The Importance of Silence

Packing my bag for a recent camping holiday, I made a decision not to bring or download novels.  Whilst I absolutely love to read and desperately needed to relax, I also was missing being creative.  I hadn’t blogged in ages and wanted to produce something myself rather than read something someone else had created. 

So instead of packing my Kindle, I packed journals and pencils.  I also took my Bible as a book, rather than reading the app on my phone.  The island we camped on is remote and wi-fi free; and most times mobile coverage free. For ten days, I was technology free and not connected to the random visual and audio kaleidoscope from my phone that usually distracts me.  It was amazing! 

Now, less you think we are too good, the temptation did remain to be connected to our devices.  I did dig out a few reference books on my kindle app and certain other family members still found games to play on their devices.  For the most part though, when we were not active on or around this amazing section of the Great Barrier Reef, we were playing cards or games as a family.  Or resting. 

I did not realise how tired my body and mind were until I slowed down.  There were no emails to read or to respond to, nor housework or yard work to do.  There was no rushing and no agenda. Just time to rest and relax.   How absolutely wonderful and restorative.

The first thing I did when I returned home was to revisit my habits.  My first priority was to buy a bedside alarm clock and charge my phone in my office overnight.  I have stopped reading novels for now and have used this time to write in a journal, in order to unpack the complex emotions and thoughts that almost assault me everyday in just living and working in this modern world.  This helps to clear my mind enough so I can explore something more creative and life giving- and to sleep better at night. I have a little giggle to myself when a thought crosses my mind and I automatically reach out to “google-it” on a phone no longer there. I have also removed my work email app from my mobile.

Secondly, I am trying to break my habit of efficiency.  Dr Susan Biali Haas in her article “Slow Down to Wake Up Your Life” reminded me that like her, I too had been rushing through my life with pressured, driven detachment.  I want to pull myself out of the habit of connecting superficially with my life and instead connect with it deeply.  As she puts it so well “instead of spending all your time scrambling up and down the superficial scaffolding of ‘to-do’s’ and distractions, you get reminded of what counts.”  For me, that is reconnecting with my heart and with God’s heart.  I can do this reasonably well on the weekend, but I am seriously finding this difficult during the week, as a high school teacher in a demanding school.

As an introvert, I have known for a long time that solitude recharges me. I have missed that and am grateful that my holiday reminded me of its importance.  Slowing down, breathing, not reaching for my mobile phone and rediscovering small moments of solitude in my weekdays is new habit I am determined to develop.     Richard Foster in his book “Celebration of Disciplines” says silence goes hand in hand with solitude.  For someone who loves words, it is quite a challenge to consider one of his recommendations – to spend a day or part of a day without speaking to anyone. 

While I was rediscovering the importance of silence, a girlfriend of mine stumbled on hers overseas.  She spent a day alone on a remote mountain top, while the mist rolled in.  In that short amount of time, she was inspired to fill a page with the titles of articles and chapters she will now write. 

The words of James Altucher ring true, “Out of silence comes the greatest creativity. Not when we are rushing and panicking.” 

But silence is more than the absence of speaking and going technology free.  As one desert father is quoted as saying “…There is silence of the tongue, there is silence of the whole body, there is silence of the soul, there is silence of the mind, and there is silence of the spirit.”   

That sounds like being still, that the Bible talks about. (Psalm 46:10 and 37:7)  Boy, that’s hard in this crazy busy, 24/7 technology day and age. But I think I’m finally learning the importance of silence and I’m clawing it back, one habit at a time.