Listening to Our Inner Voice: Quiet Time
Walking the dog today my mind kept going back to this woman I met the weekend before at a birthday party. She's been on my mind all day as she has been for many... My mind wanted to scream at her while my heart just felt compassion. She works full time as a nurse and she has two beautiful little girls. She was dropping off her daughter and I stopped her before she rushed off again to introduce myself. Within seconds I was acknowledging what a challenge it must be for her to be a mother and a full time nurse at the same time.
My sister and I lived with my grandmother when we were teenagers and she worked 12 hour shifts with War Vets, she was amazing. One thing I always remember Nan doing was having her "quiet time". She would eat dinner with us and hang out until exactly 8:30pm, and then she would get up and excuse herself from what we were doing. She would go in her room and close the door. This was her quiet time: she would read her bible, pray, lay quiet, write in her journal... sometimes she just fell asleep and when I would check in on her before I'd go to bed. I'd turn her lights off,cover her with her blankets and plant a kiss on her forehead.
It was Nans' quiet times that made the house feel restfull: as long as she was having her quiet times, the world would be good to us. She was disciplined, and we respected her time and regretted ever having to disturb her. (even then she was gracious).
Last week this mother spilled over, confirming my instant empathy, she was absolutely maxed out. I sensed that immenint train crash just waiting to happen. She openly told me she would give her job up in a heart beat if only she could just bring in $2000. a month, she would quit and stay home with her children.She knew she was at her wits end.. but, "time for herself" was a foreign and impossible conecpt. My heart broke for her.
She has been on my mind ever since. She showed me what reality must look like for so many women, and my heart grieves. How desperately we need to reclaim our "quiet times".. so much depends on us,relys on us, we can't afford to"fall apart" or have a "break down" We need to learn to take care of oursleves.We need to take care of what makes us who we are!
Loosing ourselves is the greatest crime we could commit. We do everyone in our lives a dis-service by denying them the opportunity to really experience knowing us and all the things that make us special. We deny our children and our partners and our friends and most importantly ourselves the chance to know and enjoy all that God has created us to be. Inside we die when we dont stay connected with our spiritual centers, the core of what makes us who we are. (I know first hand, my first marriage ended in divorce.)
Remembering Nan, I am challenging myself to be more disciplined to take my time to be quiet. Only then do I restore my energy to keep going. I pray for Julie, that somehow the Universe will create an opportunity for her to choose time for herself. I pray that somehow the train will not crash and that she will soon find some rest, some quiet time. I pray that this time will come from her choosing willingly, as opposed to it being forced,against her will. I rudely broke my wrist this summer falling off my bike: it is always humbing when the Universe makes us stop and rest. I am learning to appreciate my quiet time.
My sister and I lived with my grandmother when we were teenagers and she worked 12 hour shifts with War Vets, she was amazing. One thing I always remember Nan doing was having her "quiet time". She would eat dinner with us and hang out until exactly 8:30pm, and then she would get up and excuse herself from what we were doing. She would go in her room and close the door. This was her quiet time: she would read her bible, pray, lay quiet, write in her journal... sometimes she just fell asleep and when I would check in on her before I'd go to bed. I'd turn her lights off,cover her with her blankets and plant a kiss on her forehead.
It was Nans' quiet times that made the house feel restfull: as long as she was having her quiet times, the world would be good to us. She was disciplined, and we respected her time and regretted ever having to disturb her. (even then she was gracious).
Last week this mother spilled over, confirming my instant empathy, she was absolutely maxed out. I sensed that immenint train crash just waiting to happen. She openly told me she would give her job up in a heart beat if only she could just bring in $2000. a month, she would quit and stay home with her children.She knew she was at her wits end.. but, "time for herself" was a foreign and impossible conecpt. My heart broke for her.
She has been on my mind ever since. She showed me what reality must look like for so many women, and my heart grieves. How desperately we need to reclaim our "quiet times".. so much depends on us,relys on us, we can't afford to"fall apart" or have a "break down" We need to learn to take care of oursleves.We need to take care of what makes us who we are!
Loosing ourselves is the greatest crime we could commit. We do everyone in our lives a dis-service by denying them the opportunity to really experience knowing us and all the things that make us special. We deny our children and our partners and our friends and most importantly ourselves the chance to know and enjoy all that God has created us to be. Inside we die when we dont stay connected with our spiritual centers, the core of what makes us who we are. (I know first hand, my first marriage ended in divorce.)
Remembering Nan, I am challenging myself to be more disciplined to take my time to be quiet. Only then do I restore my energy to keep going. I pray for Julie, that somehow the Universe will create an opportunity for her to choose time for herself. I pray that somehow the train will not crash and that she will soon find some rest, some quiet time. I pray that this time will come from her choosing willingly, as opposed to it being forced,against her will. I rudely broke my wrist this summer falling off my bike: it is always humbing when the Universe makes us stop and rest. I am learning to appreciate my quiet time.
this is a method I have used for years and has got me through so many upheavals and turmoils in my life, something as easy as quiet time. Quiet time to me is being able to delve right into the inner mind and being in that "moment" not thinking of the past,present or future that daily life brings our way( harder than you think) but once you get there, WOW! I feel sooo light yet strong to reevaluate the struggles that try to disengage and knock us down from our inner Being, our moments of weakness when we dwell and surrender are the ones that we should be thankful for as this is when we find the next stage of inner strength and surpass ourselves making us more whole & spiritual which leads to a more positve path in this universe. As I sit and write this even just thinking of "my Quiet times" I feel It! AAAAhhhh!!!
ReplyDelete