1/4/11—Retreating Within

Today's Draw: Four of Swords from the Hezicos Tarot. What do you do to quiet the noise inside your head? Or does that ever happen? Do you have activities—or inactivities—that remove you from mundane thoughts and bring you to a place that nourishes your soul? 

 

The Four of Swords is about rest, but at a deeper level, it's about gestation and renewal. It calls to us to be still, to retreat into our deeper selves, strip off all the baggage and just sit with our soul.

Yesterday we talked a lot about ...ADD, but that's not an excuse. One of my ADD friends does Tai Chi or other moving meditations. The movement helps him focus because he can't sit still. And if you've tried meditation before and it didn't work, I'll tell you it's a practice that takes time to build. I've been doing it regularly since college. At first I fell asleep or had monkey mind. Now I can wipe my head clean with little effort and go into nothingness. It's a state worth taking the time to achieve.

But meditation isn't the only answer. Certain activities, especially repetitive ones, help rest the mind and bring you into the zone. Or, for me, time in nature is a good way to get out of the mundane. I have a place I go and there are three trees I visit. It's in the woods, so there are a lot of trees, but three are my favorites. And just going there and communing with the trees refreshes my soul. I know a lot of people drink or take drugs to do this and, when I was younger, I did too. But as I've gotten older, my body can't tolerate that, nor can I continue to tolerate it for myself.

So with the New Year here, what can you think of doing differently this year to bring yourself repose? And bring yourself into that creative and inspirational void where you quiet the din, find peace and conjure solutions?