This series is an alphabetical exploration of 26 options for living well, despite everything. It answers the question–How can we live well, despite problems?
It’s been a hectic season. So now, let’s
hush…. get quiet.
I want to be at peace. I want my life to be free of unnecessary turmoil. I don’t want to be agitated, resentful or bitter about my circumstances. I want to live untroubled by self-pity, in the soothing tranquility of grateful acceptance.
Every single day.
I have found that to have the peace I crave, I must schedule in daily quiet, to wash my mind and spirit of unhealthy and unsettling thoughts and attitudes.
Did you know that everyday Noise raises stress responses (heart rate and blood pressure)?
The antidote is simple. Silence lowers cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
So, Just try this:
Every day, for at least 15 minutes, take a break from the noisy world. Allow the quiet to act like a gentle, cleansing rain.
Turn off the television, the radio, conversations, computers, ring tones and instant message alerts, and…
…let there be silence. Put your mind in a quiet place.
Will you? This year, beginning today, make room in your life for quiet?Â
Sounds wonderful, Tracy. I will definitely heed your advice. Happy New Year to you, my friend. Xx
Happy New Year, Jenny! Wishing you all the best, and much tranquility. I hope the hectic season you were in is coming to an end… <3
I have been trying to schedule in quiet time. As more time passes I notice that I crave moments of silence more and more. Happy new year to you and yours!
And also to you and yours!
Sometimes silence really is golden. I wish you much blessed peace this year, and always.
Thank you for this!
Thank you, my friend, for your courage and fortitude. I’m always inspired, reading your blog. I’m glad we’ve met. Wishing you much peace and joy in 2015, despite everything that comes our way to thwart our plans. <3
Happy New Year! On the subject of quiet places you might enjoy this (repeat) episode on the work and musings of Gordon Hempton, one who has devoted his life’s work to exploring the last truly quiet places left on this fine old earth.
http://www.onbeing.org/program/last-quiet-places/4557
Happy New Year, Maurice — and Thank You So Much! I love this —
The photo above was taken in the wilderness in northwestern Quebec, 3 hours from the tiny village of Parent. I, too, am a seeker of quiet places. While some people long to go to Disney World on vacation, I long to go to someplace truly quiet.
I’ll be subscribing to that podcast, since I’m not in a position to travel to those quiet place. Now I can at least listen to them. You are a good friend, to share such wealth with me. 🙂
I came across “on being” a few years back and enjoy listening to it while on one or other of my daily walks. It’s hands-down my favourite.
I didn’t associate his name — I purchased a number of Gordon Hempton’s recordings back in the early ’90’s. I still like them!
I often find quiet on my walks Tracy. It is good as you say. Here’s wishing you enough quiet for 2015!
Diana xo
Thank you, Diana. “Enough quiet” is a wonderful wish.
Where do you walk to find quiet? I haven’t been able to find it anywhere in this entire state. (Everywhere I go, I can hear auto traffic and airplanes….)
I think I tune things out, but there are quiet streets here and down by the river is quite quiet. Early mornings are quiet, don’t you find?
Right here, right now, it’s never, ever truly quiet. But yes, early mornings are quieter.
I guess I’m longing for a wilderness escape. I must try to make one happen this year. 🙂
Silence is very important to me Tracy – both in meditation, but often just sitting without any noise or distractions. Wishing you a peaceful new year 🙂
Wishing you a peaceful new year, too, Andrea. 🙂
I’m with you — I rarely have “extra” noise in my environment (music, radio, television….) but I do find it difficult to get to a place where there is no machine-made noise. Everywhere I go in Rhode Island, I hear airplanes and auto traffic. There are a few beaches far enough from the roads, that when the surf is crashing, it mostly drowns out the traffic noise. This photo was taken at the only place on earth I’ve ever been to, where I found almost no sounds except entirely natural ones. But it’s far, far away, and I haven’t been there in years. Hoping to get there this summer….
After a wonderful but hectic and high-driving holiday with my mother, then our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, we drove 8 1/2 hours from Kansas to Colorado on an interstate and side roads packed with “hurry before the storm” traffic. We arrived home exhausted, unpacked the car and groceries, and fell into bed.
The next morning we awoke to freezing sleet, wind, and reports of multiple accidents on the now-icy roads we’d traveled the day before.
We stayed put for the next few days, unpacking, making soups and muffins for meals, taking down decorations, and reading books. It was wonderful, and the quiet was renewing.
I’m glad you made it safely home; and glad that you found rest and renewal in being shut-in. But you’re very good at making the best of a situation. 🙂
Happy New Year to you all. <3
I love quiet and have to make time for it every day. The quietness is one of the things I love about winter, at least once the holiday season is over.
I think that’s the beauty of four seasons — we need a dormant time, to rest and prepare for new growth. We need the season of bursting forth. We need the long days and sunshine for stretching and growing. We need the results, the harvest. And then, again, we need the dormant season.
Wishing you a restful winter. <3
I must have a daily dose of quiet in order to maintain my peace. Sitting in a room alone with nothing but the sunshine is one of my favorites ways to drink in the quiet.
Happy New Year, Tracy!
Sitting in the sun quietly like a cat, Jill. I can imagine you blinking slowly and ever so wisely.
Every time I sit in the sun quietly, I’ll be thinking of you now.
Happy New Year to you, my faithful friend!
Wishing you a blissful 2015 filled with peace. Thanks for the great advice, Tracy. Those calming moments really do help reset your inner thermostat. 😉
That’s an empowering thought, Judy– we do have the inner thermostat. I’m taking control of mine. Thank you. 🙂
I viewed your New Year’s Celebration. Congratulations–you’re a rock star!! 🙂
Say what? I’m confused … which is relatively easy to do at my age of befuddlement. 😉
(Except for banging pots and pans at midnight – a tradition begun by my Mom – we spent a quiet evening at home. We also watched the final 15 minutes, waiting for that ball to drop in Times Square.)
Your blog post — about your year in review. You’re a rock star! All those hits!! Congratulations. 🙂 (Sorry about the confusion).
I love quiet time. I’m very lucky to live somewhere I can have that (and also where I’m moving to as well), and to live with quiet people too!
It’s not easy to find quiet people to live with! Lucky you, for sure.
Happy New Year, Denise. I wish you a great move, and a wonderful time in your new place. <3
It’s really good to have someone to share the quiet with. Sitting together and not needing to speak for a while can e a wonderful time of closeness.
These days, though, I find silence to be disturbing as tinnitus can be very loud without other distraction.
I love having time to just sit and be still. One of my favourite biblical quotes is “Be still and know that I am God”.
May your year be blessed with times of peace and stillness.
You’re so right — how lovely it is to have someone to share the quiet with. Not many people are capable of sitting with someone in silence, and it can be so comforting.
What a nuisance tinnitus must be. How do you manage to not get really cranky and irritable? I’ve found that those enduring stresses/annoyances really test my ability to “patiently endure.” In other words, I’m a lousy failure but, I keep trying to improve, which is ultimately what perseverance is about, right? 🙂
Be still and know that I am God remains one of my very favorite quotes, too. (My spell-check is set to US, it won’t let me spell Canadian).
Happy New Year to you!
That’s a beautiful image, it’s so calming to look at. I wish you a happy, peaceful and serene 2015. 😉
Thanks, B. It’s one of my favorite photos — and one of those lucky early morning shots. I couldn’t sleep and went outside with my camera, and there it was!
Happy peaceful serenity to you, too. 🙂
Quiet time. Very very important indeed. I think this is going to be one of my focus points this year together with mindfulness. Wishing you lots of restoring moments of quiet and peace this year Tracy.