A few miles away from my cottage is a beach. To me it is the most wonderful beach in the world. I never go on holiday, I have no need, for I have my beach.
The vast majority of us don't have a beach. We have to go away to find a beach. Then it is usually over crowded and the true beach is lost. I don't have that problem as my beach is a hidden beach, I don't have a crowded beach, I usually have most of it, if not all of it to myself. Why is my beach so special to me? Well apart from its beauty which is awe inspiring, it is a healing beach, a place where I can get my sanity back. A place where I can put things back into perspective. A place for deep contemplation. And a place where I can find the stillness within.
We all need a place to heal ourselves. A quiet place to draw our thoughts. A place where we can sit back and take a little time out for ourselves. The rat race takes its toll on us. Many of us fall by the way side under the pressure of this modern day and age living.
We are not designed for it. Not so long ago we were living off the land, now we are living on tarmac and concrete. Because we are in the wrong environment we get stressed. We fill our doctor's surgery waiting rooms and download his prescriptions of Prozac and Valium by the millions. We all need a quiet time. A time to heal ourselves of the wear and tear of today's pressure of living. For that we need a quiet place. I have my quiet place, I have my beach.
My beach is surrounded by hills. Great cathedral like hills that reach towards the heavens. I once went there at night when the skies were inky black and the stars were bright studs scattered at random for as far as I could see. There was a thin half moon that shone bravely against the dazzle of the exploding stars. It was difficult to tell where the sea ended, and the sky started. Both seemed to be as one. It was as I stood there in awe, listening to the sound of the crashing waves on the giant sandstone pebbles, that I heard it. I heard the sound of silence.
There is a place somewhere inside of us that is still. If we can learn to find that place then we can heal ourselves. A lot of people go in search of this stillness yet never find it. The New Age has made people restless, made them think there is something special out there to find. They think they have to go on some sort of spiritual journey to find it. Therapist after therapist sets up new ways to lead these people to their spiritual self. But I think they are wrong, it isn't out there, it's inside. You only have to look inside to find it.
When I am on my beach I find it, I find the stillness. I sit on the ridge of giant pebbles and as I listen to the waves I find that quiet place and my mind goes still. I find the inner peace I have been looking for.
We all need inner peace. Without it there is confusion. People have breakdowns, and people commit suicide. It is because they can't find the stillness. They can't find the inner place that releases their confused mind from its torment. Mental illness is the curse of modern man. We have given it to ourselves by our way of living. Our ancestors lived a quiet life, a spiritual life. They were in touch with the earth, the spirits, and themselves. Modern man is in touch with nothing, he has forgotten how to connect with his world, this is why finding the stillness inside is so important to us all. It teaches us to connect with ourselves, and from there we can go on to connect with the earth and the spirit land.
When I find this stillness on my beach I feel not only mentally stronger, but physically stronger as well. If you free the mind, you free the body. I believe a lot of minor illnesses can be cured by the power of the mind. When I am on my beach I find that power. I find myself feeling well, feeling strong, and feeling ready to go back out there and face the rat race again.
In an ideal world we would be back in our forests, living in our huts, and catching our own food. We would be living as an extended family unit and we would be working as one with our neighbors to create peace and harmony. But this is not an ideal world anymore, the world of our ancestors has long gone. Their way of life might be out of reach for most, if not all of us, but not their practice of living. They had the stillness with them all of the time, where as we have to search for it. By practicing their beliefs we can get nearer to the stillness within, and be a little nearer to finding that inner peace we all crave for.
I practice one of their beliefs when I sit on my beach and listen to the waves. I am connecting with my place. I am aware of it and melting into its atmosphere. It is as if I am invisible, just part of the beach. Time and place have no meaning because I am part of it. As I sit there I learn the secrets of the universe, for I am part of that universe. I have become a part of everything there is, and I am aware of everything there is. I am living in my modern day world yet I have become the ancient world for a fraction of time. There on my beach as the waves come crashing in against the shore I hear the sound of silence, and I find my inner peace.
