Thoughts, worries, fears and desires are just some of the constant
noises that run through our minds: a continuum of words and images that
end up taking all the available space, until they fill our minds to the
brim. Those images become our thoughts. It is just like the background
of an internal radio that constantly transmits, tuned into the station
NST – Non-Stop Thinking.
Silence is the opposite of NST. In the
gap between noise and silence lies the practice of meditation. In fact
it is not enough to switch the radio off, shut yourself in a room and
switch all the lights off to create the conditions for silence. For this
silence to become real, we need to practice it, which means practicing
meditation, daily, which in turn leads to awareness.
We find
ourselves imprisoned in the past, which comes back to us in the form of
memories or regrets in our minds, or in the future, trying to imagine
what it is going to be like. Being trapped in this pattern, we avoid the
present, which continues to escape us. The objective of the practice of
silence is to focus all your energy purely on the present moment, and
it all starts with the breath: the one single most powerful anchor that
can bring our attention to this very moment.
We begin by doing one
thing at a time, for example by cooking and thinking about what we are
doing, or listening to music. All too often we get lost in an attempt to
do too many things at once, like talking on the phone while we are
cutting vegetables, or reading a book with the television on. Trying to
optimise our time merely provides the illusion of saving it.
Only
with the awareness that comes from listening to silence, can we be more
attentive and truly be a part of the present moment.
