The following was written by Lee Gerdes to assist local media wanting to discuss with him the tragic shooting event in Tucson the weekend of January 8th. We wanted to share this with you here.

Whether we directly witnessed the tragedies this weekend in Tucson – or saw it on TV – trauma can affect us physically and emotionally.

Daily Spiritual Insight from Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks

We tend to associate stillness with quietness, even silence. But Eckhart Tolle invites us to see a much deeper significance in stillness. He comments:

Silence is helpful, but you don’t need it in order to find stillness. Even when there is noise, you can be aware of the stillness underneath the noise, of the space in which the noise arises. That is the space of pure awareness, consciousness itself.

How are you feeling right now? I’m not talking about how you are feeling about something that may be happening in your life.

I’m talking about the basic feeling of you.

What does it feel like to be you? Is it a good feeling, or not so good?

Of course, if something is taking place in your life such as a death in the family, the death or illness of a friend or beloved pet, a divorce, an issue with your work, or some form of drama with your children, you are not going to feel good about that.