“Avoiding your triggers isn’t therapeutic. Therapeutic occurs if you’re triggered and also you’re in a position to transfer by the ache, the sample, and the story, and stroll your option to a special ending.” ~Vienna Pharaon
I believed I had figured it out.
For a yr, I had been doing the “internal work”—meditating every day, working towards breathwork, journaling, doing yoga. I had learn all of the books. I had deconditioned so many behaviors that weren’t serving me: my must show, my want to match, my unfavorable thought patterns. My self-awareness was by the roof. I had hit that deep, deep place in meditation I examine within the religious texts. I met my soul.
I had stripped my life all the way down to the necessities: no espresso, no alcohol, no meat, no distractions. My morning routine was bulletproof: journal, learn a religious textual content, do yoga and breathwork, meditate.
I distanced myself from many—placing up boundaries to a few of the closest folks to me as a result of they “didn’t perceive.” I spent my days primarily in nature, alone, in a lot stillness and presence. I had lastly discovered peace. Or a minimum of, I believed I had.
After which I went to a silent retreat in Bali.
I flew internationally, able to spend eleven days in full silence, absolutely immersed in my internal world. I believed it might deepen my peace, open me as much as much more divine inspiration, that it might solidify all of the therapeutic I had completed.
I had no concept it was about to tear me open.
For the primary three days, I used to be in heaven. I used to be extra current than I had ever been in my life. The sound of the river, the sensation of the breeze on my pores and skin—it was intoxicating. I felt like I may keep there without end. I felt like I used to be house, internally and externally.
However on day 4, every little thing cracked extensive open.
Immediately, the feelings I believed I had healed—those I had spent months working by—got here flooding again like a tidal wave. It began with comparability. Evaluating myself to different folks on the retreat. Evaluating my physique, my flexibility in yoga class, my pores and skin, my magnificence.
I used to be so confused—I had the notice to know this wasn’t “good.” I had the notice to comprehend this was me defaulting to all these previous ideas and behaviors.
My thoughts began battling itself—after which I dove proper into the “worst” habits I believed I had healed: judgment. Judgment of others and judgment of myself.
What was occurring?! Hadn’t I already completed this work? Why was I again right here once more?
Increasingly feelings began arising. I felt so unworthy once more, like I hadn’t completed sufficient work on myself. Like this previous yr was completed all fallacious, prefer it was wasted. Like I misunderstood the project.
And that’s when it hit me: I had mistaken solitude for therapeutic.
These few months earlier than the silent retreat, I had wrapped myself in solitude like a security blanket. I had averted something that triggered me—conditions, folks, even sure ideas. I had created boundaries—not simply with others, however with life itself.
I used to be at peace… however I wasn’t residing.
I had gone up to now into solitude, into stillness, that I had disconnected from the very factor that makes life significant—different folks. I had tricked myself into considering I had discovered peace when, actually, I had simply discovered one other model of management.
However management isn’t therapeutic—it’s simply one other manner of making an attempt to really feel secure.
Seems, I wasn’t at peace—I used to be chasing once more. And this time, I used to be chasing enlightenment. It seemed completely different from my previous pursuits—extra noble, extra religious—but it surely was nonetheless a chase. And I’ll say truthfully (and never egotistically), I reached enlightenment. I do know I did. I reached Samadhi, consciousness, pure bliss. However then I began chasing that state, making an attempt to verify I used to be all the time in it. And the one manner I may keep in it was by being alone.
That’s the place the management got here in. I believed I had relinquished my want for management. I believed I used to be free. And in some methods, I used to be. However in different methods, I used to be meticulously curating each single element of my life to verify I may all the time stay in that blissful state. Management had woven its tentacles into my religious follow, and I didn’t even notice it.
I wanted to be remoted, as a lot as potential, to keep up my peace. I had satisfied myself that this was my objective. That this was my highest path.
However that additionally made life so… lonely. Sure, it was peaceable. However out of the blue I spotted I missed my friendships. I missed my household. I missed all of the individuals who triggered the heck out of me.
As a result of in full silence and solitude, I noticed the reality—what makes life “life” is being in relation to one thing or somebody.
The reality is, actual peace isn’t present in avoiding life—it’s present in shifting by it. It’s discovered within the moments after we really feel every little thing, after we get harm, after we love, after we mess up, after we forgive.
That’s what life is. That’s what therapeutic is.
And go determine—it took full silence to indicate me that.
On my second-to-last day on the retreat, I sat by the river and watched a single leaf fall into the water. These lovely huge leaves that look so thick and strong, so sturdy. The present swept it alongside, pushing it below rocks, pulling it again up, flipping it over, tearing its edges on twigs lodged within the riverbed.
However right here’s the factor—it doesn’t matter what, the leaf stored shifting. It obtained caught every so often, however by some means, it might dislodge—a bit extra damaged and bruised however nonetheless shifting.
And so will we.
Regardless of how a lot life twists us, regardless of what number of feelings hit us like waves, we are supposed to movement with it, not run from it. Not keep away from it.
What Silence Taught Me About Actual Peace
1. Solitude is a software, not a vacation spot.
Alone time is efficacious, however true therapeutic occurs in relationship—with folks, with challenges, with the messiness of life.
2. Feelings are a present, not a burden.
I believed I had reached enlightenment by avoiding ache, however actual peace comes from feeling every little thing—pleasure, sorrow, frustration, love—and shifting by it.
3. You possibly can’t management your manner into peace.
I believed if I simply stored my atmosphere “pure,” I may shield my sense of calm. However life isn’t about management; it’s about belief.
Move with life, even when it hurts. That leaf within the river jogged my memory—life will push, pull, and check you, however you are supposed to navigate it, not resist it.
So sure, silence is essential. Solitude is highly effective. However the work? The actual work is on the market. Within the messy, lovely, heart-wrenching, soul-expanding expertise of being human.
And that’s the lesson I carried with me—not simply once I lastly opened my mouth to talk once more, however into each second of life that adopted.
About Sara Mitich
Sara Mitich helps folks reconnect with themselves and transfer by life’s challenges with extra readability, peace, and self-trust. Because the founding father of Gratitude & Progress, she shares insights on mindfulness, mindset, and emotional resilience. Discover extra at gratitudegrowth.com.
