Living Life out of the Box: A Musing on My Own Experiences
When I reflect on life, I realize a personal pattern of always wanting to live or living outside the box.
Some may call it rebellious and yes that may be true for many instances, through my childhood, teenage years even after that. Maybe even a little as of now, but a lot of it stems from wanting to see and experience things in my own way.
I’ve never really understood how a unique human with so many different emotions can be free or be able to flow in a box. While there are rules, for instance, the laws of nature that we must respect, there is much that teaches us otherwise. My heart and mind refuse to believe that the ‘box’ can have all the answers or be normal just because it’s deemed that everyone lives that way.
I believe in living with wonder, awe, curiosity, and a sense of adventure. It teaches us so much ‘outside the box’ and it can also get us into trouble because there is much trouble in the space between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal,’ which one is right, is for us to decide, not the society.
I believe each of us has earthly experiences as we journey through this one life and there is so much to experience based on our unique authentic self if we are courageous to live that way and not follow the herd.
Many times that choice can bring in some loneliness and it can also bring in extreme peace, happiness, and joy. And I believe a beautiful life has a mix of all of these things and emotions. One can never experience sweetness without bitterness, happiness without sadness, or peace without chaos.
I enjoy meditation the way I like it. No fixed time or no fixed day. Some days I will meditate every morning and before sleep, some days I don’t feel the need to do it. I prefer to flow with what my heart and mind desire. Sometimes it’s 15 minutes, sometimes I’m lost in meditation for 50 minutes. Both ways work for me, there is no format.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve started to enjoy deep silence. Just focussing on stillness, on all the sounds that arise from that stillness, and going back into that stillness. That’s a beautiful pattern I’ve been noticing. How all sounds arise from deep silence and go back into deep silence. How movement arises from stillness and goes back into stillness.
This pattern has been teaching me how we can return to the source of our spirit even when we move away from it. From anger back to stillness, from anger back to silence as anger arises from silence and goes back to it. Movement, after a workout or walk or yoga practice, back to stillness. This is so beautiful.
The stillness at the end of the inhale, and the end of the exhale, start to focus on that while you follow your breath, like the practice of breath work teaches us. That space of stillness between inhales and exhales is magical for me.
I’ve been practicing silence and stillness in the mornings and even before bedtime, where I will allow for reflection to happen before bed in that stillness. I am enjoying how it feels.
I like to keep challenging things and ways that we get used to. There is also a strong science showing us how good it is for the brain, to learn and do things differently.
If you do choose to practice silence, let me know how you feel.
– Luke Coutinho
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