There is a place we can all go where deep silence resides. Taking refuge within to find that restful awareness softens the raw truths and vast unknowns into a safe and essential serenity. We need no permission for entering into this peace, but only to acknowledge the sanctity and shelter of each moment.

Beyond words and activity, this sanctuary offers a release for slipping gently into witness mode, watching the dream and sensing that all is exactly as it should be. Taking time to sit still each day in personal meditation or even just to focus on the touch point of breath for an instant of conscious contact, is enough to connect. Over time, this space of nonattachment becomes an eternal home for returning to again and again.

Highly influential author and speaker, Eckhart Tolle, pulled from a mix of spiritual traditions to gracefully remind the world of these timeless truths, inciting a new wave of awareness with his 1997 best-selling work, The Power of Now. Opening a portal that defies literal explanation, he presents an opportunity for de-identifying with the materialistic, ego-driven existence and choosing to live fully awake.

A mere glimpse of this light is enough to incite a shift toward the familiarity of spirit, and illuminate what our higher selves already know about compassion, forgiveness and faith in something greater. A truly fulfilling alternative to common diversions, he presents this realm not as a luxury escape, but as a celestial conduit of strength for centering, grounding and fully reclaiming an integrated daily life.

This autumn issue calls us to take stock of choices that enhance and strengthen inner reserves as the season’s energy winds down, evoking the intrinsic need to personally reconvene and gather resources for renewal. Contributor Thompson highlights the benefits of silent retreats on page 20, and the restorative effects of reducing stimulation and chronic stress states. The profoundly important function of sleep patterns to activate necessary healing and vital physiologic rejuvenation models this fundamental wisdom well. On a larger, ongoing scale, we intuitively cycle toward needing a literal physical break from the noise, pace and routine.

This intentional respite is key for maintaining wholeness and is a powerful act of self-love. The sphere of options for disengaging with the familial, professional, electronic and societal networks is varied and depending on where the heart leads, can be as simple as a beach weekend or walk in the woods. Road trips offer a geographical fix for regrouping and regaining perspective, and secluded havens in nature beckon. We are not alone in the quest as communities exist to foster, support and affirm this healing solitude in its many forms; the bliss of unity awaits within the expanse of our aloneness.

Wherever we go to find the center of quiet is less important than recognizing the ultimate guru of self that we meet there and facing the tendencies and reactions that arise. The teacher of life is life itself and this space we go to connect with our truths is at once a private and universal destination, a place that belongs to no one and all at the same time.

                        ~Jacqueline

Here’s to seeking the calm and reconciliation of letting go. Finding center through the stillness of mind and an authentic heart leads to the peace that begins within.

                        ~Kendra & Jacqueline, Co-Publishers