WHEN I WAS A KID, my neighbor's dad loved to go fishing. It gave him a refuge from the noise of society and the stress of daily life—a quiet place to "hear myself think," he said. Today's fisherman on a placid lake is likely to have his cellphone in his pocket, and to be listening to music via earplugs attached to an MP3 player.

Music, of course, can definitely provide solace from the constant barrage of troubling news and harsh sounds of modern living. Melody, harmony, rhythm, and lyrics can even inspire, uplift, and heal. But these can be found to an even greater degree in the solitude of quiet thought where music of another kind—the good news of God's love—can be heard from within. This "music" is on tap within consciousness, just waiting for a ready ear.

My concern (as I've seen time and again in my healing practice) is that many people today are so accustomed to being plugged into external stimuli that they avoid inner quietude as if it were something to fear. They think they'll simply be alone with their own thoughts—and that they won't know what to do with them. But that's a myth. No one is ever alone. God is infinite presence; and His Christ, His tender voice, is always speaking, even singing, to each person. And this loving Christ shows us how to think healing thoughts.

Jesus expressed the Christ so tangibly that his very presence had a profound effect on people. For his disciples, Jesus' expression of the Christ stirred within them a silent, attentive respect that opened them to the messages of God's love that Jesus was imparting. "When he was with them," wrote Mary Baker Eddy, "a fishing-boat became a sanctuary, and the solitude was peopled with holy messages from the All-Father" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 91).

While Jesus is no longer with us, the Christ is. Anyone can cultivate within himself or herself a hushed reverence for the Christ and an attentive receptivity to the "holy messages from the All-Father" the Christ is always imparting to human consciousness. You can do this anywhere, any time—without earplugs.

One time a few years ago, I suddenly became very lightheaded at work. I couldn't drive myself home, so I asked a dear friend and colleague who lived near me to do so. As we started on the 20-minute trip, he kindly asked if I would like to listen to a tape with hymns or other inspirational content. I appreciated his offer, but I chose just to silently open my thought directly to the Christ.

I knew from my study of the Bible and Science and Health that the Christ voices to the heart an endless stream of music—of the health and purity and perfection of God and His creation. Tapping into this "music" in prayerful thought restored me to health in short order.

If knowing how to "be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10) seems like a tall order to you, perhaps Eugene Peterson's interpretation of that Bible passage in The Message will help: " 'Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.' " To me this suggests that we should acknowledge the presence of the Christ within us, and be respectful enough to mentally "step out of the traffic" of discordant thinking and listen thoughtfully to the holy messages, or music, the Christ is delivering.

For every discordant thought demanding our attention, the Christ has an idea from God that is ready to be received and bring healing into our lives. As the Psalmist expressed it: "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand" (Ps. 139:17, 18). Drawing on this steady flow of spiritual melody, harmony, and rhythm tunes us in to the perfection of God and His universe of ideas, to ourselves and one another as God's perfect reflection, and to healing. Instead of tuning out the needs of humanity, it tunes us in to the Truth that meets those needs.

Mental quietness, then—far from being something to avoid—is an opportunity to reverently draw on an inexhaustible playlist of the Christ's healing messages. It's the ultimate listening experience.