The Gift of Quiet

by Nancy Sackheim

Alan Lightman, physicist, MIT professor, and author of Einstein's Dreams, in a TED-Ed post says “The loss of slowness, of time for reflection and contemplation, of privacy and solitude, of silence, of the ability to sit quietly in a chair for fifteen minutes without external stimulation — all have happened quickly and almost invisibly…We are losing our ability to know who we are and what is important to us."

When we are obsessed with our next tweet, our next post, the next “like,” it is extremely difficult to become quiet. To listen and pay attention within.  When we become quiet, we are able to open our thought process to different perspectives and ideas.  We are able to access our creativity in a way not possible when our minds are cluttered with incessant what nexts.

We celebrate this particular holiday season with gifts.  Perhaps this year what if you added a gift for yourself?  To be clear, this is not another item on your endless and exhausting to do list.  This is a gift. A gift for you only. 

The gift of quiet.