Maria Gonzalez Blog
Mindful Leadership
Inspiration Requires Stillness
Have you ever noticed that it is in those moments of stillness that you experience the greatest inspiration? Inspiration arises only in the “gap”, in the gap between each thought, and in the gap between each breath. But we so often clutter our minds and fill up our time, so that there is no stillness and no gaps. And as a result, we feel stressed, frenzied, at times out of control.
The reason is simple. It is the “Stillness” that nourishes us, that recharges our battery. In essence, the gaps that are created with this stillness enable us to discover who and what we really are. From this place true wisdom becomes evident. We may, at those times, find answers not only to our deepest questions, but also to our most pressing professional and personal issues.
As it is so well stated in the poem Fire by Judy Brown, what we need in order to flourish and grow is space, the gap, and the stillness that is ever present.
Fire
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
require attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
Judy Brown
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