Your Lifestyle Practice is to find solitude for ten minutes every day.
Every day, you will turn off and tune out for at least 10 minutes. No TV, radio, books, internet, or other electronics.
- This practice doesn’t require reflection, meditation, prayer, or contemplation. All that is required is that you spend 10 uninterrupted minutes with yourself and your thoughts with no distractions.
- You may engage in any of the above practices if you wish.
It’s really hard to get any time alone these days. Between email, ever-present communication devices, TVs everywhere you go, and the general fast-pace the world seems to want to operate at, getting even 10 minutes to yourself can be a challenge.
There’s a lot of value to getting some quiet time. Believe it or not, you are competing for your attention as well. Much of the time were just trying to get so many things done, we stop listening to ourselves, putting our thoughts and needs on the back burner until there’s a moment of peace that often never comes.
It can be difficult to prioritize our self in a world where it seems like everyone can squeeze their way into our lives one of a dozen different ways. It’s hard to say to someone, “hang on, I’m just going to shut down for a bit, I’ll get back to you.” They can think you’re nuts, like you’re violating some agreed upon law of conduct where we are at each other’s beck and call.
If you can take just ten minutes—more if you can manage—you might find you have a lot to say. It may take a while before you can even sort it all out. Have you ever given your attention to a group of people you’ve been ignoring for a while? A dozen voices all at once come clamoring. But you’ve got to start somewhere.
When you start regularly taking time for your own thoughts, you can stop guessing and get a real sense of what you want. When you take a moment to listen, you may find out you have a lot to say.
