The More We Know, the More We are Still

Someone in my meditation group once said that the more we know our minds, the more we are able to be still. When we know what events or situations trigger us and why, we don’t react impulsively based just on our immediate feelings. I think it is because by knowing, we have the opportunity to become kinder to ourselves.

Our feelings are not mysterious forces. They are fed by our personalities, insecurities, trauma, and social conditioning. When we react without knowing where those reactions are coming from, we lash out at ourselves and others, sometimes even while knowing in the back of our mind that our reactions won’t change anything. However, when we know the motivations of our unconscious behind our reactions, the way we feel or want to react in that moment seems less related to that moment. It is about something else entirely. It is about the emotional baggage that we carry around with us.

To find inner stillness, work must be done continuously to get to know ourselves without denying or complicating who we are. When we face ourselves sincerely and accept what we see, we are saved from our own white-knuckled grip on ourselves.