Wednesday, June 10, 2015

A to Z of Things I Learned in 2014: Quiet

Hi all! Just a heads-up that this post loosely relates to my Christian faith. So if you'd rather not read about it, maybe you'd like to read about my writing?

Slowly, but surely, I'm making my way through the lessons learned in 2014. For those of you who missed it, I started this as my A to Z Challenge theme, but then life and the Internet and stuff got in the way.

I think that me writing about all this is a productive, even helpful way to work through a really craptastic year. So I decided to keep posting about it once a week until I get to Z.

Today, I'm writing about Quiet.

I don't know about you, but this is one of those things I struggle with. I can't sit still. Even when I'm doing nothing, I'm actually doing something like crocheting to keep focused on doing nothing. Yeah, I know how funny it sounds. The thing is just that basically, I've gone and taught myself to turn literally everything into words and pictures in my mind.

It's good, in that I can let my mind wander and come up with amazing ideas. It also helps me absorb more and to make links that I can later use in my writing. AND it helps me to write because I can theoretically look at a blank wall and come up with at least a 100 words to say about it (or something related to it).

What's not good is that it's pretty noisy in here, and it's a rare day indeed that I switch it off. Add to that t.v. and radio and social media and news and things just turn into chaos. Generally, I don't mind. I actually like the fact that words come to me with the minimal prodding. I like that ideas are already floating in my head, waiting to be discovered. Or sometimes not (I get story ideas in dreams every-so-often.)

It's just that... sometimes, it feels like everything becomes too loud. And then, it feels like I can't really hear God as well as I should. As I mentioned in my previous post, I believe that prayer should be a continuous, natural conversation with a friend who happens to be with me all the time. Sometimes, it's like trying to talk in a night club.

Night clubs are fun. They're just not good places to build relationships. So sometimes, it's necessary to turn things off and just listen.

The nice thing I discovered last year is that quiet is nice too. It helps me rest. Brings me a sense of peace. Especially in that it makes me more aware of God's presence in my life. Nowadays, life's getting noisy again, but I'm trying to steal moments of quiet. Just so that I can listen.

How about you? Also have noise in your head? How do you turn it off?

4 comments:

Sara C. Snider said...

I have a noisy head sometimes, and it is hard to turn it off and find quiet. Long walks sometimes help, as does meditation, though I don't do the latter often as I should. But meditation has helped me in the past and I've been thinking I should try and make it a regular practice again. Nothing quite accentuates just how noisy your head is than when you sit in a quiet room and try to do nothing but focus on your breathing... ;)

Carol Riggs said...

Ah, quiet is SO nice for a change. The world is definitely a noisy place, and we can get tangled up in it so much that it winds us up into a non-peaceful state of mind. That's good you're stealing those quiet moments to be more aware of God and be more peaceful. :)

Sandy said...

Your post made me smile. I LOVE quiet and people think I'm odd because I'm also an extrovert. But, when here at the house I never turn on the tv, or the radio. On the computer it's quiet, knitting or crocheting it's quiet...and I totally agree the crocheting/knitting helps your mind focus or relax......depending on what you're working on. I like to listen to my Bible app sometimes when I'm walking, it's a very peaceful time, like you though, when things get noisy I'm not as receptive to God's word, I don't talk with him as much.

Sandy at Bridge and Beyond

Misha Gerrick said...

Meditation is very hard for me too, Sara. It's like trying to turn down the volume when all the knobs are broken. ;-)

Carol I agree. All the noise in our lives can actually end up being exhausting.

Sandy, walking is a nice way to be quiet. I don't do it nearly often enough.