multi dimentional and on levels that I am yet to truly understand.
That is very, very beautiful Nicole, thank you. We are not often encouraged to stop and feel stillness, either within us or in our day. But what is clear from your blog is the immense beauty you have connected to within and the amazing appreciation that comes with it, for yourself and everyone in life. You are a true inspiration and your sharing restores the purpose to life once more, to come home to that rich inner stillness that connects all of humanity and enables us to feel true brotherhood.
Beautiful Nicole. I love the inspiration you provide in this blog. We all have busy lives with lots going on, yet we can choose to be still within this. I have connected to this feeling of stillness while there is a lot of activity around me and it feels lovely. This stillness is a huge support for me and those around me.
I agree Lee, this is inspirational and being able to connect to the stillness we all hold is super supportive. I have realized recently that any time I feel I have drifted from this connection, a few breaths being aware of how my body feels, support me to find it again.
Yes a beautiful blog I agree Lee. The stillness and the motion work so beautifully together when they are in partnership and of equal balance. The stillness is like the holding of all. You can feel it in the core of your being and it emanates through the eyes.
I agree Nicole, it is the appreciation that brings the stillness to the fore so we can really stand strongly in it and feel the utter joy that comes from confirming it, as you have described here so beautifully.
It is this very stillness that resides in us all, and this very stillness that connected and make known that we are all from the one source. It’s through appreciation that we confirm this stillness to be the all that we are, so it may pulse and shine through all that we do.
Gorgeous Nicole, you have written a beautiful blog that allows one to feel this exquisite stillness within. Thanks for the moments of appreciation.
What a beautiful article Nicole, I love the way you bring stillness and appreciation together, a profound reminder in your writing that will stay with me.
Indeed Rosanna – it is so beautifully simple yet deeply profound.
So often we can get caught up in what is going on around us, and yet “..there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us,” a stillness that is so steady nothing in the outside world can affect it. If we are solid within this stillness and hold it where-ever we are then we are not affected either. How inspiring and empowering to learn this when we are young – perhaps the world and everyone in it would be far more joyful and harmonious.
The ‘timing’ of reading your sharing Nicole is absolutely heaven sent. Thanks you for reflecting a deeper connection to the stillness that is eternal amongst the activity of life. The mind wants to be an acrobatic gymnast covering everything, while the heart doesn’t, want for a thing it simple appreciates the fullness it innately is.
Stillness amongst the chaos is possible and when It is experienced it is stronger and louder than any distraction from outside of me – it is a choice we can make and your comment Nicole – ‘… a body that now feels soft, supple, tender and delicate and yet at the same time stronger than ever before’ – is true. This stillness stands strongly in the face of everything that can come at us from the world. A Beautiful Blog Nicole, thanks for taking us there.
This is a beautiful sharing Nicole. There is nothing else in the world like the feeling of stillness within, no place on the planet we escape to can give us that feeling. The fact that we can connect to it any time, any place, even in the midst of rush hour, is a precious gift we can give ourselves.
So true Rachel… we can chase so many ideals and beliefs outside of us when there is absolute gold waiting within us – no chasing, and only requiring our willingness to be present within ourselves – so simple.
And its free! No passports, visas, travel insurance, air tickets, accommodation required!
It is also so simple, much simpler than we have been led to believe.
What an exceptional gift to share in this article, as you say “There is nothing else in the world like the feeling of stillness within, no place on the planet we escape to can give us that feeling.” We search high, low all around for some one or something to offer us the depth of satisfaction and contentment that we so yearn for and yet it is within us and available in any moment.
Nicole, those moments when you can feel the stillness in you while all around is a whirl are such a great stop – they allow a space to step back and observe and from there take the step from a solid connection in us, and it’s so much simpler to address what is needed.
That “step from a solid connection” no need to over think and procrastinate, coming back to stillness enables us to feel what to say and act upon rather than getting lost in our heads.
Samantha, that’s the simplicity of it, with moving from our bodies in this way we cut out overthinking and feel our next move with the wisdom of our bodies.
Agree monicag2, it is about moving with the awareness of your body, and in honour of what it is communicating to you and responding. This is moving or movement with connection or quality, as so often we don’t move connected or listening to the body and move (work, eat, shower, exercise, walk, talk.. everything!) in disconnection which creates not only the autopilot-ness, but also the anguish we can have about life.
The simpleness of a stop can make such a big difference in a busy day. Yesterday at the office I stopped for a moment and went for a 5 minute walk after what was an extremely hectic and pressure filled morning. It make the world of difference.
Yes Heather, I agree you can never underestimate the power of a true stop moment . . .as it changes everything and does make the world of difference.
Agree monicag2. Allowing the quality of stillness to be is what provides the grace and certainty of clarity.
Yes I find that Monica; sometimes a stop moment is exactly what’s needed for me to step back from being ‘in’ a problem or difficult situation to a place where I can observe and understand what’s going on – this allows much more space to deal with it accordingly.
A great reminder, Nicole that ‘there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.’ Good to remember this for those moments when the noise gets so loud that we feel we might lose our sense of self – always there to connect back to – in a moment.
Thankyou Nicole, having written this beauty full piece from a place of stillness you are able to make the experience real for us the readers, and therefore bring us with each line read and breath taken deeper into our own stillness. And now each time I come back to this article, the living stillness is there. So the reminder for me is that it’s simply a choice from one moment to the next, stillness or not; and with the stillness comes the graceful flow of life where the next moment is revealed without any push or rush, then the next and so on.
Nicole I love this blog – it is so true, the world looks and feels completely different when we acknowledge and appreciate the stillness within.
When we connect and feel the stillness within the world also feels a much safer place to be.
It is something quite special to feel the stillness of yourself, and yet in words it is hard to connect to. When felt it is real and experienced. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a great way to start.
Practicing the Gentle Breath Meditation was the first time I ever got to experience stillness. Up to that point, I had done other types of meditation but I never experienced stillness from doing them, I experienced quieting the mind but not stillness. The quality of stillness is quite different from that of quieting the mind. It is a whole body experience where the body and the mind are completely at one.
Yes Heather, the Gentle Breath Meditation is a great way to start and Esoteric Yoga is a great way to develop and connect deeper to our stillness. When I first practised Esoteric Yoga I was amazed at the connection that I felt within to stillness and was delighted with the realisation that I no longer needed to search for this outside of myself, that it all lies within.
I had a similar experience to Elizabeth. With previous types of meditation I could quote my mind for periods but I never felt the quality of stillness through my body. Now with changes to the way I live I often feel stillness in my body, even whilst my mind can be focusing on a task.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is the way that I started to connect to the stillness in myself. I still use it today and over the years it has become much easier for me to connect, even when I am in a noisy environment. As Elodie said above, we don’t need to put the world on mute.
What I have learnt from doing the Gentle breath Meditation is that I don’t have to sit still to bring that quality into what I am doing. I can be active and busy but have a connection to my stillness at the same time. It has become about the way I choose to live and is not just a separate activity I perform and then leave until the next day.
Yes Eva I so agree, when this is felt you think . . . “wow why haven’t I lived like this all my life!” . . . For me the trick to stay with this feeling is to not give in to any familiar old patterns that keep me from loving and appreciating myself in this way as once I succumb they tend to take over pulling me back down the exhausting path of self denigration.
So true Eva. the world is a completely different place – so, much to be considered about how Stillness is needed to be the foundation that everything that we do and all our interactions come from.
Yes Eva I so agree, when this is felt you think . . . “wow why haven’t I lived like this all my life!” . . . For me the trick to stay with this feeling and not give in to any familiar old patterns that keep me from loving and appreciating myself in this way as once I succumb they tend take over pulling me back down the exhausting path of self denigration.
I had two weeks free from work and everyday I would walk for an hour, where I would feel and observe how absolute still I felt inside when I was walking… now I am back to work, lets just say it is a work in progress to maintain the stillness, and so I take many moments during the day to check in with myself, and see where i am!
I had some goose bump of realisations as I read this today Nicole. “Allowing me to appreciate myself is to love the woman I am and to love, understand and appreciate all others”. How beautiful. – The power of true appreciation when it comes from the heart we become naturally ‘the all that we are’ and the world gets to feel this too.
Marion in any one moment we’re either being ‘the all that we are’ or ‘the all that we’re not’. There’s only ever two choices and there’s no sliding scale.
I love how you describe being still amongst the busy world, I often support teachers at lunch time with the Gentle Breath Meditation and there is always the noise of the playground and I share that this is a good thing as this is life, life is full of noises, how we are with that is entirely up to us and the quality we breathe in. Its super simple but a real dedication is required and hearing your experience is super inspiring of what is possible.
