Below are my answers to yesterday’s inner work prompt questions.
Who can you spend an hour (or several) in silence with—unawkwardly? This past weekend, I drove to Philadelphia, PA with my mom and grandmother to visit my aunt and her family. It’s about a 6 hour drive from where I live and one of the interesting dynamics in the car was that nothing was played through the car’s speakers for the entire ride.
No music, no podcasts, no videos, no radio, no nothing.
It was just me, my mom, and my grandma for 6 hours in the car either talking or sitting in silence. And while there were many great conversations—there was certainly more silence than chat. Yet not a moment, either there or back, that felt awkward to me.
How did you get to that place? I think it was largely through the example that my mom and grandma set. They each have this ability to sit unawkwardly in their own silence and remain perfectly content for the entire duration of a sit and it’s something I noticed and emulated. To take it a step further, I think getting to this place is a byproduct of having completed sufficient inner work.
When you don’t have to drown out an inner noise, distract upsetting thoughts, or entertain a dopamine addicted mind… sitting in presence becomes pleasurable in and of itself.
How might you get to that place inside yourself? One inner work session at a time. Every time you introspectively write, meditatively sit, and/or honestly answer inwardly pointed questions, you get closer to that state of quiet contentment.
…Which is worth every ounce of effort invested.