Sometimes we just want everything to pause for just a moment. Let the noise, the voices, the thoughts, and everything else stop. It is hard to find that peace of mind and calmness in our energetic and active world. We don’t often get the chance to experience silence or at least a harmonious state of nothingness (as my father said: the dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing). I feel like we are so used to doing things constantly that we simply don’t appreciate those moments. I feel like I am being a bit harsh, I apologize. However, can we really say that when we are alone, when we are in that silence, the first thing we want to do is think about something? Or maybe if we don’t want to think about something we try and question why we aren’t thinking anything at all?
The thing is that our minds are always awake, and just enough to keep us thinking on a loop about irrelevant things, or maybe think things over a bit too much and exaggerate them. And even if we do say that through meditation we can calm the mind, which is possible, we don’t entirely shut it off. We can’t just silence our thoughts even if we wanted to. Our conscious state of being is a reminder that we are alive, and well, we should be thankful because of it. However, it does get overwhelming sometimes and we have to find a way to make a shift. If we already know that we are conscious and aren’t exactly able to control the number of thoughts we have in a day, maybe we can find a way to think about the things we want to think about. Sometimes it is harder than others, like when we are going through a difficult time. I feel as though we tend to drain ourselves even more with negative thoughts. But what if we were to find a way to shift that mentality? How can we do that? I can’t say that there is a remedy for all, but maybe there is a way to minimize the effect negative thoughts have on us. If we do find ourselves in an overwhelming state, where we are thinking, if we close our eyes, it helps. I’ve done it, several times. I think that when we close our eyes, we remove one of our senses and focus on internalizing certain emotions which helps us process them better. At first, it may be difficult and your eyes may even start moving all over even with your eyes closed. But when you reach a point where those thoughts are too much for you to process, you start letting them go because you aren’t bringing more things into your mind with your surroundings.
So, if you are looking for that pause, or break, close your eyes for a moment, and just be present. Allow your thoughts to come by but don’t engage, even if it may be tempting (unless you want to have a conversation with yourself, which can last hours). You’ll start to feel a sense of calmness as you see that your thoughts are just thoughts and not your reality. You’ll start to realize that being focused on just one thing (your thoughts) will let you see them for what they are and not for what your mind has led them to become. Find that dolce far niente.
Z.
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