Silence and Solitude

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Do you ever feel like life is too busy? Do you feel distracted everywhere you turn? Is the digital age making you question your sanity, or your humanness? Is this what you were meant for? Is this all? Simply running from one thing to another and still never getting enough done. Is that a thriving life?

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Honestly, what’s the first thing you want to do right now? Do more? Pick up your phone? Respond to email? Do something, right? Anything?

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Have you ever heard of the concept of “silence and solitude?” Don’t the words just simply sound hard when put together — don’t they sound like they don’t go together...or even honestly belong in this world? Like some concept from a forgotten era?

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That’s exactly how I feel. Silence and solitude is probably the absolute last thing that I ever think I need, but often its the only thing that can make me whole again, that can make me see the world as it really is...a beautiful place, full of opportunities...joys, sorrows, ups, downs, lefts, rights, people, friends, strangers...and untold stories waiting to written.

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But I want to invite you into this practice, right now. So, stop. Set a timer for 30 seconds — and do nothing. Nothing at all. Press start.

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Come out of the silence slowly when the timer goes off...very slowly. Awaken to the new world around you.

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Did you hear anything? Did you see anything new? Did a thought pop into your mind that was trying to find its way out all day. Did you take a deep breath that you had been longing for?

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The great thing about silence and solitude is its a place to do nothing, simply a place to be. And sometimes, we need to just be, so that when we move towards doing, we do it with the right spirit, the right attitude and the right motives.

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I haven’t mastered this at all, but when I try, I always discover something new about who I am, the world around me, and why I exist.

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Try it for 30 minutes, or 3 hours, or if you are brave enough, go screen free for 24 hours and see where your mind goes and what you discover about the world, yourself, and those that you love.