The writer of the post described a horrific day. His meditation practice apparently was failing and he was stuck. I pondered his despair, and admittedly my own, as I face challenges whose outcomes I do not know. As I pondered, I found myself slipping into stillness and without intention I silently chanted “OM.” Slowly the pondering and my own restlessness quieted. As both calmed I noticed, after all these years, that it was the closing of my lips as the “mmmmmmmmmmmmm” was held that created the stillness. Not the “Oooooooooooooo” where my breath and voice were expressed. No, it was the closing of my lips that vibrated and resonated my breath, my life force within me quieting thoughts and restlessness.

With the meditation complete, I bowed with gratitude to the whisper. The spiritual path does not offer a saccharine life of sweetness and perfection. I will still feel grief. I will still feel joy. I will still feel peace. I will still feel anger. Everything, every one, all emotions are my teachers. Wardrobe assistants, if you will, who disrobe me of clinging, aversion, and control. They simply are. No judgment. No story.  Just teachers removing layers of hindrances. Maybe that’s the “mmmmmmmmmmmmmm” of OM. It is the closing of my lips of complaining, demanding my way, wanting reality to be what I want instead of seeing it as it is. I will, as many have written, never win that argument. To just sit with closed lips and let my voice, my breath, resonate within and become still in the quiet gentle vibration of Now. It is the vibration of power. The power of truth and self-compassion. Both of which I am then able to offer the world.