QUIET TIME

Pearl of the day: In stillness, our souls roar.

I believe in the pearl shared by many persons who promote meditation that when you quiet the mind, you can listen to your true desire, reconnect with your inner voice. In other words you learn to “know thyself”.

We often shrug these terms off as woo woo and not vital to our survival as we plug into the everyday grind. I happen to feel it is vital to stay connected with yourself particularly as a parent and your tentacles are pulled in 8 other simultaneous directions.

No doubt it is hard to unplug and find the time to sit in silence as opposed to just passing out at the end of the day. When you do find this time it’s even harder to turn the mind chatter off to listen to your inner silence. When you do find the silence and are comfortable in that space suddenly your body feels lighter and begins to draw you to perhaps a an area in your body that feels off and you can focus on lessening or uncover the reasons why your energy is blocked.

Deepening your quiet practice will turn up your inner voice. That bit of inner wisdom that speaks the truth that only you are meant to understand. In a world so busy with messages and others screaming for attention your deep soul needs some TLC too.

A colleague and fellow radio show host had shared with me how her son was so busy during the day but at night he was quiet and noticed his tummy hurt and wanted to find quiet time during the day so he can be better in touch with his body. There is definitely a healing power in the silence.

Being silent is just one of our natural states. My children have an utter disgust for screaming and fighting. When my husband and I yell at each other, they both go “no, mom, dad – QUIET!” I wonder if agitated states are truly against our human nature but more part of our conditioned flee response.

I turn this around to them, when it is that time of day to be still, I go “okay now, quiet”. They become still and my little one puts her finger to her mouth and goes “shhhh”. I then instruct them to close their eyes for a minute to which my son responds “I’m not going to sleep!” and to which I remind them that we are not sleeping yet we are just being quiet and listening.

They sit for a few minutes at most but it is a start with toddlers. Please be sure not to confuse quiet time with a time out. A time out is often used for to address negative behavior which is the opposite of quiet time.

In our wound up and go world it’s a vital necessity to have some quiet time and the earlier we learn to do this the better. There are many forms of meditations and you find the form that is right for you and your children at the time you need it.

Copyright © 2010 Cynthia Litman d/b/a Tigris Imprints. All Rights Reserved.