Word Of The Week: QUIET

A singular word can be very powerful. Doesn’t have to be extraordinary, either.  There are  SO many words available to us, sometimes we don’t hear them anymore. That’s one of the reasons I do this series, to focus on all that a single word can be.  The word I’ve chosen this week is QUIET.

Instinctively, the first images that come to my mind are harried parents, or a library. Both cases admonishments, a forced condition. But today I’d like to ruminate about QUIET as A CONCIOUS CHOICE.

In a career-in a life-heck, in a WORLD where you get ahead by the number of connections, and degree to which you are connected to them all, QUIET would seem to be counter-productive.  It’s hard to turn off the noise, and slowing down the flow of adreneline feels awkward.

Years ago I was having a conversation about meditation…actually, I was doing most of the listening, I just didn’t get it. Still remember the look on her face when I said based on her description, didn’t see any difference between that and sleeping!!

QUIET is a DISCIPLINE. Talk and activity fills time and space, and QUIET is about LISTENING, and BEING OPEN.  Open to others, open to ideas, or just open to whatever is waiting in the wings, that you might not have noticed because your head was full of noise.

Professionally, I know I can get to the heart of the matter with someone sooner when I am quiet…people tell you the most amazing things when you let them!!

Sometimes quiet is confident, but sometimes it is fearful, but I think it is always about suspending your inner noise, and having trust or faith is someone, or something outside yourself. At the very least, QUIET brings me back to center.

It’s not an accident that this word came to me today, during this special, solemn and joyous shared holiday weekend of Passover and Easter.

In my personal life I am not a big joiner of group activities. Partially because my schedule doesn’t really permit it, but sometimes I just really like doing things myself.

One of my semi-annual rituals in recent years has been helping physically prepare my church building for the Easter and Christmas holidays. Now, because I’m a decorator, you might be thinking I’d be placing flowers and hanging wreaths and such. It’s be a logical guess, but it’d be wrong.

Father Tim works with Mary Ann and Catherine Amodio (of the most amazing third-generation Amodio’s Flower and Garden Shop fame) and their staff, to make the magic happen. Me? I vacuum after. YUP.

After the church is fully and beautifully decorated, I show up and vacuum. The mindless, repetitive motion, as well as the white noise of the vacuum clears my mind, while making conversation all but impossible. This ‘quiet’ time in this beautiful peaceful space takes me out of the stupid stuff every time.

IF you are observing anything this weekend, I wish you a glorious time of it. If you are not, may you find and enjoy some quiet on your own. And as always, thanks for reading.