Do you ever have the opportunity to be still and listen to nothing?
Depending on what stage of life you are in, that answer may vary.
I'm young and single and party every night. Quiet is boring!
I work 80 hours a week and life is chaotic, there's too much in my brain to hear the silence.
I have two small children that never stop running on top of my full-time job. The only thing I want to do when it's quiet is sleep.
I think silence comes in phases as we evolve through life. There are times when it feels like we have too much of it and other times when we can't seem to ever find it.
When we're kids, silence is boring. We do whatever we can to not sit in it. And we complain about it...a lot.
But once we hit adulthood (and the responsibilities that come with it), silence changes. Silence is often reserved only for very early mornings or very late nights.
And when we have kids of our own, it gets even more scarce. Even in the early mornings and nights its harder to find silence. And in the hours in-between, we're just too wiped out to listen for it.
I'm at an interesting stage of my life right now. My boys are growing up. They're still really active, but in a different way than it was a few years ago. They don't need me to be there for every activity and I find myself with pockets of free time when I'm not expecting it.
I've never been one to just sit in the stillness though.
I can always find something to do, something to think about, something to keep me busy. I have a career that could consume every available waking hour if I let it.
But this past week, I've been trying to make time to just be still.
Friday morning I sat for a full half hour with my cup of coffee and tried to clear my brain and listen to the silence.
It worked for about 10 minutes before the thoughts crept in. The never-ending To Do list, the work that is piling up because I'm taking a few days off, even the list of things I want to do with the rest of my life.
For those 10 minutes, though, I felt calm and at peace. I felt some of the stress of my week fade away.
I see people around me, people that I love, who are in their different stages of life. Struggling with their own battles, dealing with so much stress and uncertainty. Never having a minute to just stop and be still.
I want to tell them...it will get easier, this will change, the phases of your life will move through like waves.
But now, in this crazy, messy time you are in, try to stop for just a minute and listen.
Do you hear that?
That quiet that can recharge your brain, body and soul?
Put down your phone, turn off the TV, just sit still. Take a breath. Know that this too shall pass.
And enjoy the silence.