Let’s Be Still
Just for a moment, let’s be still
Why are people sad when they do nothing? Why do we find silence to be unsettling? Is it simply because we were taught as children to talk and never to keep our lips tight?
There’s a difference between doing nothing and understanding that you don’t need to do anything. Why do we think a good life is one filled with actions that keep making good things happen? Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective. Life is miserable when doing nothing is seen as inaction. Change that word to stillness, and somewhat it soothes you.
Isn’t it fascinating that our understanding of life is based on the words we use?
Not yet convinced? Well, here’s the thing. Stillness is often misinterpreted as laziness. Action is made so easy that when others see you doing nothing, they’ll start judging your ass as a slacker. It starts to bother you when you’re alone. Just this once, let go of those judgments. For a moment, let’s be still. And now, all you have is silence. Serenity comes along with the rise of your awareness.
You started hearing whispers you’ve had kept shut under your bed before you sleep. Sometimes they wake you up in the middle of the night in a state of confusion, thinking about everything and nothing all at once. Fuck it, you couldn’t sleep. Trying to close your eyes was proven futile. You slide through WhatsApp to chat with your friend, but you realize that it’s 02.47 AM and nobody is online. Life sucks, and you couldn’t keep up with your thought processing the unknowns.
You blink your eyes, and suddenly you’re not in the place you were before this second. You’re in the middle of nowhere. Looking around, you notice there’s a well nearby. All of your wishes, you remembered, belong there as you get older. You don’t recall throwing them away; they’re more like forgotten dreams and hopes — The silence now echoed through the deep, forsaken well.
Just for a moment, let’s be still
Quoting from Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore: Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear. You often took silence for granted. Whenever it happened, you chose to pull yourself to the crowd full of noises. You distance yourself from silence, afraid of it and what it’s capable of.
Perhaps it is unusual to stand still, but I will remind you that life is both still and in motion. When stillness is required, it is natural and has its place. Appreciate it and the role it plays.
Why don’t you sit down a little bit? Quiet yourself and relax. Have a talk with yourself. How are you feeling? When things get hard, look back to your past and recognize that you’re a survivor of difficult moments before. You can do it again — Given your current state, you’re in pretty good shape.
Just for a moment, let’s be still
Now, think about what bothers you. What’s the issue? If you have control over it, do your best until you know better. If it isn’t, let go of those things. Trust the process. We put too much pressure on ourselves to figure out everything just so it makes sense in our heads. Things aren’t where we want them to be just because we want them to be there. Let things happen as they should. Like water flowing over stones, like wind blowing through leaves.
Hear those screams that haunt you down. Think of why you should not respond to it. Realize that you might be at the stage where you need time for yourself. It helps a lot when you understand why you shouldn’t do something only to fill the void of this moment while not thinking through how it will affect the rest of your life. Don’t treat the symptom, but treat the cause. Don’t make yourself suffer unnecessarily.
At the end of the day, you are not the sound that echoes through the ever-distant silence. You are not the voice in your head. Who am I then, you ask? You are the one who sees that.
Kab. Tangerang, January 26th 2023
M. Bayu Bajra
