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A Sanctuary of Stillness
by Genece Hamby |
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Come to the place of stillness
a place of calm knowing
that carries you into the sanctuary
Waves of sound heard and unheard
an oasis for the soul that unfolds
and dwells in profound silence
Daily, I imagine a world that is no longer upside down producing erratic frequencies that are harsh and destructive. I hold a still world where humanity lives with the universal resonance and harmonious rhythm of
God’s divine love. Where we know resonance and dissonance within a continuous state of change, and come to know the omnipresence that exists in all things. From this place, we live with a movement that is in harmony with the flow of life. We come to enhance our lives, to
become more, and to heal ourselves of the wear and tear that comes with the process of living.
I believe many are being called to be advocates for stillness, especially those of us who are stillness rich. Sharing our riches and inviting others to be dipped and brushed by the sea of grace. Like my grandfather who was a powerful teacher of stillness
without saying anything. It is transcending our need to pontificate for the sake of passing on information into creating opportunities for experiencing one’s own sanctuary of stillness. There is nothing as sweet than the blossoming of spiritual awakening that creates the
fragrance and essence of God in everything. Let me give you a beautiful example.
As a young girl, my grandfather enjoyed teaching me about the nature of things through unusual methods. One day, he gave me an ear of corn and a coat hanger that he had straightened with a pair of pliers. On one end, he bent the hanger to wrap around the
ear of corn and on the other end he created a small loop and told me to go home and nail the looped end to my window sill. He also said to leave my window open and to come home everyday straight from school and sit quietly by the window while doing my homework. Knowing my
grandfather, I figured this was his way of teaching me the discipline of doing my homework. He was probably helping my parents to find a solution for some of my school challenges.
Believing I knew his reason for sitting by the window in silence, I trusted and obeyed my grandfather’s wish. On a daily basis, I would come home from school and sit in the chair waiting – waiting, waiting, waiting while doing my homework. After about a
week of this and getting bored with the whole thing, I called my grandpa and said that I knew why he had me sitting there and promised I’d try harder to study. He laughed! Then, he told me that was not in fact the purpose of the ear of corn and sitting by the window.
The next day, I went back to the chair and again sat for 30 minutes of waiting. Every day this became a ritual until one day something happened. A squirrel came up to the open window and as soon as he realized I was present, he darted off. However, I was
excited! I hurried to the phone and called my grandfather to tell him of the squirrel. Again, he laughed! He suggested I still come to the window and sit by the ear of corn the same time daily.
Within a few weeks, the squirrel began staying longer as he became more comfortable with my presence. Ultimately, he sat and ate the corn right in front of me. I had remained very still not wanting to disturb his eating because for some unexplained
reason, I knew the very essence of the squirrel and his needs beyond my logical mind. As I listened through silence, I heard and understood his language.
My grandfather taught me how to listen from inner stillness, from interconnecting to everything within myself and to everything that exists. He didn’t teach me about God, philosophy, religion or metaphysics. He didn’t pass on information or tell me “how
to” find stillness. What my grandfather gave me was more powerful than any book, any lecture, or any ministering. He gave me the power of knowing who I am in my essence and how to pay attention, to be alert to the world around me. It was a magical experience I’ve not ever
forgotten. Even in his death, my grandfather was my guru. He left me with three messages: “You can always go home. Know the ‘nature’ of who you are. You belong.”
As a result of my grandfather’s wisdom, the way I found answers to life’s questions came from exploring my own inner nature. I learned by throwing myself to the wind, baptism by fire, jumping off a ledge, putting myself on the line, and taking the road
less traveled to discover the depth and breadth of who I am and who I was meant to become. I no longer needed my grandfather’s lessons or a squirrel to bait me into silence. I found what he wanted me to discover – my own sanctuary of stillness.
Mornings became a ritual of sacred silence and stillness. I began meditating, sitting in the silence, and listening to the nature of things heard through and around me. Covenants were made each day as I placed my life’s questions on the altar of my soul.
There were no rituals outside of me -- no required candles, waving crystal wands, or reading. Answers came, waves of nothingness dissolved my seeking mind and curiosity gave way to something greater, something more revered than my ego’s dance.
