“Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
~Epicurus
“ The self must know stillness before it can discover its true song.”
~Ralph Brum
We often think of these two states as polar opposites, abundance characterized by the hustle-bustle of acquisition and doing, and stillness by the starkness of a blank wall.
But when we mistake abundance of things or possessions for true abundance in our lives, we become overwhelmed by the gathering and seeking and cataloguing and comparing. When we seek richness and plenty for ourselves and our families, what we truly seek is a depth of experience and feeling in our activities and relationships that illumines the great value of what we have.
In stillness what we have is brought into bright relief as the textures of experience come to the fore and we stop to appreciate the depth and richness of what is already present. Stillness cultivates a deep self-knowledge underlying all authenticity. Cultivating stillness requires courage, though, because what is still is our attention. When our attention wanders and runs after lists and worries, we are acting from fear. When we have the courage to quiet our attention and court stillness in our inner world, we begin a true transformation. From day to day this sense of stillness may be elusive—here today, gone tomorrow. But the act of courting it, making space and inviting it into our lives, is itself a transformative act.
Entertain for just one moment that here and now you have everything—everything—you truly need for this moment. What would that feel like? Practice finding the abundance in a moment of stillness, and the still, calm center of true abundance, with this meditation on the breath as a movement between the poles of abundance and stillness.
Find your comfortable seat with your sitting bones pressing into the surface beneath you and your heart lifting from the strength of your connection to the Earth.
Begin with breath observation. For five breaths simply be breathing, noticing how your body moves to accept the breath and then to let it go.
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