Underneath our inner chatter, fear, and attempts to have life go our way, there's a profound and welcoming silence - a silence that is a kind of recognition, a kind of acceptance, and a kind of refuge for the parts of us that clamour and fear... and which can be a refuge also for one another. We could even say that the silence is a kind of ground for who we each are, and in that way we long for it just as we long to feel at home in what can be a disorienting and frightening world.

So what is it, we ask in this conversation, to cultivate that silence as a space for our being together, for our listening and speaking, and for opening to new possibilities? And what is it to cultivate that silence as a way of creating safety and stability in ourselves, so we can be a welcome for others?

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Here's our source for this week:

Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. 

We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life. 
Silence is a place of great power and healing.

Rachel Naomi Remen

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash