The noise is deafening! The pace is overwhelming! The more we try to do, the less we are able to accomplish well. There is too much noise. We are moving too fast. We are pulled in too many different directions. Our nerves are on edge. Our patience wears thin. And by the time we actually realize this, we may be resentful, bitter, and burnt out.
But there is hope! That hope is found in QUIET and STILLNESS. Quiet allows us to pull back from the noise. Quiet allows our nerves to settle down. Stillness allows us to relax the body. Stillness allows us to settle the mind. Be quiet and be still.
We may think that this quiet and stillness is only to be found on an isolated beach somewhere. Or that we have to be a hermit and disengage entirely. But I encourage you this day, to find the pockets of time in your day where you can do this regardless of what is happening around you and regardless of what else you have to do.
Perhaps, this is in the first 15 minutes of your day when you set aside dedicated and intentional moments to BE QUIET and BE STILL before anyone else is awake and before launching into other things. Before checking the phone, before turning on the TV, before looking at a screen, BE QUIET and BE STILL. Perhaps, it is taking that morning shower when, instead of allowing your mind to race ahead, you intentionally allow yourself to focus on the feeling of the water on your body. Perhaps it is when you are driving, and you give yourself permission to turn off the music, to get off the phone, and to simply and quietly drive. Or perhaps it is deliberately finding quiet and stillness in your mind and in your body even as you walk down the hall to a meeting at work.
The point is that we can consciously create and carve out small pockets of quiet and stillness throughout our day. And it is in those pockets, that calmness, clarity, and creativity are born. Today and in the coming days, I encourage you to practice this. Even now as you finish this and before scrolling to the next post, pause, close your eyes, be quiet, and be still…even for just a few moments. You will be glad that you did!