Wherever you are right now, close your eyes for a few minutes. What can you hear? Obvious sounds are road traffic,distant planes, trains, a dog barking, the hum of a refrigerator or a heating system, distant voices or music. Now concentrate even more. Is there a clock ticking? A creak of a floorboard? Can you hear someone’s footwear clicking on the pavement outside? Is there a tap dripping? Is the wind rustling in the trees? If you hear a distant voice, try to work out what kind of voice. Male? Female? Child? Adult? What is the tone of voice? Try to really listen for every possible sound around you and analyse it. The deeper you concentrate, the more you will hear. If you concentrate enough, you will hear your own heart beating gently. You’ll feel it pulsing through various points in your body, too: chest, neck, wrists, maybe even your fingers and feet. Feel the rhythm of your heartbeat and then take a few slow, deep breaths. Don’t strain, just breathe as deeply as feels comfortable for you. If you’re relaxed enough, you’ll feel your pulse slowing slightly. Take a few more comfortable, slow breaths and then open your eyes slowly. Re-orientate yourself by focusing on an object until it becomes clear to you.
Were you surprised by how many sounds there were when you really stopped to listen? Most people can’t believe how many sounds surround them, until they try that exercise. Did it take you a while to hear them all and then, just as you thought you’d acknowledged them all, did you become aware of yet another noise? Perhaps you even heard another sound after that point. What happened when you started becoming aware of your heartbeat? Did the other sounds fade into the distance? Most of them would have still been around you, but did you stop focusing on them? Was it easier to shut out the other noises as you took more deep breaths? Stillness and silence are hard to achieve in our modern world and it gets harder each day. Most of us can’t physically create that around us, so we have to find another way to still ourselves, to slow ourselves down. Only through doing that, can we find our inner self, our spiritual being. How we breathe is a major part of that process. The one exercise above can’t accomplish it on its own but it can set you on a new path. Our breath is our life force and it is also the means through which we accomplish a great deal in psychic work. You need to start becoming more and more aware of your breath and how it affects your body. You need to start acknowledging its tremendous strength and beauty. Further exercise will help develop this appreciation.How often do you find time for a moment of peace? This doesn’t mean sitting in front of the television, reading a book, chatting to a close friend, knitting, or making love. The above are all highly pleasurable past times and they have their place but they are all geared to stimulate various parts of you.
They can’t offer you a moment of stillness or peace. If you practice yoga, you will have experienced what is being referred to, or taichi, or any other form of holistic exercise that deals with the mind, body and spirit.Most of us never take time for ourselves. We feel it’s selfish or wrong. Or we don’t think we can fit it in to our day, which is crammed full of the practical things like working, eating,sleeping and socializing. Those are the things most of us think of as important. It’s self-indulgent to contemplate spending ten or fifteen minutes each day devoted to nothing but being alone and ‘doing our own thing’.
As for the thought of spending as much as half an hour! It’s impossible, isn’t it? This is where psychic development can make an enormous difference to you. It can persuade you to slow down for a small part of each day and teach you how to rejuvenate yourself. You can start with just a few minutes spent in relaxation, in the form of a visualization or a meditation exercise. (Don’t worry if you’re now thinking that you don’t know how to meditate: exercises throughout this book will gradually introduce you to this experience, without specifically using the word meditate. You will be doing it before you know it!)
Perhaps you hadn’t realized that renewing your tired energies is also part of the plan and one of its benefits? You see, it’s not a selfish act of only thinking of yourself. Setting aside a small time each day to relax and renew yourself will enable others to appreciate you more. Which would the people around you prefer? A tired, grumpy person who flops in front of the television to relax, incommunicative and disinterested in them? Or would they prefer someone who spends a quarter of an hour alone somewhere and then re-emerges to greet those they love with a relaxed attitude, full of warmth and enthusiasm?
The difference can be as powerful as that, it really can, provided you are prepared to work at it a bit. One session on your own won’t necessarily turn you into a more contented human being but several of them can. Regular trips into your peaceful, spiritual self can accomplish miracles that influence others, not just you. Also, don’t under-estimate that whoever you might live with, would also welcome some space sometimes. Have you ever argued over a television programme that one wants to watch but not the other? What a perfect opportunity for one of you to retreat for a little meditation. It can suit both parties. Is all this making you feel a little more interested? There’s a great deal yet to discuss, so read on.