Finding Stillness in the Chaos and Busyness | Matthew Shaw Smith | 69

It’s easy to get lost in the busyness of life, especially in this information age. 

In this episode, host Candice Dick and EQ expert Matthew Shaw Smith explore stillness, the tool that can help us inhabit our lives as opposed to speeding past it like a signpost on a highway. They discuss:

  • What is stillness, why it is important, and how we can practice it;
  • Meditation; and,
  • How we can practice stillness in movement

TIME STAMPS

02:02 What is stillness and how do you practice inward stillness?

  • Stillness is being aware of ourselves in the world.
  • Meditation has been an absolute gateway to that — finding somewhere comfortable to sit and just noticing what arises in the moment, just allowing reality to be as it is.

06:33 Meditation

  • To take five to ten seconds and just pause can really reset the tone of our day. It can orient us to something that feels more harmonious. 

07:53 What happens when you’re disconnected from the pause

  • As soon as you’re disconnected from the stillness, it is very easy to fall into the doing. You’re just doing.
  • In the Contemporary parenting courses we’ve run, we’ve encouraged husbands or wives coming back from work to take a moment of stillness in their car or at their door before they step away from work and into family life.
  • You can start to institute that stillness for a moment. It becomes a habit that allows you to connect with your being as you go about the doing of your day.

09:19 The benefit of stillness

  • The benefit in stillness is presence — that you inhabit your life as opposed to spin through it like your life is a signpost going past you on the highway.
  • It’s quite easy within this information age to really lose ourselves in the mental aspect of things — always in a state of some form of stimulation.
  • To inhabit our lives fully immersed in our bodies requires, in the course of daily living, to have moments where that information can be unplugged from so we can connect back into the more natural rhythm of our body and being that allows time for integration where the body and being can exist in sync.

11:14 Practices to embody presence and pause

  • “Stillness doesn’t have to happen when you’re still. Nature holds a stillness which makes it a lot easier for us to connect to. Any nature — your garden, a park, even to have on your desk some flowers or potted plant — can connect you.” Candice
  • “We can connect to stillness in movement. I’m a trail runner. That physical activity really does bring a quietening down of my entire being that I find very difficult to access in other ways.” Matthew
  • Repetition develops flow. There’s stillness that exists within flow. 

16:42 Matthew and Candice share the benefits of stillness within their lives

  • “I make better decisions when my mind is not off on some tangent or when I just find myself feeling more connected.” Matthew 
  • “A big benefit for me is I’m less reactive. Stillness, when I connect into it, allows me to be less frantic and allows me to sail more smoothly through hiccups..” Candice

18:33 To learn more, sign up for our free email course — Exploration of the Heart

 

QUOTES

On stillness

  • “As soon as you’re disconnected from the stillness, it is very easy to fall into the doing. You’re just doing.” Candice Dick

On practicing stillness

  • “Repetition develops flow. There’s stillness that exists within flow.” Matthew Shaw Smith 

On benefits of stillness

  • “The benefit in stillness is presence — that you inhabit your life as opposed to spin through it like your life is a signpost going past you on the highway.” Candice Dick
  • “We see the world more clearly when we connect in with our stillness.” Candice Dick

Check out these other episodes

Resources Mentioned

Free 14-day email course on Exploration of the Heart

Connect with Matthew Shaw Smith

Tell us about your journey of exploration of the heart. Contact us:

EQ Evolution on Facebook | EQ Evolution on Instagram | Living EQ Facebook group

 

To share your thoughts:

 

  • Leave a note in the comment section below.
  • Ask a question and Candice will get back to you.
  • Write us a review on Facebook or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To help out the show:

 

  • Leave an honest review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Your ratings and review really help and I read each one.

 

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever your listen to podcasts.

Check out these other episodes with Matthew Smith:

Resources Mentioned

Check out the free 14-day email course on Exploring the Heart

Connect with Matthew Shaw Smith

Tell us about your journey of exploration of the heart. Contact us:

  • Follow EQ Evolution on Facebook
  • Follow EQ Evolution on Instagram
  • Join our Living EQ Facebook group
Tell us what shifted in your experience with driving. Contact us:

To share your thoughts:

  • Leave a note in the comment section blow.
  • Ask a question and Candice will get back to you.
  • Write us a review on Facebook or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To help out the show:

  • Leave an honest review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Your ratings and review really help.
  • Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever your listen to podcasts.

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