The Importance of Positive Self-Talk and Practicing Stillness

1. Self-Talk Caught by the Tail Back in the day I had a good friend named David who — genuinely at the edge of madness — found himself walking the streets of Manhattan trying to rationalize his situational truth, which was that he was kinda fucked. His life was spinning out of control, his brain was filled with noise, and his heart hurt. I recall him saying to me in a moment of clarity, which is to say in a moment best described as insanity aware of itself.... "So I'm walking around downtown, and my brain just won't shut up. I realize I must look crazy, because I'm muttering or something, and it occurs to me that I'm actually talking to myself. Like I'm mouthing words. And I guess that's what I was doing — talking to myself out loud about my thoughts. So I decide to do it in my head instead. But then I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? Like, if I'm talking to myself in my head about my thoughts, why don't I just think them?" It wasn't the statement that made this moment memorable for me, but the profundity of his realization. He was a bright guy and he was definitely aware of it, but this wasn't one of those times when he was fishing for validation by using his intellect to perform glorified party tricks. He was asking, quite seriously, "if talking to yourself in your own head isn't thinking, then what IS thinking? And what ARE thoughts?"
   

2. ABRACADABRA — I Create as I Speak
   

   The term abracadabra is often attributed to Mesopotamia where the phrase ‘avra kedabra’ was translated from ancient Aramaic to ‘I create as I speak’. Similar is the Hebrew phrase ‘abreg ad hābreg’, which again means ‘I will create as I speak’. We are taught the power of the spoken word in early childhood. Our parents and educators explain the value of expression both as a tool and a weapon, where one opens doors and the other burns bridges. We're raised with the idea that witches can cast spells, and that certain incantations can unlock hidden dimensions. And of course we learn that wars are fought over books, particularly those containing religious doctrine or political ideologies. We are taught to choose words wisely, just as we are taught to handle guns, power tools, and machinery with care and respect.
   

   And so it is with both care and respect that I offer you these words. You, the reader, are an amplifier of sorts for these specific sentiments, and a conduit for this vibrational energy I am transmitting.
   

   To say that I create as I speak is like saying that I leave footprints when I walk. Once upon a time, the idea of self-as-creator was intriguing. Myself a young and ambitious artist, I wanted to be valued for my thoughts. But like David, I eventually realized that these mutterings aren't my thoughts at all. They are noise. In fact, it's all noise. Everything is in vibration. Everything. It's less about whether or not we create; but rather, it's about managing what we are creating in any given moment, because everything is always in a state of creation. When you speak or act, trust that good words and good deeds will always create good things.
   

3. The Practice of Stillness
   

   If you would like to find your thoughts, simply look around. Anything that you perceive is a thought. Again, to be clear: thoughts are things. When you look about with your eyes, listen with your ears, feel with your skin, smell with your olfactory senses, you are literally lost in thought. You are in the beingness of thoughts as things. This sounds insane, which is kinda where we began. David and the muttering self-talk, and the realization that his talking wasn't thinking, per se.
   

   Imagine running around a forest looking for trees. That's silly, right? But that's exactly what it's like when would-be practitioners of higher consciousness run around through life itself looking for answers. Answers to what? Well, obviously to the questions they are asking, muttering to themselves, their process of so-called inquiry merely a distraction from seeing what plainly is. There is always only one goal. And that goal is to see clearly, so to speak. Or 'not to speak', technically. Sit. Be still. Look. Listen. Feel. Rinse, repeat... ad infinitum.
   

4. Faith Over Fear
   

   This is both the challenge and the reward that lie in wait for those who would embrace stillness. Where there is no thought, there is no thing. A moment wherein there is no perceivable thing is a moment in which the waters of life do not ripple; but rather are glass, as they would be in a vacuum. This is a moment of timeless reflection — an infinite mirror gazing upon itself, if you will — and this moment is both instantaneous and infinitely expansive. Fear is the idea that existence doesn't exist. Faith is the reminder that this is a preposterous idea, and a bad spell, to be sure.
   

5.  Takeaways
   

   • Good words.

   • Good actions.

   • Be quiet.

   • Be still.

   • Have faith.

   • Be diligent.

   • Aha Moment.