I remember being a teenager lying on my back in silence for 10 minutes waiting to hear from God. Nothing. Every time I tried, nothing. At the time I really wanted to hear God so he could tell me what to do with my life! Nothing. I just didn’t get silent prayer. I just didn’t get silence – here wasn’t silence in my head, particularly when stressed.
The turning point of me was discovering mindfulness meditation which has buddhist roots and is even used for treating anxiety and self esteem. A friend of mine had been suffering with anxiety for a number of years, had attempted suicide a few times and had every treatment under the sun including the most horrific electric shock treatment twice. Nothing touched her anxiety until she discovered mindfulness and the work of Jon Kabat-zinn.
Using some of the mindfulness techniques opened up a new world for me. I suddenly got silence, meditation and silent prayer. I now love it. With a young family I often don’t get the extended times of silence I love but I am finding ways of letting go of my thoughts and finding the inner peace that is inside us, our natural state when we let go of our thoughts. Our thoughts create an illusion of reality, create an illusion of what is going to happen and tells us we need to worry about x, y and z. But it is often just a story, an illusion. When we let go of our thoughts we can find that inner peace we often crave and the stress and anxiety melt away.
I love this short film on finding that inner peace in a minute. I encourage you to take a few minutes now to watch it. It could be the beginning for you to finding your inner peace, which is like a soft flute playing that is often drowned out by the brass band of your thoughts.
If you want help letting go of anxiety and stress then contact me and we can discuss how I can help you.
Did I get my answer from God? Yes, I did. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting to be told to do X, but instead it was to be myself. Let go of my fears, anxieties and anything holding me back from being the person I am with my passions and gifts he has given me.
