How to Avoid Stagnation & Create From Stillness in Your Spiritual Evolution
I spend quite a bit of time in silence, in nature, meditating, just being still - like a lake at the bottom of a beautiful, tranquil mountain. Yet, I find that this can sometimes be a detriment to my spiritual evolution. For those of you screaming, “what, this is crazy! Silence, stillness and meditation are cornerstones of spirituality!”, let me explain what I mean.
Silence and stillness are powerful ways of being in our world and without question, fundamental to our spiritual evolution. However, there is a way that we can allow these practices to become stale and become stagnant -- like a pond that has that green algae around it -- and this does not serve your growth or evolution.
Indeed, you may be hesitant to begin a spiritual practice because this is the very thing you fear: becoming lost in stillness and not getting anything done. Perhaps that is why you avoid sitting still or even spending time just being with yourself.
This week, we are going to talk about how and when it’s important to be in stillness, when this is no longer supporting you, and how to shift and be in the flow of the healthy river of your life.
Stillness is an Important Aspect of Being Human
Think of very young children and also elderly people. You can see a pre-toddler sitting still just looking around and… being. Often, elderly people are great at slowing down and just being present. They are in their inherent state of humanity, the way we are all meant to be.
Stillness is an important aspect of our humanness, it is the being part of ourselves. It balances us out, it is the access point to our creativity and our higher selves.
Sometimes we use tools that we may think bring us into stillness but that bring us into unconsciousness or even stagnation.
Stagnation is Insidious
One example of this is feeling full from a long day and just wanting to sit down and veg out and watch tv or scroll social media. Doing things this way is often not the solution and can lead to binge watching Netflix or sitting for hours on your favorite social media platform.
Or, you could be a practiced meditator and use this to get into stillness and stay there, avoiding any doing because it feels better and it’s spiritual, right? Wrong. Too much stillness can turn into stagnation and keep you stuck just like watching Netflix for hours on end.
Using tech to bring you into stillness isn’t bad, just like meditation isn’t. The process you utilized should be used with awareness and vigilance. Use mindfulness to monitor what and how you are being in order to catch when you move into stagnation and shift out of it.
Different Ways to Bring in Stillness
Any kind of spiritual practice where you become aware. And that could include meditating, sitting still, or even walking, running or working out. Your body is working and as it does, it is entertained and allows your mind to become still. Yes! You can bring stillness to any practice, even those where you are in movement. This is where the juice is!
What do I mean?
I intentionally spend time in silence and stillness each day. It brings me a state of joy that I can then take through the day to every being I encounter whether it’s my children, my clients, or the grocery store clerk.
Fear of Stillness
We live in a society where productivity, and doing, are placed above all else. It’s a badge of honor to get the most things done. Acquire the most and brag about how busy we are. So we are programmed to fear being still and not belonging to this world of doing.
Recall that doing comes from being. Being comes from stillness. So stillness is first, being second, and doing is third.
And when we do, or rather allow creativity to come from the stillness, something more powerful than what your mind forces outcomes through. Something more impactful, that touches at a deeper level.
That creativity is your life force, your aliveness, your higher consciousness coming through. This is the key to your ascension and living in 5D, in a non-dual reality, in bliss consciousness.
How to Recognize Stagnation
It’s when we jump into doing again from mindlessness, from habit, from old patterns where we are off. Or perhaps we do this so quickly because we are afraid of being with our thoughts or of stagnation.
This is perhaps what keeps you from getting still in the first place. Subconscious fear of “not ever getting anything done” due to too much stillness becoming stagnant.
This happens to me sometimes when I'm reading. I feel unproductive and eventually stop reading because there are "better" things to do.
The Solution
Reprogramming! In the above example, I reprogrammed myself by drawing a clear line from what I wanted to create at this moment. For example, I want stillness because that space that comes with stillness connects me to my 5D Self. And when I am in 5D, I am living my purpose and creating exponential impact. Stillness = outcome
The next part of this line I am drawing is how do I create the stillness in the first place? Just saying I want to read from stillness isn’t going to do the job.
What I have been playing with is first slowing way down. Then, I ask myself “What do I really want to do right now?” Give yourself permission to do that thing. Put a timer on to read, uninterrupted for 30 minutes. Or watch one episode on Netflix (preferably something that brings you joy, uplifts, and inspires you).
The POINT: It is important to not fear stillness. To pay attention and listen when stillness “time” is done and allow something creative to arise from the stillness.
Your Challenge:
1. Bring some conscious awareness to an activity you already have and intend for stillness to be the outcome. What is different here when you have this intention?
2. Notice where you are getting into stagnation – without judgment, scrolling on your phone, or watching tv. How does this feel?
3. Level up – sit with a new practice and be with it. Sit quietly or read a book for 30 mins w/out checking your phone. What is different here in your being this time?