Shhhhh

Currently Listening to: Silence

"The discipline of prayer is the intentional, concentrated, and regular effort to create space for God." -Henri Nouwen

I've been getting my tail kicked lately on the disciplines of prayer and solitude. As an introvert, I really don't mind solitude, its just that I seem to be too busy for it and there are usually too many people around. I think everybody at the office has been in on my need for solitude though, since everybody has been on the road, there have been a total of 3 of us at the office every day this week.

But this week I have been reminded of why every moment cannot be a go moment. Without some stillness, we can get so caught up in our activity that we begin to hear only our own thoughts.

I drove to work one day this week with no radio (which is almost torture for me). I found myself anxious to get to work and almost frustrated by the silence. It made me realize how addicted I am to noise, even good noise. I was talking with one of my profs about this and we came to the agreement that sometimes even good noise can drown out the best voice we can listen to.

So how about you? When is the last time you heard God's voice? When is the last time you slowed down enough to let your body relax so you could hear the best wisdom there is.

Here's the thing though: slowing down takes longer than my commute home. In the winter when my friend Keith and I head to the monastery, it takes about 12 hours before I finally feel any peace. The first few times we head into a time of prayer, my legs are jumping, I'm squirming like a 3 year old at a wedding and I find every single noise an opportunity for distraction. But if I set aside enough time, I find that suddenly I'm sitting stiller, my heart rate is more consistent and I finally have enough junk out of my head that I have some space to be refilled with great stuff.

So here's to setting aside some time to chill out. Here's to a little "shhhh". Who knows, we might actually hear something profound when we quit listening to ourselves.

"Somewhere we know that without a lonely place, our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning; that without listening, speaking no longer heals; that without distance, closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a solitary place, our actions quickly become empty gestures. The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the spiritual life and should therefore be the subject of our most personal attention." -Henri Nouwen