Tao Te Ching Daily

The Incredible Stillness of Trees

This is part 6 of a series on Stillness. To read the other parts, please visit our Stillness Page.

This series on stillness is the second series in our Tao Te Ching Exploration Project. Throughout this project, we will be discussing some of the basic principles brought up throughout the Tao Te Ching. The principles we will cover are Awareness, Stillness, Discipline, Humility, Flexibility, Consistency, Connection, Service and Leadership. I am sure that there are many other principles that have been discussed throughout the text, but these are the nine topics that I am choosing to focus on over the next several months.

I relate to each principle by focusing our attention on each of the nine chakras, based on the Q’ero Shamans’ chakra system that is explained in depth in Dr. Alberto Villoldo’s book, Shaman, Healer, Sage. In this system, the chakras extend outside of our human form, which allow us to recognize our greater aspects of being. With nine chakras and nine disciplines, we will end up with 81 essays on living with the Tao in mind throughout every aspect of our being. (Since there are 81 chapters in the Tao Te Ching and nine is a completion number, I felt this was a fitting tribute.)

I hope that you are enjoying the series and will continue to explore with us throughout the rest of the project.

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The sixth chakra is about intuition.

Intuition is your sense of understanding things from a different perspective. To me, intuition requires stillness  because you have to quiet all of the self-talk that goes on in your mind all the time. You have to be still in order to hear your internal voice of guidance.

Intuition can come from a variety of sources. I love tarot cards. For me, they have been a great tool for accessing intuition. I have done this for many years. I have used tarot cards in that way, as my guide. They speak very clearly to me. The I Ching is another tool that I like. Tarot and  the I Ching both help me to get in a frame for listening to my guidance.

You can’t listen if you are talking.

The stillness comes from just being still and not putting out. Having that yin energy so that guidance can come. It is there all the time. If you are a fan of the Bible, Jesus said it all the time, “Be still and know that I am God.” (We could go into a whole other discussion of who Jesus meant by “I”, but I will save that for another day.) Just being still and accessing that information that is inside of you and trusting it. Not second guessing it.

When you think of the opposite of that, when you think of activity and motion and scurrying, it is like chaos. The chaos comes out of anxiety and the anxiety comes out of lack of trust. The anxiety is like worry. Worry is “I don’t trust this to work out.” I am an anxious person, so I know this space. I also know the space of stillness and trusting. We all have both in us at various times. We are not one or the other, but we fluctuate between the two.

I would rather be in a trusting space than be in worry.

You know when something is the right space because you can feel it. When there is stillness in your body, you know things are just right. You are able to listen for your answers and you can’t listen for your answers when you are talking and moving about. That is the space of yang.

When I think of communication, I think of talking.  

Stillness is about receiving information, not about putting it out there. The sixth chakra is about receiving information. That is the humility piece that we just went through as well. It is not about always putting out communication. You have more to receive than you have to give. You have a lot to give, but you also need to receive as well and there is a lot to receive.

For me, this blog has been my way of listening.

I know that may sound strange, but as I go through each chapter, I talk to myself about it and record what I say. The information that comes out of my mouth in those recordings is for me just as much, or perhaps even more than it is for you! Lol…  I think that my own spirit has found a way to talk to me by talking to myself. If I sit down and try and just write this stuff, it just doesn’t flow as nicely.  But if I speak it into a microphone, it just all flows out and I am amazed sometimes by what is there.

In some ways, these words have always been there, inside of me.

I have a feeling that there are words inside of you, too. I think, by writing these posts and going over these words again and again, my spirit knows that I will hear it. (I am quite stubborn, you know!)

I read this stuff and think, “I need this”, almost like there are two sides of me – one doing the writing and one doing the listening. It is pretty cool. But it is all me, just as every person that I pass on the street is me also. We are all a part of God.

We just forget.

What do you think of all of this? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. You can trust that whatever you have to say about it will be perfect! If you are shy and just want to tell your friends about this post, you can use the social media buttons up at the top right area. That would be awesome. 

Thanks!