How awesome that you do this at work Vanessa! I often think about how I need to appreciate that life is not simply going to just be quiet for 5 minutes just for me, and that I need to learn to accept that life is going on all the time, and that it is up to me to choose stillness amongst what might be chaos. The proof is here, we connect to ourselves, and we have all the stillness we would ever require without turning the world on mute!
Elodie, I love how you have expressed, “that it is up to me to choose stillness amongst what might be chaos.” So often we seek escape from what might be chaos and look for sanctuary through sugary foods, drinking, holidays, TV and the computer. What if we all were able to connect to the stillness within at any time, even within the hurly burly and excessive pressure of modern life? Surely our need for time out, escape, ways of dulling overwhelm would be cut dramatically and we would find a way of accepting and being with life as it currently is.
So true Vanessa and really cool that you are sharing this with teachers during lunch. This will have an enormous effect on them and everyone they teach and interact with after lunch.
Vanessa I love the practicality in which you present. This is the real world and we need to live in the real world yet we can still connect to stillness within the reality of our surrounds.
I would go so far as saying that connection to the stillness is the best, possibly even the only, way to live in the real world – unless we want to burn out, totally exhaust ourselves or end up as a zombie.
I agree Gabriele, if we do not connect to stillness and live this quality, then what is living us?
I agree, Vanessa, lee and Gabriele, I am working in a busy cafe at the moment and a lot of the time it feels like I am dancing in the space between the chaos balancing a coffee or a meal or both.
Very true life is full of noises and distractions so it comes back to us to not be filled by these noises and movements around us but to stay with us. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a great tool to get an understanding and feel of what it means to stay with oneself and breathe one’s own breath.
Vanessa, I love how simply you present it, yes life is full of noise but it’s our choice to choose stillness in it or not, and it takes dedication to do so; no magic pill or fairy godmother, but a choice to be still and the Gentle Breath Meditation is a great way to do it. And actually it’s great that it’s an active choice as it shows us that we are the ones who affect ourselves – that it’s not life but how we choose to let it affect us and that there is huge power in us to choose and when we choose and connect to the stillness we are, we change everything for us and offer something to show others that they too can do this. And to know you do this with teachers on their lunch break is awesome.
It sounds as if you surrendered to life, the life that surrounds us and are equally within but not to the busyness of life. One could search for this many life times yet you did it very simply one morning.
Well said Matts, I like the use of ‘surrender’. We surrender to the life within and in turn don’t get caught up in the life that is running on the out.
Oh it sounds wonderful not being caught up in everything that swooshes past us constantly.
‘….One could search for this many life times yet you did it very simply one morning.’ So true Matts, and Nicole has changed the game on this one. Her blog is a living example that it is in reach for everyone, if we are willing to surrender to life.
I agree Diana, Nicole has shown us that it is within everyone’s reach, it is but a choice to surrender and feel what lies within, no seeking or working towards attaining, just the willingness to stop and feel what already is. It is so amazing to be reminded that what we are seeking we are carrying around with us all the time, we are already divine and our stillness is the living expression of this awesome quality.
So true Matts, and many do search for this over lifetimes when all along it is there within, it just takes the choice to stop and connect to this stillness.
Just reading about Esoteric Yoga and the profound stillness it offers I feel there is a calling from within myself to go even deeper, to keep surrendering to stillness.
When you connect deeply to stillness the feeling of space changes from our ordinary daily life experiences. You connect to the fact that space is inconmensurable. This feeling invites you to bath in it and surrender deeply.
True Eduardo being in stillness changes the feeling of space in life’s experiences. Everything opens up and feels expansive. The key is to allow it to be so.
Beautifully said Eduardo. I feel like I am being held in stillness, totally supported and nurtured by a quality and wisdom which I can describe as truly exquisite.
Gorgeous Eduardo. Yes stillness is an expansion of our soul’s true calling and connection to the all.
I like your expression to bath in it. We can always go deeper, there is no end and it is such a joy, just to be still and tender.
Reading your comment Matts I can feel the correlation between surrender and stillness. In the surrender we are able to choose and access the quality of stillness. Without surrender it seems there is a battle or tension with life – in which stillness in incompatible.
It is exquisitely delightful reading such detailed account of the stillness and appreciation you have been building in your life Nicole. As I read on I started noticing and appreciating areas that in that moment I was not consciously aware of. We could always stop for a moment and recollect in this way like you did. Thank you.
So true Golnaz and it makes me point out this quote to be repeated here…”It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.”
lt is delightful to read and feel within.
I deeply connected with what you say here, Nicole …. ‘In my body there was a relief, a letting go, and a complete surrender to all that was and is. The stillness I felt within me had been there all along and is always there, I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life’ ….. exquisite.
We can carry around so much tension in our bodies, just from resisting our beautiful selves, to allow that complete surrender to all that was and is, is divine.
I agree Golnaz, this was so refreshing to read and a lovely reminder – just a choice away to notice what is really true rather then weighing in with what is generated by human emotions.
During the times I have experienced stillness the space I feel within my body and around me has felt weightless clear and tender with the delicate graceful flow to life. This is a great reminder to truly appreciate and expand on these moments.
We’ve often been presented the concept of ‘stillness’ though advertising campaigns – usually related to food. Someone has a certain food and all of a sudden everything goes quiet. But this implies that stillness is something that is found outside of us rather than within us. What Universal Medicine continues to present is that stillness exists within us, all of the time, and it is as far away as a choice. I love what this blog presents and how it is possible to observe and not absorb.
Absolutely hvmorden. This stillness is within and it is but a choice away. So interesting that we are sold the idea that it is external and needs to be purchased or attained and that it is fleeting. We can actually live this stillness all of the time and comes from within.
Yes it’s true Lee , we can live stillness all of the time and it comes from within. In the past I would seek stillness by going for a walk in the outdoors or being in nature, whereas now I know it walks with me and can be experienced anywhere, even on a busy tube or commuter train.
Yes Lee – it seems that most qualities we already have within us are sold to us from the outside. What a very clever game indeed that keeps us from claiming or acknowledging that we are enough already, and therefore have to take responsibility for our actions to live in a way where we allow those qualities to come through rather than go searching for them. To claim our stillness from within is also an amazing reflection to those around us, and paves the way for more and more people realising that they have it all at their fingertips. Are we ready for something that simple and obvious?
Lee reading your powerful words ‘it is a choice away’ made me think how many people believe that to experience stillness they have to move out of the city, go to Nepal, sit on a mountain, meditate for hours, go on silent retreats in the bush etc but all of those things are elaborate ideas that add to the illusion that stillness exists in places other than right here, right now.
Yes I agree hvmorden and Lee, it is such a deception that something that lies innately within us is somehow a commodity we can purchase or consume and this misconception drives our advertising and marketing industries to promote the searching for this divine quality outside of us. The real purpose of our lives is to re-master our connection with our inner stillness and the real beauty of the spacious, connection and appreciation that this brings is very palpable in Nicole’s blog.
Absolutely, Lee, it’s no coincidence at all that advertising companies happen to ‘think up’ these slogans, offering us a way to attain certain qualities that we already know and have inside each and every one of us, we have just forgotten that they are there.
That’s so true hvmorden! You’ve reminded me of how stillness is presented to us through advertising. Often the noise get’s blocked out with a certain cup of tea, or something equally unrealistic, I appreciate the sentiment they are attempting to demonstrate, however it’s always about how a product will give us what we need rather than letting us in on the secret that is: we can all access stillness for free!
Exactly Elodie. But stillness does not mean slowing down or being quiet or blocking out noise. If you look at babies – when they are in the womb they have so many sounds going on of the mothers body (heart beat, digestive system ect) and then we tiptoe around them when they are born so they sleep – But they are a bundle of stillness that knows how to flow with life going on around them. That to me is what true stillness is; to live int the world as it is, but maintain a quality that we naturally know we are.
The way we consume food and the types of food we go for tends to numb us – hence the term comfort food. Not the wisest of choices – since if we are feeling something we don’t like in the first place, it is our body letting us know something needs attention. So as the adverts encourage we reach out for the bar of chocolate or the drink, or whatever else is prescribed – what have we gained other than making ourself un-aware of what is really going on? This is the booby prize the adverts encourage instead of the true stillness Nicole is talking about: where there is ‘a letting go, and a complete surrender to all that was and is’ and nothing is numbed but the space expands and all is felt and known in context of the whole.
Yes Golnaz, the point you make reminds me of a chocolate advert, where it shows someone taking a moment for herself to eat a chocolate bar. What you get as a result of eating chocolate is anything but stillness. A booby prize indeed.
When we do truly feel stillness in the body without the numbing or dulling or comforts – then we create a point we can confirm in our bodies as true stillness – something we can come back to if we allow it. So no matter what other choices we go back too – having that marker is so important as a foundation of true stillness. Then every other part of our lives has the opportunity to be looked at from this starting point as to what feels ill in the body and what does not.
