THE BENEFITS OF ENTERING INTO THE SILENCE ZONE

I have been on such an emotional trip lately. And during one of my dark days, my partner and I were driving somewhere, with me in the passenger seat. I was feeling so anxious, and for a moment, I just closed my eyes. Breathing silently, I began focusing on the blackness behind my eyelids. And after only a few seconds, I started to feel instant relief for the first time in days and days. I go in and out of my meditation practice (I am currently so out right now). But in this moment, it was impossible to ignore the benefits of silence. What’s crazy is how easily I forget, and how long I let myself go without stepping into silence. So, for your information, but also to remind myself, I want to dive deep into exploring the benefits of entering into the silence zone.

I’m typically sensitive to planetary changes, and last month we had a powerful lunar eclipse, solar flare activity, and Mercury went into retrograde. During this time of galactic chaos, I also entered into the hormone hell phase of my period cycle. My solid, two-week darkened mood was definitely hard on my relationship, but I tried my best to stay afloat. I think my partner was taking it all like a champ even though my misery was definitely starting to rub off on him. And this moment of silence in the car, made me feel like I need to get back into meditation.

MY HISTORY WITH MEDITATION

Unfortunately, this is not my first rodeo with regards to meditation and the silence zone. I say unfortunately, because it’s like I’m addicted to stopping and starting, but can’t seem to stick with it.

MY ARTICLES ABOUT MEDITATION, WRITTEN IN COMPLETE EARNST

June 19, 2020 – THE GODDESS ATTAINABLE COMMITS TO MEDITATION

June 26, 2020 – MEDITATION: WEEK 1

September 24, 2020 – THE BENEFITS OF MEDITATION FOR CONTROL FREAKS

I mean, these are all such great articles, truly. But honestly, I feel so embarrassed about them. I’m such a sham. Ok, I’m done with the negative self-talk, and I just had to give myself that for a second.

Here’s the thing about meditation. It feels really good when I’m in a really bad place. But when I’m in a decent place, emotionally, I feel way less motivated to keep up the practice. Even though I’m aware that there are so many ways my body, mind, spirit, soul, and emotions will benefit from meditation, I just don’t feel like it! However, for the sake of both you and me, let’s just go over the benefits now.

THE BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

A list like this is easy enough to Google, honestly. And since I’m more comfortable with anecdotal experiences, I’m going to share with you how I have personally benefitted from meditation. Hearing first-hand from someone else’s personal experience is way more precious to me than whatever the internet might share. But rest assured, I also looked this stuff up here, and here.

• REDUCED BLOOD PRESSURE. I was always a victim of “white coat syndrome,” and my blood pressure would historically skyrocket in a doctor’s office. Eventually, I decided to buy a blood pressure checker that I could use at home, and found that my BP, although not as high as at would be in a doc’s office, was still high. Once I started meditating, I had legitimately and consistency reduced my BP score to normal and healthy. This score was reflected both at home and in the doc’s office. Wow!
• IMPROVED RELATIONSHIPS. I am a passionate person and can get easily fired up about many, many things. However, when I was meditating, I found my fuse for freaking out was so much longer. At one point, my partner even told me that he noticed I was so much calmer in situations that would typically cause a lot of hyper emotions and intense reactions.
• CONSTANT SENSE OF INNER PEACE. It’s funny because I recall when I was meditating, the constant sense of inner peace kinda freaked me out. Entering into the silence zone created so much calm in my life, and I found myself reaching for drama to just break up the monotony of healthy emotions! This says more about me and my neuroticism than anything else, but perhaps you can relate.
• PROMOTES DISCIPLINE AND DEVOTION. We all struggle with varying degrees of laziness and lack of commitment to things. Committing to things, unless the benefits are loudly screaming in our face, is really difficult. But meditation requires that you show up regularly, and it really cultivates a level of adult maturity that we don’t always want to face up to. Also, the great thing about meditation is that it doesn’t actually require that we show up regularly. It is fairly forgiving, and if we put it down for weeks, or months, or years, it honestly won’t be mad at us if and when we choose to pick it up again.

These are the main ways that meditation really changed my life, and I was only doing it for several months! Imagine all of the benefits that may unfold if I really took up a practice and continued for years.

