In silence which is active, the Inner Light begins to glow -- a tiny spark. For the flame to be kindled and to grow, subtle argument and clamour of our emotions must be stilled... Silence is the welcoming acceptance of the other.
--Pierre Lacout, Quaker Faith and Practice 2.12

            Presence

    You should know by now, if you

    take it for granted,reality

    has a habit of becoming unreal.

    What was your life disappears,

    leaves you without self

    to put a finger on. Reminding you

    everything which will ever happen 

    has already happened, only

    you were not there. As when

    you wander out, late

    into the night, find yourself 

    when you get back, deep 

    in the chair you haven't moved from.

        John Phillips

  Stretching time silently between the arms 

        Lifetimes in each posture 

  

Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.

Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality disturb us.
-- A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers -- Walden

What remains ? when I watch the thoughts, emotions and sensations in my body, I begin to notice what remains . That presence or awareness which is constant, always here waiting for my return.

Relaxation

Just how much can we actually let go.It seems to me that the more I let go the more possible it becomes to let go even more.
Lately I have been spending as much time as possible witnessing myself daily as I work, run, practice etc.
What has become clear to me is that the more I relax and just watch my thoughts without making any effort to control or direct them the more space arises.
As I struggle to just keep letting go part of me is resisting urging me to take control, almost warning me that if I keep this up my mind will run amuck, paradoxically when I stick to the witness and ignore "these warnings" my internal space seems to expand more and more.
This letting go transfers to the body which relaxes and opens me up to a new more subtle level of awareness.

   A gift of God! A perfect day,

      Whereon shall no man

          work but play,

   Whereon it is enough for me

    Not to be doing but to be.

     Henry Wadsworth Longfellow