By: Rebecca Liston
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
— Rumi, ‘A Great Wagon’
I think that it is safe to say, Dear Reader, that there are moments in which we know that there is something that we need but we do not know what that something actually is.
I liken this to those moments when you watch a really excellent cook take their First Taste of their dish direct from the pot in which it is bubbling on the stove.
They taste their creation, and then they get That Look on their face as they smack their lips together and stare off into the distance.
You can hear their mind working from your seat at the kitchen table: “What does it need? It needs something… but what?”
And then, from deep within that Pause in which, to the observer, it appears that they are staring blankly out into nothingness, comes: The Eureka Moment!
The “Eureka Moment” in which they seemingly quite suddenly just know precisely what they need and they reach for it… and gleefully stir it in.
But that time between that First Taste and that Eureka Moment?
It is a stretch of time in which our minds focus intently on placing our fingers on just the right Something that will make it all better.
And sometimes, the process of finding that right Something can be…uncomfortable.
It can be mired in doubt: Will this be the One Time that I cannot put my finger on the Something that I need?
It can be mired in fears about time: How long until I figure out what Something I am missing? I haven’t got all day!!
It can be mired in fears about money: Ugh… I sure hope that the Something I am seeking isn’t going to cost me a fortune!
It can even be overwhelmed by the ideas and opinions of others: I know my dad would say just add some sugar to this sauce – that was his answer to everything! But is that the Something that I think it needs?
Our Brains are often of great use to us, but it has also been my experience that sometimes they are not.
And I am of the opinion that the sooner we can quiet our Brain, the shorter – and less uncomfortable – the duration between First Taste and Eureka Moment will be.
You see, I don’t think that the best ideas come from our Brains.
I do not believe that our Brains can always know the Somethings that we require.
I believe, instead, that our Somethings come from Somewhere Else: They come from the Stillness.
It is that very Stillness into which the cook stares as they lick their lips after their First Taste…and from whence their Eureka Moment presents.
That Stillness is a place I inhabit as frequently as I can.
I adore my Brain… truly, I do… and yet my work often requires that I turn its volume down and Coach from that Stillness.
It is from that place that I discover my own Somethings… and the Somethings that I know will be of value to my clients.
It occurs to me that much of what ails us could be remedied if only spent more time in – and responded from – that Stillness instead of our Brains. Perhaps things would Flow more for all of us. Perhaps we would be more at Ease. Perhaps we would Relate all the better to one another. Perhaps we would be more rested, more patient, more compassionate…more focused, more inspired, more creative.
What say you, Dear Reader? Shall we give it a go?
Rebecca Liston is cofounder and business intuitive at Las Peregrinas, a creative and consulting agency. She specializes in anchoring folks in a clear-eyed understanding of which path is theirs for the taking. She’s got one foot in the land of the subtle and unseen, and the other foot firmly planted in the land of ruthless pragmatism. Oh, and she swears like a sailor, which makes us love her more.
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