Well said, Golnaz, in truth, the likelihood is that whatever product is being advertised, it will actually take us further away from our stillness, much further away, making it so much harder to find that place that we have been carrying around with us since the day we were born.
Great observation, the use of the word ‘stillness’ in the advertising world, or should that be ‘abuse’? And I agree, true stillness is an inner felt quality that has nothing to do with gratification from the outside in. Is it possible that the advertising related so-called ‘still moment’ is more of a numbing effect and an ‘out-moment’? A relief and reprieve that take us out and away?
Great point Gabriele. In the stillness Nicole was describing you can feel how this actually brought her into a deeper connection with everything that was happening around her.
Absolutely the falsely sold stillness is a token rest at best, a reprieve and a reward and never does this hold the quality of stillness that is our natural way and home.
What the adverts sell and society champions as ‘stillness’ is far from what is described here. Have you been in the dark for some time and then noticed how a match, a torch, a candle seems quite bright. Thus in such situations the dimmest of lights can be sold as a glorious bright light as there is nothing to compare with. Humanity is so caught in rushing around physically, mentally and emotionally that “a relief and reprieve that take us out and away” can be called ‘stillness’ simply because there is a reduction of the angst and motion. Yet as you state, it is relief and numbs us away from facing and dealing with what has taken us to the point of needing a reprieve.
The interesting thing I got from reading your comment hvmorden is that every one must knows there is a stillness and that this stillness is place they want to be in or else advertising would not have used it in any way.
Yes Kathleen, everyone does know, and as much as we yearn for it most of us in are in avoidance and reaction about the immensity that true stillness brings.
Yes it is quite interesting Jenny for as far as I can see it, is the avoidance and the reaction to something that is so natural and confirming of who we truly are, that could be the cause of the disharmony we suffer mentally, physically and emotionally.
Me too hvmorden – I love this blog and you are so right, when you say, everything we need is inside us. I realise, how much I had invested in the past, to find everything outside of myself. That was so tiring. I’m glad, that the search is over.
In stillness there is room for appreciation and a love like I have never felt before, when I first experienced this I knew I would never touch marijuana again I found found the true peace I was looking for and it was so much more expansive that all the other abusive techniques I had been using.
I was always looking for something, not knowing that it was stillness and connection, and I feel many people are. We use different ways of trying to find this but ultimately it is this stillness we are seeking. I can understand why you would never touch drugs again after realising that everything we seek actually resides within and this can be felt in stillness.
Stillness is the eternal resting place that we all so desparately crave.
For most of my life I avoided stillness. It was a seemingly great unknown that I was quite afraid of but not because I thought it was going to hurt me… but because I simply hadn’t developed a relationship with it.
Let’s face it, it is not a part of the everyday discussion in modern society. Yes we talk about stillness in blogs like these but when was the last time we talked about stillness at work.
But of course stillness lives in us and in one form or another it definitely needs to become part of our every day living experience and language in everything.
Wonderfully said Lee. And the nurturing aspect of stillness is so huge. I can observe, the stiller I am, the less food I need. And to surrender to that stillness creates so much joy in the body – nothing to do any more, just be.
Love what you share here about stillness, Dean … ‘It was a seemingly great unknown that I was quite afraid of but not because I thought it was going to hurt me… but because I simply hadn’t developed a relationship with it.’ … I feel very much the same, I’ve kept myself ‘moving’ in my life, constantly finding distractions keeping me in motion, until I was introduced to Universal Medicine. Now I am able to deeply appreciate the power, strength and absolute joy that is on offer to me, always, just by choosing to connect to my stillness. I feel the more we learn to appreciate our stillness, it will be part of our everyday life and then it will become part of our everyday language.
This is beautiful Nicole. In stillness there is so much space to love and appreciate everything. No room for the numbing and distraction. It’s like coming home.
I relate to spaciousness, In stillness, my particles have the whole dance floor to themselves and yet they are interacting with all others.
I love Deborah’s comment – a dance floor for my particles! Now that’s a party – in stillness.
it is like coming home and when I am there I can hardly understand why I chose to leave it!
What stands out to me within stillness is the vast expansiveness of space.
Yes, space that in its grand sphericalness has no time in the lineal sense, and so there is ‘all the time in the world’.
Beautifully expressed Jenny
It feels like you have forever with you, I get a sense of how timeless we actually are.
Yes nicolesjardin stillness is an amazing feeling in the body the sense of timelessness is so expansive and the more responsibility I take for my livingness the more I connect with it.
Just love reading all of these expressions of stillness, they are absolutely beautiful ….
How beautiful to know that what we may feel fleetingly, that inner stillness, is always there, constant, all that is needed is the choice and appreciation.
A magnificent sharing Nicole, thank you. The stillness you describe, being within the body, in and amongst all that goes on around us, conjures up an image of a satellite picture taken from space of a tornado… the stillness in the centre of the disturbance and chaos going around. Taking moments during our day to reconnect really does support deepen that familiarity and connection to the stillness within.
Nature is glorious how it continually reflects the truths for us to see. I have often felt the same, stillness in the eye of the hurricane.
Nicole, I have also felt the depth of stillness in the most unexpected of places. As stillness is within us we don’t need to go to any remote far away land to experience it, or need any particular surroundings. Stillness can be re-connected to through building a loving a gentle relationship with ourselves and our movements.
In the last few weeks, I’ve cut out all sugar and dramatically reduced my intake of sugary foods – it has made a huge difference to my ability to feel that gorgeous stillness within.
Just by reading this post, I am taking a stop moment to appreciate the level of stillness I have connected to within myself over the years. A stillness that has always been there but I never made the coice to connect to as I was always looking outside.
Stillness within is the most confirming and magical thing, when you have lived life in constant motion, to actually feel the magic of that stillness within is truly wonderful. The key is to come back to that and Nicole you have so beautifully expressed how that feels and what benefits it can have in ones life. Very inspiring.
Absolutely beautiful Nicole. We have a choice in every moment to either get caught up in all that’s going on around us or be present with ourselves and just observe.
Without appreciation we do not notice the most beautiful things in life like the stillness within or the self-loving choices that we make. Appreciation to me feels like the confirmation of who I am and honouring that. It is really beautiful.
I agree Lieke, appreciation is a key ingredient, it confirms the divinity in and around us and expands our experience of all that is true.
I too have discovered that when I am connected to that innate stillness within it doesn’t matter where I am, what I am doing, how noisy or how quiet it is around me, the stillness is all that I am in that moment. And to know that this stillness is accessible to me, to all, at any time is such a beautiful and never ending gift.
I have experienced similar moments whereby it is as if the world is flowing all around me and I am just watching it go by. In these (currently) brief moments I have felt steady and very natural yet able to respond to the situation as if I am not restricted by time. And even thought these moments, especially one situation I can remember was brief time wise it’s stuck with me and until now I’ve never really stopped to appreciate the fact that my choices led to that experience. It’s easy to focus on the results of our unloving choices but thats because the world and how we are raised is to break everything down and point out the faults. But what about claiming our choices that bring us loving experiences? This is something I have not appreciated but feel inspired to do so, Thank you Nicole.
When we connect to our stillness we cannot but appreciate our divinity, to not appreciate this we must call in a big force against love.
Nicole I have just re read your truly amazing article, what you share here is not only the eternal nature of life but God herself.
Awesome reminder Nicole that we simply need to stop and re-connect to the stillness that is innate within us and then move in this quality. Our day will flow with ease and grace as will be connected to divinity and be impulsed as what to do next and next… no rush , no push.
The stillness within the all is our source and holds the possibility to observe while we are a part of it.
Nicole stillness is one of those things that it’s very difficult to describe and yet because you are writing from your body, you have described it in a way that the reader is actually able to have some semblance of what for many is a rare experience. This is really transformitive writing.
Agree Alexis, so much is communicated when it is written from the body in which it is lived, it ignites the equal knowing of the quality with ourselves. It is very confirming and uniting of us all.
Victoria a definite ‘yes’ to what you have shared ‘so much is communicated when it is written from the body in which it is lived, it ignites the equal knowing of the quality with ourselves. It is very confirming and uniting of us all’. Which therefore says a lot about the state of our world, knowing that most of what is communicated, is communiacted from the head.
Yes, that true intelligence comes from our body is not so familiar as yet but will one day be know and lived again. As more of us develop a relationship with our bodies and feel the power of our movements and the ripple effect on the whole, we will begin to see a more harmonious world. We are all responsible for the quality of the sea we are all swimming in.
Ah Nicole, simply sublime.