Unfortunately, much of our world is stillness deprived instead of stillness rich. We appear to be either trapped by the success of being too busy being busy and keeping up with all of the demands that claim our most precious energies. We seek the outside
world for answers as we overload our circuits with too much information and data that can contribute to a false sense of Self. Or, we appear blocked in our self-expressions from fear of breaking out of our conditioned lives. Even in the world of human consciousness and
metaphysics, I am amazed at the number of people encountered who are stillness deprived. It seems that our present way of life prefers the static filled chatter and clamor that refuses solitude and quiet. What I think is more terrifying is that we are adapting our capacity
for harsh and destructive noise where there is no mute button to push or power button to turn it all off. We are losing our stillness to the polluted noise and obsession of living in a materialistic and busy world.
Silence is golden; a refuge from the mentally deadening noise of a current culture that is increasing and pushing many people further away from the sanctuary of stillness. To live life by uninterrupted disturbances, the moments unfold something of beauty
and grace beyond our senses. Stillness acts as a gateway to the essence of who we are and to the vast sea of ecstasy that lies underneath our thoughts.
Here is my own experience of reaching the sanctuary of stillness:
“Crisp mountain air chills me as I sit. Everything is still, except for one bird in the atrium who occasionally chirps. Trees undressing in preparation for winter rhythmically sway to the slight breeze while blue skies look contented after two days of
autumn showers. Sitting quietly, I can hear the stillness all around me.
In the solitude, I close my eyes and the first few minutes are chattering thoughts that empty into one another as a gushing stream. I allow them room to express, to bubble up and flow through without forcing them out. There is a detachment to the
perceptions and thoughts that rise and fall; passing through without elaboration.
At some point, I stand on the shore that beckons my heart and mind to give way to the waves of my soul. My inner landscape opens the door and I am free to travel the universe unfettered by the chatter and clamor of existence. I step over into the abyss…
I live for the stillness
that rests between the words
the distant spaces of thought
suspended by silken threads of light.
The web of life capturing my attention,
sticking to the soles of my feet
which are rooted in sensual knowing.
Deeply alive and fearless
of the stretched lines
crisscrossing into nothingness.
I step over into the abyss
of silence and no words
no thoughts
no voice to be heard.
Darkness and light
become the illusion
for in this place there exists
nothing and yet all.
The universe is empty
without anything
moving through it.
I am the I AM.
Here, I sit in this sanctuary of stillness, unveiling the limited illusions that do not contain God's divine love. In my sanctuary, the silence holds my soul in a sweet embrace and nourishes the well of my heart. Pure joy bubbles up as bliss, a bliss that rises up to meet
my Spirit and spirals me into light.
Stillness pulls us into the fountain of God and deeper into the covenant of grace. And, when we allow grace to fill us with the omnipresence, our sanctuary of stillness becomes our permanent home. Then, our lives become a distinct and silent voice
resting deep in the stillness. Bliss slips in and yields its fruit; gives us the wisdom to know we are here where we belong.
No other place to be except inside of me.
©Copyright 2005 Genece Hamby. All Rights Reserved.
Learn more about the "Sanctuary of Stillness" at:
www.sanctuaryofstillness.org
Genece Hamby is in the midst of transitioning two programs she designed that are now being licensed to a group of people who are certified in the methodologies. Personal Branding DNA (www.personalbrandingdna.com)
and Your Essential DNA (www.youressentialdna.com) assist individuals in discovering what makes them powerfully unique—what
makes them Distinct, Notable and Authentic. Currently, Genece is focused on authoring her first book, “I Can Hear the Grapes Speak”, a novel about an unlikely friendship between an old woman mystic and a young
modern woman who ultimately becomes a powerful healer as the mystic prepares for her passing.
As a poet, mystic, storyteller and advocate of stillness, Genece’s life is guided by an inner teacher, by observing the nature of things, and by allowing herself to surrender and go deeper into stillness. She lives with a
knowing that everything on Earth is alive with an essence and an unspoken language that contains and transmits wisdom. Everything is individual and everything brings an element of beauty and grace to the interconnectedness, to the life line on Earth.
She listens carefully to the unspoken language. Whether engaged in an energy exchange with a grape, human, a rock, a cat, a canyon, a tree, the ocean, plant life, whales, eagles--or whatever, Genece listens to the rhythm—to the
language that isn't always heard by our ears. It is the language that is only heard through our inner ear—our listening from the inside. All people, places and things speak to her and she listens.
Being in rhythm with the unspoken language, the essence of all beings opens the door to stillness. It shows Genece the way to oneness, to belonging, to knowing who she is as God.
Genece Hamby, www.SanctuaryofStillness.org,
Genece@SanctuaryofStillness.org
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