It is quiet at my house right now. Kevin is at the store, and ALL FOUR children are asleep.
I crave quiet sometimes. I'd like a little extra right now. I must be leaning more toward my half-introvert side currently because I've been longing to go to Barnes and Noble and hide in a chair somewhere with a stack of books. The library might serve my purposes as well. Or... the ultimate in introvert --- go get take-out and eat it in my car.
Many years ago, I was on a summer mission trip and during our orientation, we had a "day of silence". We were instructed not to talk from the time we got up until - my memory fails now, but I think it was - bedtime? dinnertime? Anyway, it was a high point of the orientation for me. We had time to observe. I like to chat plenty, but I like to observe even more and it was wonderful, unimpeded observation time. What I observed about myself is that I felt safe. All my life, when I've been more on the quiet side, I've felt criticized for it. Not that day. Or, as I got "chattier" in my college years I ran the risk of annoying people or offending them. Not that day, either. And it wasn't a lonely silence. Back in the U.S., I've had prayer retreats or been part of extended "quiet times" - mostly when I worked with InterVarsity. But those were different - more isolated and therefore lonely. I got bored with the quiet or antsy and anxious to get back to talking with people.
What does this all mean now? Not sure. It's rare to have quiet minutes like now, and what am I doing? Chatting to myself in blog form. Perhaps when Kevin gets back from the store, I'll propose the idea of "Teri's Day of Silence" for myself tomorrow. Even if he agreed, I'm pretty sure the other four members of my family would not.
My favorite quiet:
*running in the early morning
*late night in the house
*an airplane at night (provided there are no screaming children - mine or others)
*the library
*a bookstore, removed from the coffee shop area (although I like that, too)
*the mountains, out on a trail away from crowds
*being out on a sailboat
*a cemetery
*the end of a sad movie
*right after the baby falls asleep
3 comments:
What a great post! It was very calming to read....unlike the link I posted yesterday :) on my blog!
Oh I loved that! I love the quiet too, more now than ever. We played the quiet game on the way to church this morning, it last a whole 3 minutes I think, but oh it was a nice 3 minutes!
A whole day of silence? That does actually sound nice. I know what you mean about your half introvert side, I find myself switching between introvert and extrovert, too.
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