the sound of silence

I sat still today for five minutes. I wasn't praying, I wasn't even meditating; I was simply trying quietly and listen to God.

It probably won't shock anyone to know that half of my time was spent attempting to block out the thought particles that ricocheted my way at a ridiculous speed. I was not giving God much time to talk to me. Seriously, my crazy thought process went something like this (actual time of thought process: 3.4 seconds): I attempt to listen to the silence --> I notice the comfortable, soft noise of the old Victorian that I call home --> I'm hit (certainly not for the first time) with the thought that my apartment is awfully dry in the winter --> I think of the peace lily perched on my mantel --> I remember Drew asking if I'm still watering the plants, because he's given them H2O three times already --> Should I water the peace lily? It's probably dry --> SHOO THOUGHTS! I go back to nothingness.

Sheesh. Talk about an exhausting five minutes. While I don't consider myself to be the most technological person in the world, I do have a car, cell phone, and laptop. I check email daily and maintain a facebook account and blog (wow, really?!) and as everyone is well aware, all these things can be so incredibly a bit time consuming. I have subscriptions to several magazines (Cooks Illustrated, Whole Living, and National Geographic, to those who may be wondering), will occasionally click on the tantalizingly worded news link on my Yahoo homepage, and I've got at least two books on my nightstand at all times. I have a penchant for organization (but sometimes only after the mess has exploded around me...), hobbies galore, and I have a hard time sitting still. Moral of the story? I like being productive. In fact, you could just say being busy = being me. So spending any time in silence is not only hard, but sometimes impossible for me.

And yet...I think it's important not to get caught up in the rush. You know, be able to sit down and just enjoy a moment...of silence. Maybe even five moments of silence?

I can't think of silence without this awesome song coming to mind...

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.
~ Simon & Garfunkel (the latter quite possibly being the name of a future cat of mine)

So take a minute today. Or tomorrow. And be still.