About The Girl

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California, United States
Not-so-silent observations that splinter my conversations. Harnessing the steady flow of random thoughts and musings that continuously interrupt my daily conversations. Paired here with my artwork and photographs from recent adventures. Non sequitur (pronounced \ˈnän-ˈse-kwə-tər\)- a response which, due to its apparent lack of meaning relative to its context, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing.

Friday, July 2, 2010

STILLNESS

“Stand still. The trees ahead and bush beside you are not lost.”
Albert Einstein





Yesterday I had the opportunity to walk and stare up at the trees, leaves and sky over head...here I found some stillness.

Within the chatter of minds and the busy-ness of our days it is sometimes very challenging to find even a moment of peace, quiet, stillness. Even when the noises of our outer world dies down to a mumble, this only seems to create an opportunity for our mind's internal volume to rise and fill the void.

Does this ever happen to you? In the dead of night, in the eery silence of our urban landscape, my thoughts find their purchase and take hold.

For many years I tried to create stillness by sitting quietly...completely impossible for me! The feeling is similar to that of holding a hummingbird in one's hands. The bird would immediately resist, flap its wings and restlessly try to get away. Much like my mind when I TRY to sit and be still.

Now I prepare for stillness, accept the cracks in my inner quiet where noise seeps in and surrender to some of the imperfection inherent in my silence and stillness...

There are few times when all is still and quiet. Often my stillness follows periods of intense exertion - after a long run, at the end of a rigorous hike, post yoga class. I've learned that while I move my mind processes, digests, transforms thought into movement and somehow in the process achieves a semblance of stillness. This stillness is a feeling that's similar to diving under water - everything becomes suddenly lighter in weight, quieter, dampened...

Recently long walks and a few buckets of balls at the driving range create a balanced stillness in my life.

“One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.”
D.H. Lawrence

What does stillness feel like for you? What brings it?