Beautiful Nicole. While reading about the stillness from within, the heart and making choices I remembered something that I felt and was shown to me during a chakra-puncture session with a Universal Medicine practitioner. Whilst on my own lying on a table I really felt within my heart it comes down to what we choose in absolutely ever moment. I can choose love or not love. I have never felt this so clearly until that point but writing this I can see over the last few days I have been choosing not love! Thanks for the reminder .. it’s time to change 💕
Nicole, I can very much relate to what you have written, working part-time in a very busy school staying still is what allows me to work and not get caught up in all of the busyness, there is a real buzz and often a rushing around me, but what I have found supports me is to stay still and calm and carrying on working without getting caught up in the busyness, otherwise I could end up a nervous wreck, when I stay steady and still it feels very beautiful because I do not feel a rush, I connect with the children and do not rush them even though there is lots to do, I can feel how this supports them too.
Another fabulous sharing Nicole. Thank you. For the many as you say who may not know this stillness or be aware of it and feel caught in the busyness – it is awesome that this blog is written sharing the fact that it does exist and it is very possible for anyone to reconnect and develop it in their body.
Thank you Nicole. Appreciating the stillness within brings an awareness of a deeper stillness that is there to feel when I choose to feel it.
Thank you Nicole for this blog. Whilst I know I appreciate stillness you have supported me to go deeper with this.
A beautiful blog. Reading it my feeling of the stillness feels magnified. So true when you write, “It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.”
Gorgeous Nicole. What you’ve shared is incredibly important – the world around us can be loud, chaotic and/or busy, but we still have a say over the quality of our internal environment, i.e. do we enjoin the busyness or is it more supportive to be still at that time.
Yes it is a great reminder that we always have a choice of how we are in life and appreciating the stillness and how it supports us to stay connected whatever is going on around us enables us to be active without losing that awareness.
Thank you Nicole for showing that stillness can be practical and part of our everyday. I could really feel the stillness in the motion of your day. I remember feeling this too, it is as if time is suspended and a feeling of slight detachment of not getting caught up, but just observing everything that is going on around me. It is a beautiful feeling and a lovely reminder from your blog to take this into my day. Definitely more appreciation needed for these moments
As I read your words I can connect to the stillness within. It’s like a smooth soothing honey that spreads deliciously over everything leaving no part left untouched. The warmth fans stillness from within and is truly beautiful if we allow ourselves to feel this.
A beautiful sharing, thank you Nicole. As I read it, something triggered in my body, a sensation that I realised I have also felt “It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.” And yet you had children playing near you and a conversation going on in the background. Yes, I too have experienced that for a very short time, I sense a number of times now. Thank you for this trigger that I experienced again, I will be far more aware next time that experience comes about, and it is up to me to really appreciate that I do have those moments. As you say, “It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.”
I remember the first time I had a conscious understanding or connection with that sense of stillness inside… I’d had the experience before but with no idea of what it was or how to replicate it. I was on a Universal Medicine retreat in Vietnam and just thinking – ‘wow, this is it’. Just that simple moment is the best gift there is, and a treasure found through the great work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
It’s beautiful Nicole, and I have been getting a stronger appreciation for this stillness myself, especially recently. When the hamster wheel does stop inside me, my awareness of what is going on around actually increases, and I notice that God (you can use the word love if that is more suitable) is there and has always been there, waiting patiently for me to notice. It’s been a magical realisation… super confirming and there is no better feeling in the world.
Thank you so much Nicole, I have just finish doing an on line yoga session this morning and experienced a deep stillness and you blog is so supportive for me to take that stillness out into my day.
Have we forgotten the connection between stillness and appreciation? Is this the reason why we rarely appreciate ourselves and one another? It’s a beautiful thing to be reminded of how our bodies let go and settle deeper when there is appreciation expressed.
Beautiful, Felix, I can admit to forgetting that connection. I still do not tend to appreciate myself or things like that. How blessed we are to receive the messages that we do, it is time to really appreciate all that is offered. Yes, the more we appreciate the stillness we feel, the more we will experience that stillness.
It was great how Nicole was able to appreciate this stillness in the moment of it happening. When we can appreciate in the moment, it is a huge confirmation for us of the love and truth we are living.
It is within stillness that I have come to know God.
Yes, I have come to know God more deeply within stillness too Donna.
Connecting to stillness has allowed me to access the space within my body, within that space within my body I too feel the space that surrounds me. I have come to know that this space is God and here we are living within the body of God.
I find connecting to my stillness a challenge – to know that I am living within the body of God is one thing – but to fully surrender to allow the impulse of God to be my living expression is the challenge. I still jump in with control of how I think a situation needs to be, rather than just surrendering and knowing all i need to do is live in a way which provides a vital body through which God can express.
A beautiful tribute Nicole to the beauty of stillness.
This has been a super supportive read for me, because in the last few days I have been ‘caught’ by songs that have been playing somewhere as I have been going along. And I know that when I have the words of a song going around in my head, without my ‘permission’ – as in I have not noticed when they have jumped in – that I have lost the steady strength of stillness in a moment or moments. It is brilliant to be reminded and inspired to know it is a possibility and responsibility to carry myself in a way that I am not a sponge for all that is going on around me. But that I hold a quality and steadiness that supports the fact that we can be still inside, as life rushes about, and that to be so is the first building block in our return to living in a way that is aware and ‘connected’ to a bigger picture all of the time.
Thank you Matilda; I love this comment. Especially, ‘… our return to living in a way that is aware and ‘connected’ to a bigger picture all of the time.’
This is a invaluable revelation to have at hand at all a times. No matter how busy, crazy or out of order things may be know the inner stillness is always there.
It is totally invaluable Luke, no matter what we have previously chosen our next choice can always be to connect back with our inner stillness (that never dies) and live forth from that.
Thank you Nicole for reminding that the stillness in me needs attention and appreciation, to acknowledge that, although it is our natural way of being, it is special as when I compare it to where I come from. In the past there was always that business in me, irrespectively of the business outside, but as with you, through the support by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have been able to restore that natural stillness in me.
The line that really tells it all for me is “that kept me in a momentum where I did not allow myself to “stop and smell the roses” you could say” and that is exactly what we need to do in life, stop and smell the roses, as they will always be there to be smelled and appreciated as such.
Indeed Doug, building a momentum is a means I use to make myself not aware and appreciative of my life and human life in general. I do this because I do not want myself to feel the true value of my life and that of all other human beings. I do not want to be consciously aware that I am a Son of God and that everything in this world is constellated as such to remind me to this. But when I create a momentum of ignorance to that fact I will not pay attention to this ‘Magic of God’ and with that choice I choose a ‘miserable’ life with lack of self worth, doubt, self destructive thoughts, to name a few.
Yes Doug, foolish you can name it as in fact it is. It is either we choose to smell the roses and enjoy our human life in full or we choose to not smell and in that dismiss who we truly are.
Never thought about it that this is actually what free will is, the fact that we may choose what type of life we live, either a life that corresponds to our origins as being soulful beings or to live in ignorance of that fact and live that lesser life, in disconnection from the divine source we all come from.
That feels legitimate to say Doug that it is not the rational way of thinking we make that choice with what we are talking about, the choice from free will to choose for love or not love. What if we could choose to forget about the choices we make, and choose to be unconscious about these.
And you’ve just described the only way to ‘do life’ without getting caught up and affected by it… it’s like being in your own bubble and yet more connected to everything outside the bubble at the same time. Quite magical really!
I love how you described that, Jenny, “it’s like being in your own bubble and yet more connected to everything outside the bubble at the same time”. Yes, that is quite magical, being able to be in stillness with oneself, yet still being totally aware of all else that is going on outside one, and not taking any of it on. The way that we all can live once we are aware of it and willing to make that choice.
Yes Beverley, it is where we have to go if we are to start reversing the current trend in our health and wellbeing. Absorbing and being affected by all and sundry around us is a significant contributing factor to our illness and disease. Without the ability to know who we are and stay connected to this, hence creating the ‘bubble’, we are at the mercy of whatever is around us to know who we are.
Absolutely Jenny. It is super magical and something well worth committing to developing and allowing to be there.
Yes agreed Johanna… committing to developing the ability to be unaffected by what is around us is a life-skill that is multi-dimensional in fact. It requires us to understand energy and the way it works, our relationship with it, and developing a level of mastery with ourselves and with the outside world at this level. Not always easy, but well worth the commitment and effort in the quality of life and relationship it offers when we do.
A gorgeous reminder Nicole of the absolute beauty in ourselves and in life when viewed from that place…
Nicole, this is a great sharing and reminds me in a deep sense how still I am inside of me and how nurturing it is to appreciate this.
Yes to the appreciation of appreciation! Whether it be the clocking and smiling inside when we see the first butterfly of the year, or an acknowledgement of the tenderness of a gesture between two people, or an awareness of how great our feet feel in the socks we chose today… every moment of appreciation builds to the next and we can totally change the tide of our outlook on life whilst also realising the responsibility we all have to build this awareness and relationship with ourselves, others and life.
