A Moment of Silence

Quiet. In our busy, crowded, electronic, and fast paced culture, things can get a little noisy, to say the least.

Throughout the day, I often find myself completely unable to think. I know, it is such a commonly used idiom that it has become a complete cliche, but seriously! Life is so loud that I cannot hear myself think!


Granted, I am surrounded by middle school aged children for about eight hours and then I come home to a very vocal toddler. Don't get me wrong, I love being a teacher and a mother! I love the students and I love love LOVE my son, but sometimes I just get the feeling that I could use a couple of hours of uninterrupted quiet time alone.


I am sure that you, too, regardless of what your daily life looks like, could benefit from a little peace and quiet. That means there is no one else around, no iPhone, no social media, and no immediate obligations- just you and God.


We live in a world where we are constantly in demand and always communicating. We are consistently bombarded with information coming from a million (literally!) different places, available at all times and it seems like we are always expected to be available and accessible. There are always tweets to read, texts to send, emails to check, photos to post, tv shows to watch, errands to run, etc etc. While these things can be very beneficial in life and help us to live efficiently, they can also become very tiring and even cumbersome at times.


I vow that we stop underestimating the power of a little quiet time alone to restore and refresh our souls. I vow that we start carving out moments when we can to simply unplug and just BE.


It is a commonly held concept that we experience positive results in life when we "listen to our hearts" and "find the power within." These things sound corny, but they are real experiences and they occur most often when we are alone with our own thoughts, hearts, and our Creator. It is when we learn to hush out the sounds that are constantly flooding in from the world that we discover who we truly are and what we are passionate about.


It is so easy to get caught up in the rush and busyness of life to the point that we aren't even living intentionally anymore; we begin simply going through the motions of life and become the results of the influences of our surroundings. It is a bit harder to learn to sometimes say NO to complacently agreeing to go thoughtlessly in the many directions of the world and to instead say YES to reconnecting with yourself on a deeper level.


So, go ahead. Close this tab. I give you permission. Kick your feet up, doodle in your diary, or go for a walk. Do something that makes YOU feel like YOU. Maybe for you that means artistic pursuits, exercise, nature exploration, gardening, or an escape into a good book. Maybe it means shamelessly doing absolutely nothing at all. Sometimes, that is all you really need to do.

This is often, though not always, what my "quiet time" looks like.