Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session we're

going to talk about silence,

specifically, your inner silence.

Now a lot of times when we think of

silence, we often think of external

silence, or even when we think of

cultivating an inner silence silence

within us, we think of needing to

have external silence around us.

No screaming kids, no noise,

no traffic in the background.

And it's true that this external

silence, you know, going away into

nature or taking time to meditate in

your closet rather than, you know,

on a sidewalk next to a busy street,

can really facilitate connecting

to an internal silence within you.

But what's interesting is the more we

use external silence to drop into this

internal silence, the more we can bring

that internal silence into external

conditions, even when it's not silent.

And that's one of the

powers of meditation.

It, you know, if we take this period

of time to practice while it's quiet,

while we're still, while there isn't much

distraction, it connects us to a part

of us that is beneath the story and the

noise and the conditioning of our minds.

And I'm sure you're familiar with them.

It's the story of who you are,

where you're going, where you

need to get, what's good, what's

bad, what's right, what's wrong.

We all have that and it's often

the primary noise in our life.

But when the external world gets

quiet, it allows us to see some of that

internal noise and then drop beneath it.

And as we drop beneath that, we

connect to this place within us.

That is much more still, much

more spacious and much more quiet.

Our practice then is to bring that

into our day when the kids are

screaming, when there is traffic,

when you are taking care of emails.

That's the big task.

And that's one of the reasons I didn't

just spend my life in a monastery.

I was really interested in bringing

that quality of peace and groundedness,

stillness, and silence into my life

where I thought it really mattered.

So as you continue on with your

meditation practice, see if you can

connect to that place within you that,

that is still, that is, is silent

that's not the noise of your mind.

And then as you transition from your

meditation practice, see what it's like

to, to try to bring that into your day.

When you're standing in line at the

grocery store or when there is a lot

going on around you or when you're

walking outside and there's a lot of

noise, just see if you can feel into

that place within you that remains

silent, even when there's a lot going on.

Thank you for your practice.

Let's settle in for today's meditation.