Yes I agree Kerstin. I do not appreciate this awesome stillness any where near as much as I could. Thank you for bringing this to my attention and allowing me to connect to this appreciation and also realise it’s nurturing quality. It’s true appreciation really is very nurturing.
You know how they say that there is no equipment as yet to measure the depths of our oceans here on Earth? Well, so it is for the depth of love to be found within our inner heart, the place where true Stillness resides and in that space, the vastness and majesty of the Universe lives and is known. This is so for every single person, no exceptions. We are so much more magnificent than we think ourselves to be.
“You know how they say that there is no equipment as yet to measure the depths of our oceans here on Earth? Well, so it is for the depth of love to be found within our inner heart, the place where true Stillness resides and in that space, the vastness and majesty of the Universe lives and is known.” Liane, that is so, so profound, so beautifully expressed. And how true all that you shared in that expression, as you said “we are so much more magnificent than we think ourselves to be”. The truth is not to think, but to feel from within, and we will feel that magnificence that we truly are.
Beautifully said Liane, that the depth of our inner heart is deeper than the depths of the oceans on earth and that we are just so much more magnificent that we could ever know. This is something we all have to choose, to feel, to know, to understand and appreciate about ourselves.
Hear hear Liane, and so it is, we are.
And once again Liane you bring the gold to the table and as an extra bonus as the depth of the joy that your words of wisdom deliver also cannot be measured!
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.”
We are forever held by great arms of love that never let go of us, even if we choose to let go of them. For God’s love burns bright within our hearts and even if we close our eyes to it, it just keeps on burning like the great and undying orb of light that it is – forever and always despite the shadows we move in to obscure it.
Liane, your words of wisdom are very heart warming to hear. . hahah. . .oh the joy to be felt to be reminded of the ‘undying orb of light’ of God’s love that burns brightly within our hearts!
That is so wonderful to know that we are held by great arms of love that never let go of us. We are sons of god and I can feel, I can allow much more of god’s love in my body.
Stillness for me is the great equaliser. When I stop and feel this exquisiteness within, I feel all others as equal, that is, equally having the same stillness within, my fellow brothers and sisters. Feeling this is also exquisite because within this there can be no comparison, no competition, and no animosity.
Beutifully said Robyn – in stillness we are all equal.
Yes, “It is time, time to stop, feel all that we are, all that we are surrounded by and appreciate the stillness within the all.”
Stillness is the first thing, the core of everything, and once we incorporate this fact into the way we live, everything else that is done, said or thought makes sense.
I love this Nicole! Even reading this I felt the stillness you were talking about. We can often think we can’t connect to our stillness unless we are all by ourselves without any distractions or we need timeout to feel our stillness. When I don’t appreciate myself, life and others I can easily get caught up in the busyness and not give myself stop moments. Thanks for your inspiring sharing.
Well said Aimee. There is a false belief indeed that in order to be still we have to be on our own, away from all distractions and people, but what Nicole has shared is that we can still feel in amongst everything else.
I agree Aimee – while reading Nicole’s blog the stillness that it was delivered in was deeply felt.
Thanks Nicole, reading this gave me a deeper appreciation of stillness and the awareness this offers to us, so we do not need to get embroiled in the spin of daily activities but rather can hold a space to observe and be with it, but not in it.
Wow, what a gorgeous blog Nicole. You have reminded me of moments when I have felt stillness like you’ve describe. It is the most magical, amazing feeling that we can choose to connect to at any time. Yet, your blog also reminds me that I don’t always choose to connect to stillness but instead get caught up in the rush and busyness of life. By stopping and taking moments to appreciate where I am and connect to this level of stillness is extremely supportive, joyful and loving.
Simply profound Nicole, simply profound. Thankyou – deeply.
I’m with you on that Katie, and when we do walk to our own heartbeat, not to that imposed on us, we reflect this gold to all others also. Life is to be lived fully from the stillness of who we are, and this truth applies to all.
Indeed Katerina; when a person lives with stillness and appreciation, it is a livingness and reflection that many feel and are inspired by. It is deeply felt.
Allowing ourselves to be held by the stillness we hold, melts away all other distractions and sounds that may pervade us.
“We are all unique in our own way, but what we all have in common is the absoluteness within that we hold in our hearts.” Beautiful Nicole. Stillness was always something I felt was out of reach or outside of myself, but that is not the case at all. Stillness is our own divine connection to our souls absolute love, its always there waiting for us to connect. Thank you.
Thank you Nicole for your beautiful blog. I was experiencing this very thing yesterday when a friend took me to my regular hairdresser to get hair colour – at the moment I cannot drive as I have broken foot. While I was there I was touched by the care and thoughtfulness of the young women running the salon. Afterwards while I was waiting for my friend to return and pick me up, I became deeply aware of a stillness and beauty that flooded through my whole being. The gentle flow of the sounds of people moving and talking in the beauty salon was deeply beautiful and I could feel the beauty of women so so strongly. When my friend returned the first thing she did was comment on how lovely and how caring everyone had seemed in there. It was amazing as I had always felt a bit ‘rough’ in there before.
“In this stillness came a new appreciation for myself and all those around me: being able to feel the absolute joy and beauty in people, children, animals and nature, blessing me in every way” – this confirmation of stillness within and without feels like a pulsation forever deepening – if allowed to be. And I can feel exactly where I cap and withdraw from this absolute gorgeousness, by holding this world of creation more real than the co-creation we truly belong.
Beautiful and powerful sharing, Nicole – it has brought back the body memory of my first, consciously, registered feeling of stillness (even though I didn’t have the name for it at the time) after my first ever esoteric breast massage. Thank you. It really is the most exquisite thing to connect back to.
In the living stillness within us, our Soul speaks and in an instant the wisdom of Heaven is known. This voice never stops communicating with us; we can only attempt to drown it out with the constant hum and buzz of life. This we do by focussing all our attention on what is taking place externally and overriding the signals and messages our bodies are constantly communicating and relaying to us. By doing so we absorb such ‘busyness’ into us and in a sense it becomes us because we start to identify with it and the stress and tension this causes when we let ourselves think that this IS us, when it is not. We register such tension as discord because it has no place within us, for our bodies are vehicles of love and are divinely designed to express this and also to react to anything we put into them; be it music, food, emotions (ours or others), noise etc. that does not match the vibration of this love.
If the world feels chaotic it is because we are living from the outside-in and not from the inside-out. We have got it around the wrong way and the way of living that comes from such a mix up, is very jarring for both the body and the being inside for it is not in accordance to the pulse of the Universe, the beating of God’s love that we are held in and by.
The key is, as Nicole is showing us, to focus on the stillness where the Soul resides within and then let the majesty of this unfold out and imbue our every move and expression. It doesn’t mean we eliminate the ‘bang and crash’ we often find ourselves in, but it does mean that we need not get affected by it.
‘If the world feels chaotic it is because we are living from the outside-in and not from the inside-out’. thank you Liane I needed to be reminded of this today. Love everything else you wrote also.
…’the key is to focus on the stillness where the Soul resides within and then let the majesty of this unfold out and imbue our every move and expression’…. love this Liane – what a stunning purpose to have and walk with such majesty in life.
“No matter how we choose to live, the inner quality that lives within our hearts never leaves, it is always with us, supporting us no matter what, without judgement or criticism.” This reminds me we have everything inside of us, ready to be connected to. There is no needing to try or get anywhere.
Indeed Annie – it is crazy how we have learnt that we need to try and get somewhere, or fix something, when truth is stillness resides within every human being. It cannot be found on the outside.
In the quality of stillness there is a spaciousness and clarity, a knowing that everything has a divine rhythm and order. “where time has no measure”, beautiful Nicole.
When we move through life with the depth of quality within us, we walk through life with the deepest support ever felt.
When we are connected to our stillness, our body is full of strength and power.
Reading this I could feel how I have a picture in my head about what stillness ‘looks like’, and in this picture there is also an ideal of what it should feel like too. Of course I can never live up to this ideal so in my mind have have never really been still for how can I know what an ideal feels like. It’s a spiral of ever-decreasing circles. Recently I have been catching this ideal (amongst others) and have been cutting them dead in their tracks. The only marker of stillness that I can use as a marker is my own, so whatever stillness is for me today, is stillness, regardless of whether it lives up to some imagined ideal or not.
It is a joy to feel and appreciate that living from a foundation of stillness is very possible in the busyness of life around us. It is a natural quality, a rhythm that we can re-connect with and know in and through our bodies.
Thank you Nicole and well said Victoria – we can walk with stillness yet be surrounded by busyness of life – it is amazing the difference we can then view life from when we 1st look after, develop and deepen our own quality.
