We spend our lives trying to get into a state of resonance. You might say that everything we do is aimed at getting ourselves into rhythm with the universe. We eat and drink and sleep and do drugs to feel right. We endeavor to control our environment, establish routines, indulge our habits, seek stimulation and connection. That is all meant to regulate and feel in step with existence itself.

There are plenty of things that make us feel out of step – physical pain, broken relationships, interruptions and other irregularities. It is the feeling “something is wrong.” All these “outer” things are meant to regulate us – to get us back into some sense of stasis. It is not wrong to work on these things. We should practice self-care and self-regulation, but our practice of inner contemplation will help us establish a sense of stillness and presence from the inside.

An inner practice of meditation/contemplation is traveling beneath the surface of the waves to where things are quieter and you can see differently. To do that, you must get out of your head. You will not be able to think your way into stillness. The stillness is in your chest, where your breath and heartbeat are. Those are the things that keep you in a steady rhythm all the time, no matter what.

Contemplation is found in silence. Our words and thoughts get in the way. Wordless contemplation takes us out of our thoughts – into an experience of just sinking into the rhythm and feeling in step with the music. We also have this feeling when we are doing something we were meant to do – painting, playing baseball, knitting, or playing an instrument. You leave yourself for a moment and are just totally “in” the thing you are doing. That is meditative, too.

The goal is getting out of your brain. You want to live from your heart, the deepest place in you. This is the place where you know and connect with the rest of the universe – and realize it is all working toward something good, even though it doesn’t seem that way sometimes.