LET IT BREATHE

We live in a noisy world and we are way too busy. Our senses are bombarded nonstop… It appears we’ve been trained to shun silence. Distraction rules the day; streaming video, music, smart phone, there has to be something going on. In a recent article in Success magazine the author wrote of her withdrawal when challenged to turn off her smart phone, tablet, and computer for a week. She went for it, and came out on the other side with a new perspective on herself and even in the way she valued other people. All this from shutting down the constant stimulation.

A quote that gave me a good laugh is “Quiet is the new loud”. With all the activity grabbing for our attention, is it any wonder so many people are stressed? God knew what He was doing when He spoke through the psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.” A common reply “Be still, what’s that?”

The late Henri Nouwen wrote “A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive.” Nouwen was a renown writer, professor and sought after speaker who turned it all off to work with mentally challenged people. He knew firsthand of which he spoke.

I have recorded music in the studio where you have a musical idea and you head in that direction. Suddenly, however the production becomes too busy, and you begin to choke the life out of the song. A term used for the fix is “we need to let it breathe”. In other words, simplify it, give it space, rethink some things and in doing so the production finds freshness. “Joe, is the song a metaphor for life?” Yup!

I am not suggesting that you live in a monastery, but I am challenging you to “turn it off” for some time, whatever the “it” is. Take a breath, rethink some things, who knows what you will discover. If we are going to be connected to others, we first need to be know ourselves.