Yes James, life then becomes a dance in stillness as we move in the space around and between the chaos totally undisturbed.
It is so cool to walk around unaffected yet completely aware and connected to the world.
Yes James it is really the only way to be!
And what an awesome way it is!
This offers a truly wonderful stop, and a prompt to feel what is within. Your article has let me really appreciate all that is within me, and feel how every action arises from that beautiful point of stillness which is always there to be connected to and inspired by.
It’s awesome to have that reminder this morning, as the world gets busy, and there are a million things going on around me, yet each moment, inside us, is perfectly still if we just remember to not get caught up in the motion.
That is a great image, Simon. The world waking up and starting to speed up as it rises. But amongst all of that motion each of us has within a point of stillness, forever there to come back to.
Its remembering that we choose, every time, whether to have that space. We strengthen that resolve by how we move in the day… not related to how much we do, but the quality of our movements while we are going about our business.
Each movement that we make in that chosen quality reaffirms that quality as it is chosen. This is so for whatever quality we have chosen, be it connected to that stillness or not, it is given momentum by our choice and the subsequent movement. To bring this choice into our awareness is a far greater achievement, than hitting a self-imposed quota for ‘things ticked off my list today’.
Holding ourselves in the stillness of self-love and appreciation is “a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us”. What a beautiful choice.
That’s beautiful Nicole, the stillness you describe is palpable through your words. And I agree there is a real strength in truly appreciating qualities that we feel in ourself.
Yes, this article presents stillness as a real possibility for us all; a quality we can all live.
I don’t think that before coming to Universal Medicine I would have really understood what you were offering here. I mean I kinda knew stillness – like being in nature or being by a lake – you can feel the innate stillness – but I would not have thought it possible to live that way without visiting something or being able to live it outside of a retreat/course. But through the presentations, workshops, retreats and sessions offered by Universal Medicine and its practitioners, I have come to realise that this stillness lies within us and can be lived on a daily basis if we so choose. It’s been life changing and I appreciate that by reading this blog, it is connecting me back to the stillness that I now know exists within me as it does for us all. And that is amongst traffic, clicking fans and clocks and all of life’s noises.
I can relate to what you say, Sarah, I doubt that I would really have understood how stillness can be felt before I attended Universal Medicine presentations and workshops and especially through having Esoteric Breast Massages. I do sense that I may have had a couple of short instances of that feeling when in nature, but I was not then aware of just what I was experiencing, and certainly had no appreciation for that feeling within me, rather all was projected out onto the natural environment. This blog by Nicole has certainly stirred a lot within me, especially making me more aware of these moments that I have experienced more recently. It is a great opportunity for me to learn to really appreciate that I do have these moments, which I am sure will increase as I truly appreciate them.
I can really feel your awe and appreciation for feeling, accepting and now appreciating your innate stillness. Until it is felt, stillness is an abstract concept, but once felt it is the sweetest contact with our own divinity you can ever imagine and you have woken me up to realise that I have not been appreciating exactly what stillness is, what it offers us and what it brings to all others that feel it within us. Thank you for sharing Nicole – what an inspiration!
I appreciate the true stillness that you have felt and the way in which it is presented it is so power-full and relatable in today’s society that never stops to “smell the roses”.
‘No longer pushing through, looking past what was directly in front of me, but now feeling how the appreciation in all that is supports me to hold, deepen and develop further the amazing connection I have with myself’ – Reading your blog Nicole, I found myself surrendering absolutely and experiencing this same stillness within me – this has once again confirmed the brotherhood we are all a part of and the truth that we are all in essence the same. Very Beautiful, thank you
Gorgeous reminder Nicole of the stillness within and our choice to connect to it or not. Thank you.
I had the same Annie, being thankful for the reminder to appreciate the stillness within. But it made me also to ponder on this fact for why do I need that reminder to appreciate that stillness in me and why is it not innately in me? And what came to me is that I tend to value my life not to its full extend, to the grandness that I actually am, and that this is from me still holding on to some lack of self worth that I use to keep myself small. Great learning and healing, as I can now feel that the appreciation of that stillness in me and to stop at regular moments of the day to remind me of this fact, will build that strength and feeling of self-worth.
If asked to describe ten years ago what stillness meant, I would have said that it meant physically being still in my body. Gradually since that time I have come to realise that it is something quite different; that it’s a place of connection with myself at a deep level and from that space my understanding and awareness of myself and all around me is increased enormously. The mind becomes quieter and the body feels solid and steady. What inspires me is knowing that this isn’t just something that happens if we’re ‘lucky’ now and then; it’s naturally a key piece of our foundation.
Just the act of reading this piece has allowed my just woken body to find a new level of stillness, absolutely amazing ! And isn’t it lovely, the way that often our most vivid moments of stillness appear when the outside world is at its busiest and noisiest. Yet again posing the question, why do I not choose to allow myself this level of surrender and stillness all the time ? Thankyou Nicole.
Yes, Tim, what is in the way of us experiencing this exquisite stillness more consistently and so deeply? The more I heal what is in the way the greater degree of stillness I have within my day. The beautiful thing is that it only ever increases as my awareness of it increases, and never decreases, as Nicole has shared, we just disconnect from it. So really the process is about us allowing more and more of what already resides within.
Great question Tim. To me I have found that it is the lack of appreciation for that stillness in me that withholds me from surrendering to is. I do not yet appreciate in full the beauty and the importance of what that quality of stillness actually brings to me and in that to everybody I meet, work and am with.
As I read your blog Nicole, I was reminded of an advert that ran on TV, an image of a woman, or it may have been a man, standing in the middle of the picture whilst everything went on around them, they too are in stillness but it is not something they saw as a good thing. They were lonely and isolated. To feel what you felt Nicole shows the steadiness you have built inside, to connect to that stillness and feel it’s completeness. There was nothing you needed from others to feed you back and there was nothing you needed to offer them in that moment. Just a simple stop to appreciate and not get caught up in the outside momentum. I look forward to connecting with these moments throughout my day today as I contemplate this blog further.
To connect to stillness and feel the completeness within that, is an extraordinary experience. Not needing anything in that moment or getting caught up in anything… I love everything you have shared here Lucy.
It’s interesting that there is a fear, expressed through the advert, of stillness. The fear is of being separate, different, of ‘not doing enough’. Yet my experience of stillness is that it is at the same time super connected, and there is so much that naturally gets done (and does not need to be repeated!) in the space that opens, almost magically, inside.
So true, simonwilliams8, this is also my experience.
Beautiful Lucy, I will also take this into my day. Appreciation is certainly the key to unlocking stillness that lies within.
Appreciation is very powerful in really grounding the stillness we are already connecting to and living, therefore making space for us to connect to more. It is really a beautiful process that just keeps deepening.
Yes Lucy. It’s a paradox is that we are living in a society that is running away from the real connectedness. In stillness we are all connected, in stillness we are all that we need to be, there’s no loneliness and no feeling of missing out.
And the paradox is not even what we want on an individual level or as a society!
“It was the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. A complete stillness, as if the whole world had stopped, as if time stood still and was no longer a factor in life, as if I had all the time in the world.”
That is so beautiful Nicole.
I felt this recently myself on a busy street corner in one of the biggest cities in Vietnam. Despite the supposed chaos around us, in the stillness I felt within me, I also felt the most incredible order in everything that was going on. It was a pivotal moment and it also brought an appreciation of what is there to feel and know beneath and beyond what is seen or heard when we allow the space to connect deeply to what we all innately have within us, the stillness.
Jeanette, I too love the absolute order and preciseness that everything is as it is needed to be, always. It leaves us all with no where to go, but to remember our grandness and the grandness of all others that we can feel when we choose to be still and to surrender to our love that remains forever within.
All that we need to do is just be ourselves and the impulses are given to us for what is needed and when. I have been exploring this more and more recently and it has been incredible how everything has unfolded. There have been plenty of things that I did not foresee that have opened up so much space and opportunity for others to support. All done by the grace of God and my surrendering to it.
What an incredibly beautiful and silky quality I felt reading this, Nicole. That “there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us”, surely this is the key to living with the strength and solidness we all crave (often in others) when life throws us off balance. To realise this within oneself and to then appreciate it, expands and allows so much more as you say, time stands still and the inner heart makes the decisions that are truly supportive of the body it is within. Exquisite writing, thank you Nicole.
This is beautiful Nicole because as we feel the stillness of who we are it is as if we are in eternal space where observation and love is all there is. Thank you.
Nicole,
Gorgeous, honest and real. What you share is the way to live, still and in full acceptance of the world we live in. The level of appreciation you have delivered here is so simple, the difference it makes to our lives, profound. Thank you for writting this.
Yes Leigh. And with full acceptance comes harmony.
When it comes to appreciation, that is something I still have to work on. I could appreciate myself and others much more.
