Shhhh. Get Quiet Enough to Hear

As we close out 2022 and gear up for 2023, this is a time when many of us are in deep reflection. Throughout the month of December, you might be contemplating a year that hasn’t been as productive as you had hoped or has had a significant number of challenges to deal with or has just been disappointing overall. Or, it could also be that your year has been full of excitement, adventure, love, growth, and opportunities.  

For many, the new year signals a fresh start. So you might also be entertaining thoughts about what to do in the coming year that is new or different, the adjustments that must be made to reach the goals that you want to reach, and the resolutions you’re planning as a way of committing yourself to a specific objective.  But, to ensure that your thoughts, goals, resolutions, objectives or plans are viable, true to who you are and reflect your deepest values, you must get quiet enough to hear. 

Quieting is the process of becoming still and orderly; and being free from distress or disturbance. It can happen in a lot of ways: such as when you pray or meditate, or it might take a combination of both.  It happens when you sit still long enough to contemplate your life, what has happened throughout the year, what is happening now, and what you want to see happen in the future.  You might be one of those who only calm down when you are asleep. For you, sleep is the channel for the silence that allows you to really hear the message(s) your life is sharing.  For you, the stillness of the dream-state allows the ideas and clarity of thought to come through.  

It can be challenging to find the time to be still in the hustle and bustle of life.  Most people are doing what needs to be done to keep things going and all the balls in the air.  This means you’re working every day, taking care of the children, spending time with your spouse or significant other, visiting or spending time with or taking care of your parents, going to church, doing community service, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, taking care of the yard, scheduling (and going to) doctor’s appointments, dropping kids off and picking them up from their activities, traveling here and there, watching your favorite sports team, binge-watching your favorite TV shows, or getting lost in social media.  On and on and on it goes.  No doubt about it, you’re doing a lot.  

The busyness of this life can make it hard to sit still long enough to really pay attention to what's going on with your life at a deep, more conscious level.  So much time is spent in movement that you may miss the signs that inform you that something in your life needs to be addressed. 

Despite the busyness, you could still seek answers to various questions you may have about life: 

• What does this (event, experience, habit) mean for me and my life? 

• What should I do next?  

• What should my next move be with this company?  

• Should I stay at this job?  

• Do I need to move to a different location?  

• What would I really love to do? 

• How do I manage this relationship? 

• What’s the next stage of this relationship for me? 

• Why am I still single? 

• Do I need to tell this person off? 

• Who gets the benefit of my time?  

• Should I go back to school?  

• Where do I need to focus on?  

• How can I make more money?  

• Who will take care of me if I get sick? 

• Do I need to be closer to my parents? 

Day after day, week after week, month after month, and now at the end of the year there are still so many questions cycling through our heads at any given time. In my experience, to get the answers that really resonate with who you are, you must be quiet enough to hear what is coming to you. If you can consistently carve out 5, 10, or even 30 minutes each day in quiet contemplation, you will get some good, relevant, and perhaps even surprising answers.  Whatever time you allocate to this process, trust that the answers from this state of awareness come from the still, small voice within you which reflects the truth of who you are at this point in your life.  All the voice does is answer the questions, what happens next is up to you. 

What will next year look like for me? If you are quiet enough to hear, you will find out.