An Article from the New York Times: “The Joy of Quiet”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/opinion/sunday/the-joy-of-quiet.html

This is an important article, and one I think our St. James customers will relate to and agree with. The importance of Quiet in this day and age is an idea we have been urging since the beginning, and now, here is a NY Times article that articulates the same concept well. Someone else is speaking out! I hope many will listen! If we are to be balanced and complete, and useful in our various spheres, not fractured and frayed, but calm and creative, then this message must take root.

I know this message of Quiet is true by personal experience. Being in business, and living with cell phones and emails and all the myriad intrusions we all must deal with daily, I understand the frenetic pace, the constant interruption, and the pressure, but I also the hush of quiet, and its attending peace. My husband and I have not had television in our home for 25 years. Happily, I never watch the news, unless forced to in some waiting room. (Then I find it totally frustrating and overwhelming, with too many fragments of information coming at me at a pace I can’t absorb. Too many partial pieces!). We do watch videos, choosing carefully. No TV means more quiet.

Perhaps the one thing that brings the greatest peace to me, though, the one place where I find the most healing for all the fractures and frustrations that are a part of a fast-paced life in this day and age, is my practice of beginning my day with Quiet. No news, no noise, no emails. Each days is deliberately opened in quiet. I spend 2 hours this way each morning, first thing. I find this is the only time of the day I can actually control and count on. This is my time for unhurried reading, study, and meditation. This is when I do my praying. It might seem like a big chunk of time, but I couldn’t do without it. There may be some things I must leave out, but there is a placid center, a deep root and foundation to work from, more strength to draw from. It is a necessity in my life.

If life’s pace leaves you feeling frayed around the edges, please read this article and take its message to heart. Find a quiet place with a comfortable chair, take a cup of warm tea, a book of poetry or your journal, and take the time, make the time for quiet. Reflect. Consider. Process. Let all those crazy, jumping thoughts, crashing about in your mind, calm and settle into the places they belong. Enjoy something beautiful, for beauty always brings healing. You will find it worth every minute, and will accomplish much more that is important, by doing so.

I hope you will enjoy this article, and that it will be a reminder of important matters.

Yours for more quiet, peace,
and beauty,
Mary Alice Higbie