Just Passing Through

In my work with clients using mindfulness, the most frequent question I get is "But how do you quiet the mind when I have all these stressful things going on?" As if there is some magic one step technique. 

This passage by Rolf Gates in "Meditations on Intention and Being"  is exactly what I often share in that moment . . .
"Connecting to stillness is like connecting to silence. We come to see that stillness and silence form the backdrop of our lives and that everything else is just passing through. Sounds come and go, sensations come and go, thoughts, emotions, all of them traveling through stillness and silence like fish moving through an eternal ocean or weather traveling across an eternal sky. As I begin my meditation, my body carries with it the experience of stillness and my mind becomes silent. I become the sky that holds the weather. Resting in the felt experience of my body, I am able to give my full attention to the weather of my life, to care for what is coming and going with wisdom and compassion, to love what is just passing through."