The Secret Within: Chapter 13, Silent Fitness

The Secret Within is a book I’m writing about the art of finding happiness and peace amidst personal difficulties. 

This is the 13th installment. Previous installments can be found here.

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13. Silent Fitness

Regardless of circumstances, we are blessed to have this moment. That’s easy to forget when ruminating about something we’ve done or should’ve done, what others have said or done, or when we worry about things we have no control over.

“Cogito Ergo Sum,” I think; therefore, I am. Too often, Descartes’s proposition rings true. Self-reflective thoughts are something we bring upon ourselves and then crash upon the rocks of their siren songs. 

They masquerade as the real me inside, but this is an illusion. Our defining human characteristic is awareness, an amazing, mysterious phenomenon no one understands. One must be aware to think, but thinking is unnecessary to be aware.  

Self-reflective thoughts disturb our inner peace. They are difficult to avoid because we like to get our way, and when events fail to match expectations, we stew over them. For myself, these are often small things, like a slow driver causing me to wait through another traffic light cycle or being subjected to multiple layers of robotic cues when contacting “customer service.” 

Most of us could improve our emotional well-being by addressing the bad habit of self-reflective thought, which is the subject of this chapter.

Everyone knows the value of physical and mental fitness. Beyond these, a rarely reported aspect of wellness is even more critical. I call it silent fitness. Did your physician discuss this with you during your last check-up? 

Silent fitness is acquired by practicing letting go of thought to bring attention to awareness. The popular term for this is mindfulness. 

Awareness requires energy.  Self-referential thoughts trap this energy inside. When something upsets us, we play the scene over and over in our minds, getting more upset with each iteration. Trapped personal energy builds like steam in a tea kettle. A heated tea kettle whistles when the internal pressure reaches a tipping point. So do we!

When silently fit, we are able to sit peacefully and fully experience the beauty of life without troubling thoughts or feelings of having to get up and do something. 

How would you rate your silent fitness? 

One way to determine this is to reflect on how much time you routinely spend sitting quietly without digital interruptions or preoccupation with thought. If your answer is rarely, silent fitness is an opportunity. 

As we become silently fit, our resilience to difficult circumstances improves.

Here’s a personal example:

Marathon runners refer to “the wall” as a point in the race, usually around the twenty-mile mark, where they feel they can’t take another step. Twenty years ago, I hit “the wall” during an unwanted job change. Despite being disciplined about mental and physical fitness, stress related to the new job, along with recurring family medical trauma, got to be too much!

Searching for relief options, I stumbled upon meditation, a staple in Eastern traditions. I decided it was worth a try, so I bought a book that outlined the process and took the plunge. 

The book I chose advocated traditional sitting meditation. So, I found a quiet space where I wouldn’t be interrupted, dimmed the lights, and attempted to follow the instructions. I soon learned I had jumped into the pool’s deep end without knowing how to swim! 

First, my body couldn’t accommodate the recommended lotus position. Second, sitting in a dark room and repeating a mantra didn’t exactly rock my world. Finally, the more I tried to still my thoughts, the faster they came. After a few sessions, I was tempted to give up!

Fortunately, I stuck with the process long enough to eventually slow down my monkey mind. That turned out to be a big deal because it enabled me to experience awareness in a new way. Surprisingly, the calm I experienced during meditation practice continued into the day. Learning to let go of thought was a new experience, akin to taking a deep breath before facing a stressful situation. 

For the first time, I experienced awareness in a trainable capacity. In the years following those introductory efforts, I’ve found that watching awareness is life-changing.

Have you ever noticed that events with family or friends seem more precious in photos? 

Our daughter gave us an electronic picture frame that scrolls through images she loads from home, 1700 miles away. Recently, I saw a picture of our granddaughters taken at the cabin; that moment seems even more precious now!

That feeling should invite a question: How can a picture have a greater impact than the event itself? The awkward answer is that we are rarely fully present. Instead, our thoughts lead us somewhere else. 

Have you ever taken a spectacular vacation photo, say of the Grand Canyon, only to discover, when showing the picture to friends, it doesn’t capture the beauty you experienced? That’s how we should live all the moments of our lives! 

Silent fitness trains awareness to be fully present. Practicing silent fitness brings one’s attention to life. It’s difficult, at first, because we are habituated to allowing thoughts to carry us away.  I’ve practiced silent fitness for many years, and despite only scratching the surface, it’s enabled me to taste life at depths words can not convey. In addition, it has increased my resilience to difficult circumstances. Here’s an example.

After feeling some discomfort in my chest, I went to the ER to be sure it wasn’t heart-related. After a blood test (and a subsequent trip to the cardiac cath lab), it was determined I needed bypass surgery. I asked the Doctor how soon, and he said, “Tomorrow!” 

That night, I couldn’t fall asleep to save my soul. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to me the following day. After several restless hours, I decided to attempt a sitting meditation. Fortunately, I had practiced meditation for many years; my silent fitness enabled me to “drop in” under extremely challenging circumstances. After a thirty-minute meditation, I resurfaced, refreshed, and soon fell asleep. 

We shouldn’t put off training for a marathon until the day of the race. Luckily, I was prepared when I needed personal peace the most. 

There are many ways to build silent fitness routines. The next chapter will outline the nature of such practices and provide some examples.

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Installments of The Secret Within can be found here. 

Former blog posts can be found here by subject category and here chronologically. 

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My first book, Towards A Life Well-Lived, can be purchased by clicking this link. Proceeds from sales are donated to Peace In Schools, a Portland, Oregon-based organization supporting mindfulness training in high schools.