‘…there is a stillness within that outweighs whatever it is that goes on outside of us.’ Holding my stillness is a work in progress and I know too the surrender it brings; a confirmation that this is my true home.
This was something I was not aware of at all before Esoteric Women’s Health sessions and presentations. I was so much into the ‘doing’ of life that the ‘being’ got no consideration.
Yes Kristy, me too. I had done heaps of mediation and prayer learning but was never related to my body where it could be lived.
Kristy, I love how you have expressed this – it is so true, when we are caught in the ‘doing’ of life, most of us are not even aware of the importance of the state of our ‘being’, which is an immensely significant part and that affects the quality of everytning we are ‘doing’.
Your blog confirms the fact that stillness is not necessarily still in action by coming to an absolute stop. Stillness is actually a quality of movement and when felt it confirms that there is stillness in everybody as it is one unifying
Yes so true Joshua, stillness is a feeling not an action. I sometimes do take a pause moment to appreciate and then connect to the stillness from within. It doesn’t come from outside of me but from feeling it innately from within, this is an absolutely gorgeous feeling. The more I connect to stillness the easier it is for me to return to it.
I agree, Josh, stillness isn’t plopping on the lounge and sitting physically still or even standing physically still, it is an aliveness within that holds an enormous amount of space for us to simply be, no matter what is going on outside of us.
It is interesting that the more “still” we become by re-connecting more deeply to our innermost, the more alive our particles are. This is true science
And the more vital we feel.
And it’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking stillness is ‘relaxing’ in front of the TV. It really is simply being present in our body,
It is easy Elodie, to mistake stillness for relaxing, yet I feel the two are not similar in any way.
And yet as children we were constantly told to be quiet and to sit still instead of simply being reminded to connect with the stillness we naturally have inside us.
Yes, to be supported to remain connected to our stillness as children would have changed so many things for us.
Well said Joshua, stillness is a movement – even though it has the word (still) in them, it is always pulsing in its origin way.
Absolutely inspirational Nicole. Your description of stillness is exquisite and divinely expressed. Thank you.
Stillness is the true music and soundtrack of life. When we stop playing the distracting jingles of ‘normal life’ on repeat we get to feel, like you did here Nicole, that stillness has always been there loud and clear and is something we can feel everywhere.
Absolutely Joseph, beautifully said, and we can choose to connect to stillness at any time anywhere. It is only a choice away.
And something we can come home to at any time. There is no amount of waywardness that ever wipes it out. It lives on within, regardless of whether we are aware of it or not. It is only when we allow ourselves to truly and deeply stop that we re-connect to it and allow it back into our lives as a living way. The Gentle Breath Meditation was my first glimpse of the stillness within in a way that I could feel it as being something that I knew and was familiar with. It then took me a number of years to claim this once again as my living way.
I love this Joseph
So true Joseph, stillness is our natural vibration.
I love this Joseph, heavens music that is continually playing if we choice to plug it in.
Love it Joseph, ‘ Stillness is the true music and soundtrack of life’ Adds a new meaning to ” we all move to a different beat’ we all have our own soundtrack and through choice, and with true music we can all be in harmony.
“Stillness is the true music and soundtrack of life”. Absolutely – I just love this Joseph.
‘Stillness is the true music and soundtrack of life.’ – Indeed it is Joseph – love it!
Yes Joseph great description of stillness and it is “this true music and soundtrack” that I prefer to dance to.
Great comment Joseph, it is also a foundation from which you can’t go wrong… embracing you and all around you with each step.
Nicole the stillness is palpable in your writing. You show me how possible it is to connect to no matter what is going on around. It can be noise or emotions or whatever that can grab our attention but actually we have a choice in this.
I reflect on occassions I have felt a stillness in the most unlikely and sometimes seemingly dramatic places but hadn’t paused to appreciate but rather discounted myself as being disconnected. Now I’m more familiar with stillness I am able to appreciate the beautiful space it brings to life.
That has been my challenge too Karin, not go to ‘oh I have been disconnected and that’s not okay’ but to appreciate all those moments I have chosen the stillness I feel inside despite what was going on around me and how this supported me to handle the situation and to do what was needed in this beautiful quality of stillness.
Now that I have come to know the exquisite stillness that is naturally part of me, I too am continually amazed at the many types of unusual situations where I am able to connect this most beautiful feeling. When I make the choice to be in that stillness nothing that is going on around me can take me away from it, except my choice to let it go.
Ah that’s a lovely observation, we are so quick to judge ourselves harshly, but with reflection realise that you were naturally being still. Wow that is to be appreciated, to realise and acknowledge, the stillness is always there.
Yes, very beautifully acknowledged Merrilee,there are so many moments in life where we are full on being ourselves but we have the tendency to hold on to the moments where we are not, which actually makes these non moments unnecessarily longer. So appreciating and seeing what is there fertilises the foundation we are standing on and brings us into fuller bloom ever more.
Absolutely Karin… it also allows you to appreciate the power of what the stillness reflects to those affected by the chaos or within the dramatic environments, to show them what is possible within, regardless of what’s going on around them.
This is just what I need today, Nicole, something to deeply appreciate about myself and the world around me. It is a choice we make to stop and appreciate what the present is holding off us. Thank you.
Yes, I feel the same too Anne. This blog is so incredibly supportive and inspiring to read. I can feel myself shift gears as I was reading it and it reminds me to appreciate and connect to stillness from within. What a gorgeous way to start my day. Thanks to your comment and this blog I feel deeply supported.
We are so used to being busy in this world that being truly still is something most of us cannot fathom. It is almost like we can’t allow us to be still as there is so much to do. But then as you describe being truly still simply allows us to feel the all and bring this quality to what we do, it does not mean we have to be physically still.
Yes Esther, the trick we have fallen for is that stillness = sitting down doing nothing. Truth is when we are truly allowing ourselves to connect to the stillness we already are, we have a much greater capacity to get everything done, and in a completely different quality.
Yes Eva as when we are in stillness we are dancing to the impulses of our inner essence as opposed to being led by the raciness of our mind.
This is most beautifully expressed Kathleen, ‘when we are in stillness we are dancing to the impulses of our inner essence’.
I love the concept of moving in stillness but ‘dancing to the impulses of our inner essence’ – it’s just a stunning way to describe it Kathleen. Gorgeous.
A beautiful post, Nicole – “Within this stillness I could feel the strength of this inner quality, the inner being that supports us to be all that we are, if we so choose. And yes, it is a choice, a choice we must make for ourselves, one that no-one else can force us to make, a choice that needs to be made by and from us.”
Sue, this stood out for me too : ‘Within this stillness I could feel the strength of this inner quality, the inner being that supports us to be all that we are, if we so choose’. Beautiful to be reminded of the stillness within forever present or us to connect to, if we choose to.
You have captured what Stillnes feels like very beautifully Nicole, it was lovely to read your blog.
Beautifully said and appreciated Matthew – short but oh so very sweet!
Absolutely gorgeous blog Nicole thank you for sharing your deep inner strength & connection to your stillness, it’s power is felt in your writing.
I love the fact that we hold the key to our own stillness no matter what is going on around us – Nicole I love you Appreciating the Stillness Within with all the busyness around you.
In knowing that we hold the key to our own stillness brings back the responsibility that we are the ones that determine how much of this stillness we allow to be felt. I find this super cool, as I know I only want to feel more stillness, and that my every move determines how much more. It all comes back to us and our choices. Bring on the stillness.
Indeed kimweston2, the big R word – we cannot get past the fact that it is our own responsibility to make choices that allow us to stay connected to our own stillness. No one are favoured or have better genes for stillness… it all comes down to how we choose to live our lives and in that, how we care for ourselves.
I have also felt when I want to choose stillness, that the choice is mine. Yet, I can fight this truth, not wanting to accept it really is an available choice, believing that I don’t have access to it readily or “something” is in the way when I am the only one that can get in the way.
Yes Deborah, I totally agree appreciation is the key to really confirming and marking the stillness within. This brings us to a place where we can sit back and observe all that is going on around us.
What you share here Nicole about the appreciation being so important I can hugely relate to. Lately I cut a few patterns of not appreciating myself, related them with a huge bout of appreciation, and from my body the depth of stillness I can feel now is enormous — when I’m in that appreciation. It clearly goes hand in hand, allowing us to sink, and then sink some more and more into who we truly are.
I love this Katerina – appreciation and stillness go hand in hand.
That is very beautiful Katerina, I am inspired.. And so does this blog reveals us that no matter what is going on outside us, there is always an inner place that is still like waters or beyond.. No matter how hard, loud or foggy it is outside, our inner-most never leaves us apart – as it is always in depth of stillness – which is there to forever deepen our connection with, lived so.
