Four of Swords

The first time I saw this card, I thought I was seeing a picture of dead person lying in state. A little eerie. In some versions, that could be exactly what you’re seeing. In others, it’s just a resting person.

Whether or  not the stillness is eternal, this card is absolutely about stillness.  This is the “take a break” card. What was that old tag-line … for tea, I believe? “The pause that refreshes.” That’s what this card encourages. When you pull this card, it’s a clear sign that it would do you a lot of good to take a step back from things, and make sure you get some stillness into your life.

Stillness, that is, not mere downtime, and certainly not downtime spent racing around catching up on errands, or fitting in a workout. This card urges you to put your mind and body on the ‘slow’ setting. Unplug your devices. Take some slow, deep breaths, and relaaax.

This card is about bodily and mental stillness. We know it’s good for us. We know meditation is good for us, mentally, emotionally, physically. We know silence is good for the brain.

We know all that. We just don’t do it. Why not?

Most of us would claim – and believe! – that we “don’t have time”. Very often, though, when we take a conscious, aware look at how we spend our time, we discover that we actually do have windows for stillness. We just tend to spend ‘em unintentionally. We drift around on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, or some other wormhole of link-to-link Internet meandering. If you can wander for an hour online, you can take half an hour for mindful stillness — and with no guilt!

Though, that idea of guilt … Some of us have to really fight the idea that stillness (aka ‘intentionally doing nothing’) is a moral failing. We feel stillness is a waste of time, and that we should be busy every moment of every day. To be still and do nothing feels wrong.

I would argue that ‘intentionally’ doing nothing is a very different thing than the kind of ‘nothing’ that has you lifting your head at the end of a busy day and wondering what you did all day. That second kind, the unintentional ‘nothing’, that’s definitely a problem! The first kind, intentional stillness, is healing – and will probably help prevent the second kind!

So, we agree that stillness is good, and we could be doing some, but warm fuzzy ideas rarely turn into reality. Well, “Intentional” is my Word of the Year. So! Let’s get intentional about this!

Here’s my intention: This month, I will extend my 20-minute morning meditation to 30 minutes, and I will aim to do it a minimum of four times a week. Once a week, I’m going to have a candlelit bath, where I just luxuriate in the sound, feel, scent of the water, and the studied emptiness of my mind. I think that’s achievable. I’ll check in on my Facebook page with progress reports.

What will you do? And if you’re interested, please do pop over to Facebook and let us know what your stillness ‘activity’ will be, and how it’s going.