Peace and Quiet
- Anne Lawrence, Ph.D.
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Mistery
Cooler nights have brought morning mist to the Gulf Coast of Florida, making visible the otherwise invisible air we breathe—the Mystery that supports all our living and moving and being.
As the sun rises, a white blanket of fog overflows the banks of stormwater ponds, floats across backyard fences, drifts down driveways, and spreads over the neighborhood like a down comforter.
As I run through sleeping streets, outer quiet overtakes my inner rush. My pace slows until I am stilled by Mystery. I let go of my plan and get lost in the moment, embraced by the “cloud of unknowing.”
As I breathe, any boundary between my inner world and the all-encompassing mist dissolves. My morning mantra (the opening quote on my centering prayer app) becomes a living experience:
This Presence is immense yet so humble; awe-inspiring, yet so gentle; limitless, yet so intimate, tender, and personal. I know that I am known. Everything in my life is transparent in this Presence. It knows everything about me, all my weakness, brokenness, sinfulness—and still loves me infinitely. This Presence is healing, strengthening, refreshing—just by its Presence. It is nonjudgmental, self-giving, seeking no reward, boundless in compassion. It is like coming home to a place I should never have left, to an awareness that was somehow always there, but which I did not recognize. I cannot force this awareness, or bring it about. A door opens within me, but from the other side. I seem to have tasted before the mysterious sweetness of this enveloping, permeating Presence. It is both emptiness and fullness at once.
—Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart, p. 130
Peace and Quiet:
A FOCUSING-INSPIRED PRESENCE PRACTICE
Choose a quiet place to sit or to lie down.
Experience the outer quiet.
Slowly turn your attention inward by softening your gaze and gently closing your eyes if you feel safe enough to do so.
Experience your breath, however it rises and falls.
As you breathe, invite the Spirit of Peace to fill you, to enfold you, and to flow through you.
Inhale peace.
Exhale peace.
Feel your heartbeat in your chest.
Let your heart guide you as you wonder:
What is the color of inner quiet?
What is the temperature of inner quiet?
What is the texture of inner quiet?
What is the scent of inner quiet?
What is the taste of inner quiet?
What is the motion of inner quiet?
What is the emotion of inner quiet?
What is the sound of inner quiet?
Let your wondering dissolve into Mystery as you deepen your experience of inner quiet.
Inhale peace.
Exhale peace.
When you are ready to share your peace and quiet, you can gently open your eyes.
Inner Quiet:
A GUIDED JOURNAL REFLECTION
What places help me to experience inner quiet?
What people (individuals and groups) help me to experience inner quiet?
What practices help me to experience inner quiet?
How might I welcome inner quiet in this season of my life?
What is my intention now?