THE SILENCE ZONE

So, this article is not just about meditation. I’m really not an expert on that topic, and obviously, I am still on my journey. However, entering into the silence zone doesn’t necessarily mean we have to meditate. My sense of calm was so markedly noticeable during those few short moments in the car with my partner. And all I did was get silent for a few moments.

I think the reason why that felt so good is that I had been getting so caught up in external stuff. I was forgetting about me and neglecting to go inside and say, “Lib, how are you doing, kiddo? You feeling okay? What’s bothering you? You are fab, no matter what, and I won’t leave you until you feel better, okay?” When I get silent with myself, that’s the kind of stuff I hear. And when I don’t, I hear negative self-talk, distractions, empty information, lists and have-to’s and must-do’s, and so many other not-fun things.

HIGHER POWER

Whether or not you believe in a higher power, something happens when we quiet our minds. It’s like our best selves come forward and assure us of our awesomeness. One might say in those moments, The Goddesses, or our angels, or guides, or God, or our higher selves speak to us. And if none of that appeals to you, then the silence itself can become your god. There is such a power that comes from the stillness, and it transcends our small minds.

You might also enjoy my related article about how to IMPROVE YOUR LIFE BY LEARNING TO LISTEN.

Whenever I think of silencing the mind, I always think of a song lyric from my dearest love, Fiona Apple.

“And there’s too much going on. But it’s calm under the waves, in the blue of my oblivion”

-Fiona Apple, Sullen Girl

I don’t know what this beautiful quote means to you. But to me it means that no matter what is happening in our lives, and even within the tornado of our emotions, we are ultimately always okay. And it’s so easy to forget this when we are being swirled up in our own stuff. Meditation, and entering into the silence zone, for even just a few moments, is one of the ways that we can instantly be reminded of this miracle.

HAPPINESS AND SELF-LOVE

Just like most things in life, this all boils down to our drive towards happiness and our capacity for self-love. The more we love ourselves, the more we might feel motivated to enter into the silence zone. For me personally, I have to ask myself, “Why do I indulge in chaotic emotions, even when they make me miserable? Do I think I deserve this misery? Why do I not take more time to silence my mind when I know it makes me calmer and happier?”

I really don’t know the answer to these questions…yet.

I know I can get lazy and tired, just like the rest of us. We are all busy and we are all at our wits end most of the time. Also, our culture does not reward or encourage acts of self-love and self-care. It says it does, but really it means, “After you’ve accomplished A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L, you can take a short amount of time for yourself to do some self-care.” And “self-care” often translates into ways we can improve or beautify ourselves more, rather than just accept and be. That equation, unfortunately, often amounts to 60 seconds of silence amidst two to three weeks (or more) of pushing. This is just not enough and it just doesn’t add up.

I wish I had some fabulous pearl of advice for you about how to commit to entering into the silence zone. It’s been a few days since I had my revelation in the car, and have I meditated? Yes, actually. And it felt really nice. Will I continue to meditate? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. What’s wrong with me?!

IT’S HARD

I will conclude with another quote, since I really don’t have the answers and want to end on a lighter note. In this quote from the film, A League Of Their Own, Tom Hanks’s character is talking about baseball. But, I think the same is true for meditation…

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”

-Tom Hanks playing Jimmy Dugan, A League Of Their Own

I hope someday soon I can write to you all and let you know that I’ve finally cracked the code when it comes to meditation. But I’m human, and I might not be able to. I know that the silence zone is there when I need it. And I know that it has nothing but peaceful love to share with me. I also know that beating myself up about it doesn’t get me anywhere. The people who have learned to dedicate themselves to a regular practice are not perfect either and have their own struggles. And those of us who have not yet found that motivation to commit to this kind of dedication are on our own journeys as well. We are all just doing our best. But seriously, thank Goddesses for silence! It’s truly a gift and I cherish it, now more than ever.

THANK YOU

Thank you for reading and please let me know if you enjoyed! Do you have a meditation practice? And if so, how have you been able to commit? Do you dabble like me and come in and out of it? Or have you never tried before? I would love to know!

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PHOTO CREDITS

Featured photo by Tiko Giorgadze on Unsplash

Eclipse photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Happy lady photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash

Water photo by Silas Baisch on Unsplash

A League Of Their Own photo obtained here