I have cultivated a habit of meditating and I never thought it is really that easy and life-changing in that I have become balanced – well, I do have minor outbursts every now and then, especially when I start to get bogged down by tasks or some situational nonsense.
When I was starting with meditation, I used the visualization technique. You know, like visualize an ocean, or atop the mountains, or fields of greens and floras. Then I “advanced” to visualizing the space, the galaxies, the Universe. At first it was daunting because I could only really imagine how a galaxy would look like from images from the Internet, or how that would feel like to actually validate if I indeed “travelled” outside of my consciousness or reached that meditative state of moving beyond the 3D space. In other words, there is some sense of fakery in that, and so I stopped.
Silence in between thoughts
One time, I came across Ajahn Brahm’s seminars on YouTube and he demonstrated how to achieve silence – or silencing thoughts.
WATCH Ajahn Bramm’s Technique to Silence the Mind here »
Experiencing how profound silenced thoughts are, I have since wanted to share that experience to others so I am creating Silence Meditation sessions via my Podcast and my YouTube channel.
My first silence meditation episode is for people who feel restricted with their fears and feeling of losing control over situations or emotions. In fact this meditation is releasing grips on situations that can weigh one down, physically, emotionally, socially or even spiritually.
As you may have already experienced, fear or that feeling of uncertainty can be debilitating. But if the situation that creates that feeling in us is something that can be avoided or be detached from, the remedy is to rise above that feeling or situation. Then one can get a clearer perspective on handling it. Moreover, this can provide an opportunity of respite from thinking or analysing how to get around a rather challenging situation. That silent spot in our minds, between our thoughts can be a safe, reassuring refuge or a corner to recharge and reset.
A respite from the daily hustle and bustle
The silenced thoughts are especially valuable for people who have been immersed in a chaotic environment; a life with aimless thoughts trying to find their objective life purpose.
I wonder though how silenced thoughts would benefit people who have been for too long isolated from the “noise” of the outside world. What are the noises that they are dealing with in their minds and how, silencing them, could make them feel more isolated or not?
Maybe for some others, those noises can be companions from an already quiet, void existence – QUIET, meaning no external sound like conversations, or the audio-visual distractions from technologies. How then would they decipher the profundity of those silenced thoughts with the absence of any reliable references?
It is like taking a vacation – and who are those pining for vacation breaks? Mostly those who are too busy meddling with daily affairs within an industrial economy; or those caught up in the fast lane of an urbanized life.
Nonetheless, I still recommend this meditation technique because it is difficult to achieve silence – even a minute of it if your senses are constantly bombarded with external stimuli.
Silencing the thought is like switching off the mental chatter that is constantly there – and the problem is locating that switch in the first place. So this technique is not rocket science but still requires commitment, or at the very least, enthusiasm.
Enjoy the bliss of silence.
RELATED READING: Why can silence make you hear things that aren’t there?
