I wonder if I am not the only
one who has a lot of noise in her life.
Really, we humans are bombarded with a lot of stimulation throughout our
days. I wonder sometimes if we have
forgotten how to just sit. Just sit and
observe and think.
I had the privilege of
watching and evaluating several senior project presentations this month. Our seniors researched every topic under the
sun, wrote extensive essays, then culminated their findings into 10-15 minute
oral presentations. I have learned about
the dangers of wheat, dogs that can smell disease, shift schedules of
emergency/rescue workers, eating disorders, the danger of GMO’s, the
harmlessness of GMO’s, and on and on.
Today I heard a presentation about how we communicate these days. I learned that Facebook, email, and texting
are the primary forms of communication.
Face-to-face communication was a teeny-tiny little smidge of
conversation modes that are in use today.
Our gadgets rule us these days. I
admit that I am intrigued by the “smart phones” I see people carrying
around. I’ll bet it’s pretty fun to have
a phone that is also a computer, camera, calendar, television, and general
lifeline. They look fun, they come in
cool colors, and you can get the Siri app and she’ll talk to you by name! I kind of want one. But I know that if I had a smart phone, it
would slowly take over my life. I would
be powerless to its siren charms. I
would be one of the people I see at every restaurant, mall, or park I have been
to….swooshing away on my phone instead of paying attention to life.
My Tracfone prevents me from
becoming one of the tech-dependent…at least in public places, but I have already become victim to my IPad. I get home from school, scoop up the tablet,
and swoosh the night away. Usually it
starts out productive; I’m multitasking while relaxing and watching a show on
TV. I check emails and accomplish
school-related tasks. Then it becomes
less productive: Facebook, random
internet searches, and (yes, I blush to admit it) my current addiction to Candy
Crush. (I am confident the addiction
will end soon. For a while it was
Wordament, then Chicktionary, then Hungry Shark, then Tetris….my addictions
come and go with alarming regularity).
Suddenly I look at the clock and realize that it’s 7:00, and I have work
to do, kitchens to clean, pets to take care of.
Where does the time go? I
lament.
Oh yeah. It flew away on the wings of a technological
bird. Sigh.
Part of the problem is
connected to multi-tasking. I have
realized that I don’t just sit and enjoy one activity at a time very much. When I’m at home, I’m usually doing more than
one thing at a single time: Reading, talking with my husband, swooshing on
my tablet, throwing a toy for the dog.
When I am out and about, I might actually sit on a bench and just observe. (My cute little Tracfone doesn’t have the
siren’s call that other fancy phones would have. The poor thing usually sits snugly in my
Subaru’s cubby, waiting for a phone call).
This morning I stood out in the February wind, holding the leash of my
corgi mix, Noel (we call her a “Corgi Cocktail” because we don’t know what she’s
mixed with). Noel has this….quirk…where
she likes to stand outside and think about things before heeding nature’s
call. So, this morning I stood in the winter
“breeze” in my poorly-insulated pajama pants and jacket, waiting for her to
make her move. Noel let the wind
waft through her hair, found snow to chomp (she really enjoys eating snow),
and cocked her head at every rustle and creak in the forest. I was being patient (I have progressed
through the five stages of grief related to standing outside in inclement
weather. I am officially at the “acceptance”
stage). And then I heard it: a singular Redwing Blackbird call. In my still-sleepy state I nearly missed
registering the significance of that moment.
A REDWIND BLACKBIRD CALL? THIS
CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING – SPRING IS COMING!
Noel finally got down to
business, and as I was walking into the house I realized that the three-minute morning
solitude had produced quite a gem. The
Redwing Blackbird is our first harkening of Spring. I would have surely missed that, had Noel not
forced me to just stand there in the snow and BE.
The Bible has a lot to say
about quietude. Peter noted that a woman’s truest beauty was in her “gentle and quiet spirit.” He wrote, “…let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart
with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight
is very precious.” I think this is precious in God’s sight
because it is so very good for us to experience quietness and to exercise
gentleness. I think quietude is
something our souls crave. I know I
do. So my goal in the next few months is
to unplug a bit, simplify my daily activities, and find some moments of tranquility. I came up with this idea during one of my
brain’s chat-fests, so I guess not all of my brain noise is worthless.
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