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?