I too have found connecting to the stillness we all hold within to be very supportive and often find myself stopping for a second and reconnecting to it as a way to make sure I don’t get caught up in the usual swirl and flurry of busyness that life can become if I let it.
This allows us to surrender to the flow of life and not be so easily affected by things around us.
Spot on Judith… a moment here and a moment there is all that is needed either to confirm that yes I’m ‘still’ present, or perhaps I’ve been nudged into motion and can just reconnect back. When that is needed, the gentle breath medication can be a fantastic lodestone, whether it is a few breaths or a few minutes.
Nicole, this blog has been very supportive and healing as the stillness you write from is tangible and being deeply felt in my body, which has been ‘under the weather and a little racy’ for a couple of days. This has changed significantly reading your blog this morning.
Thank you!
That’s how inspiring stillness is when we allow ourselves to feel what is there and appreciate the quality we have inside. There is only equality when we choose the stillness.
Appreciation is vital to drop into and feel the true surrender deep into our body – as you say a time to stop and smell the beautiful roses rather than caught up in the mental traps of business and pushing through.
“I had simply chosen to ignore it and fell into the traps of life – traps that kept me in a momentum where I did not allow myself to “stop and smell the roses” you could say. And wow, what beautiful roses they are when we truly take the time to stop and appreciate”.
Yes I agree Stephanie, the appreciation confirms stillness within and allows us to feel the joy that we truly are.
I love the confirmation this blog brings Nicole – we are so much more than a physical body and re-connecting to the innate stillness within is a key to knowing this to be true.
True Stephanie, we are indeed so much more than a physical body – but we forget this when we get caught up in the rush of everyday life. But as you say, all it takes is a moment to re-connect and a whole new world opens up to us.
Literally it changes time and our relationship to it, Einstein was on the money when he said time was relative I have found time and time again the more connected and still I am with myself the more time I have, sometimes it is like the clock is stopped whereas when I am rushing not connected it is like the clock is fast forwarding. Magic.
We don’t realise just how powerful we are – we can literally change our relationship with time, and the impact it has on our lives, simply by – as you have so beautifully shared Vanessa – the level of connection and stillness we choose to live.
Yes Hanna, it is the appreciation of the stillness within that confirms the joy of who we truly are.
ahhh yes kathleen, it always comes back to appreciation 🙂
Yes Hanna we can never under estimate the growing and expanding value of appreciation. In fact this is what appreciation actually means – to grow in value.
Beautifully said Kathleen – appreciation brings ever-expanding value..love it!
In the physical world we live in, even though we know there is much that can’t be seen, it is very easy to live by the tangible and forget there is much more to us and to life. But we also all know there is more to life than just the physical.
We are so much more than flesh and bones I feel this more and more each day.
This is beautifully said Stephanie, the stillness within connects us to the all beyond the physical body.
Yes Stephanie this is so true. The stillness is something we can connect to because it holds all that is in the world. If we choose to connect to this stillness we feel it is deeper than any thing the world can bring to our attention.
Simply acknowledging that ‘we are so much more than a physical body’ opens me up to appreciation in bucket loads!
Thank you Stephanie, I can get caught up in my head and with doing, and quietly being shown this is not the way. Learning to check in with myself and bring myself back when I’ve lost my way.
Very beautifully said.
Stephanie Stevenson a great point ‘ we are so much more that a physical body” once we get identity out of the way we are free to go to our core and appreciate and connect to the stillness we are within. We are then held and supported in every way as we are then in line with the all, the one source.
Awesome. Thank you, Nicole Serafin. And as I began to type I knew I was not allowing a stillness that is there within to be felt by me, so I stopped and allowed for a deepening. Gorgeous – a beautiful sharing and one that has changed how I am with myself. Deep appreciation.
That gives a really practical example Elaine of how to allow stillness in the motion of our day.
This beautiful, appreciation is key to embodying this stillness that resides within, always there. We only need to make choices that are supportive of it, making us aware and able to feel this never ceasing stillness.
Yes Benkt, so true…. In the appreciation of who I am I surrender into who I am, and who I am is stillness. It is all within, all I need to do is stop fighting what is actually there.
‘…all I need to do is stop fighting what is actually there.’ When I read this Katerina I could relate to the fighting and at the same time it felt so crazy. Why would we fight this innate stillness we are born with? I know it is always there but sometimes get caught in the illusion it is not there instead of acknowledging that it is me not making the choice to connect to this quality, the stillness.
Exactly.. all we need to do is stop giving the fight airtime.
to stop fighting…. that is so key we are in a crazy cycle of abusing ourselves with thoughts and actions that then makes it impossible for us to feel our innate divinity, it’s amazing we have a tool like the Gentle Breath Meditation that can support us to stop and reconnect to what lies within, treasure this and the fight lessons, but it does require us to be vigilant and treat ourselves as precious which is also something that most of us find very difficult to do as there are very few role models currently in the world who do this. Thank god for Serge Benhayon and his family and now others like Nicole who are showing us that we are indeed precious and divine.
I agree Katerina, embrace what is actually there and stop fighting it.
Very true Katerina – the internal fight has to stop. I was indulging in self doubt almost my entire life. For me it is time to heal all my hurts and to start to love myself, unconditionally – no matter how I feel or what is going on inside myself.
I very much needed to hear that today Benkt, that its about making choices that are supportive of this stillness.
Yes Kristy – means to care for ourselves very lovingly. We can refine our relationship to ourselves and to others on a daily basis, this is really amazing, we can go deeper and deeper.
Yes Benkt, so beautiful to feel how simple it actually is.
I love that Benkt, a great reminder how supportive appreciation is in building a solid foundation.
This is true Benkt. I am working on consistency here.
Thank you for all you have shared here Nicole. I am noticing how different I feel and my entire days feel when I connect to stillness. There are times when I can struggle to stay connected which show me areas when I get caught up in dynamics that needn’t be.
What a great marker the body is Abby! It is speaking to us all the time and can either confirm what we naturally are within (stillness) or reflect what we are not .. through feeling anxious, tense, stressed etc
Keeping life this simple is precisely what we are missing, it is time we simply did what we need to do and make like as simple as it truly is.
Julie I have found that just today, I can read things on the computer without my glasses whereas recently I had been finding that very difficult, there are things we right off as age etc but maybe the clearer we are within the clearer we see with… it is certainly worth exploring!
Thats amazingly profound Vanessa McHardy “I can read things on the computer without my glasses .. .. the clearer we are within the clearer we see with.” The intelligence of the body knows how and what to repair back to its origin. If only we listened intently, surrendered and allowed it to do what it can do. The body can guide us to see what is true, and, what is not true.
I relate to this Abby, I usually struggle when I settle back into a comfortable status quo and I know instantly because my eyes go funny and my head feels foggy. With stillness I feel clear, focused and able to observe without taking things on.
I also have noticed that there can be a marked difference with how my eyes can alternate with being very sharp and then out of focus, that I can’t help but notice.
Our bodies are amazing and continually communicating so much.
Great sharing Aimee, I can relate to this. You feel like you are being dragged along with another’s stuff when and you are left feeling drained and empty at the end of it.
Yes, I agree Aimee, although for me my head feels noisy and loud and I can’t focus on what I’m doing. When I am connected to stillness, I am clear focused, fully present and what needs to be done just flows.
Thank you for this honesty Abby – I get knocked off by lots of things but an article and comments like these really support me to understand what is going on and give me the where with all to ‘do’ something about it: the inspiration to feel the stillness that is always within and to appreciate its strength and let it deepen and expand into my daily life and interactions.
From simply reading this blog I settled more into my body and connected more deeply to the stillness within and around me. There was life going on, planes flying past and noise in the background and I was reminded to connect to the beautiful stillness that is always there if we allow ourselves to feel. I agree Matilda, blogs like these are a huge support to come back to our natural way if being.
I love what you share here Matilda and can totally relate. We should never underestimate the power of appreciation – it contains the magic of God.
The appreciation of the strength of stillness and how much it brings to us and all those around us is a “muscle” I need to continually build.
I agree Matilda, there is definitely a strength and honesty that comes with stillness.
I was in a classroom recently teaching a class of kids I didn’t know and they were escalating their behaviours and trying lots of things and it can be super easy to get locked into this battle with them, I was able to sit back and observe it all and not be sucked into their momentum but observe it and then respond with what was needed.
Awesome Jude, that’s power in the grace of stillness! Teachers would line up to know this wisdom. Thank you for the reminder how much fun it is to focus on this quality when you are in a busy place.
I can also relate to my eyes being out of focus when I am not connected. I have only just become aware of this and it is amazing to check in when I realise this and see what is actually going on. The body is an amazing communicator.
Me too Abby – for me it is important to take time enough in the morning to connect to my stillness. If I don’t do this, and I get lost in the doing, it will affect my entire day. The choice is always mine.