We are all aware, or if you have somehow been able to avoid the news, you don’t have to look hard to discover that there is a lot of anger, divisiveness, and judgment pervading our society today. With hopes that the future can and will always be better, I write today to encourage you to practice kindness and goodness.
Moreover, I encourage you to turn any anger you have into acceptance, any disappointment into hope and any hurts you have into healing. Each and every one of us has the ability to change the narrative and the future. As is so often the case, my motivation, and my words today are a result of a quote I came across recently.
“Urgent things shout, important things whisper. Listen to the whispers.” -Ken Groen
I do not in any way want to attempt to offer my opinions on any of the issues that are confronting our society at the moment. What I do want to encourage you to do with me, however, is to turn down the volume on whatever has you amped up at the moment. It is time for all of us to seek a more sanguine and tranquil state of mind.
As our world has become more fast-paced, our attention spans have been reduced significantly. Think about your typical day, whether you are back working in your office or still working from home and literally balancing family and business on an hourly basis. No matter what, you are holding meetings, hopefully spending at least a small amount of time on purpose producing activities, checking email, surfing the internet, reading text messages, and we haven’t even talked about social media or television yet.
Here is the point. We have so many “urgent” things shouting at us and to us, to grab our attention, that we have lost the ability to listen to the whispers. Even when we try to listen to the whispers, there are whispers in our head that won’t go away and won’t allow us the time to really be still, listen, and know who we are and Whose we are.
I am afraid if we keep ignoring the important thing in our lives, that the urgent is going to leave us all stressed out, angry, overweight, and neurotic. I am only half kidding. So the question becomes, how do we “listen to the whispers?”
The answer may be different for each one of us but the key is we need to get comfortable with being quiet. For me, walking outside frees my mind, limits the distractions, and opens me up to listen more clearly. What represents a walk outside for you? It can be virtually anything. What it cannot be, however, is something you do along with another activity.
I have had to curb a good and bad habit I have gotten into recently. While walking outside I have begun listening to podcasts. The podcasts in and of themselves are not bad, in fact, all of the podcasts I listen to are motivational and put me in a positive mindset. They are great, but they don’t allow me to hear whispers.
I am not suggesting that you need to go spend a month in a monastery somewhere or spend hours each day trying to get quiet. Like any other worthwhile habit, you must work your way up to being proficient. Even if you start with just 2-3 minutes per day, and work your way up, I believe you will begin to see a difference within a couple of weeks.
As Zig Ziglar said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well.” Just like any other good habit you need or want to start, you need to start.
How about you? What can you do, and where can you go to “listen to the whispers?” What do you need to start doing today so that you can begin reaping the rewards of focusing on the important things tomorrow? I would love to hear your feedback and ideas.
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