The Importance of Quiet Time

July 15th, 2010 by Lifestyle Therapy - Susan Leigh

Just watch children in the audience at a pantomime. Often they cannot sit still for long, they fidget, get bored. They are so used to getting stimulus from special effects on the television and computer, so used to getting up and going for a snack or a drink whenever the thought crosses their minds that the ability to sit still and watch something quietly is a foreign concept to them. Many children are the same.

So much of what we do these days is fast, interactive, stimulating with all the information provided for us. Often all we have to do is sit and absorb it. We do not have to think too much about what we see because it is all there in front of us.

Let us consider some ways to redress the balance and bring some quiet time into our lives:

- As a family eat together. Many families do not own a dining table. Everyone eats different meals at different times and sometimes that has to happen due to circumstances. Try to schedule some meals together. Turn off the television and enjoy the quiet times of sharing a meal together as a family. Or talk. This time provides an opportunity to bond as a family too. To discover what is happening in each others lives to plan things together, to discover if someone is troubled or unhappy.

- In a close relationship quiet times are a way of demonstrating intimacy and a special bond. A time for being at ease and comfortable in each others company when no words are needed. As opposed to the awkward silences and ill at ease when being quiet in a tense or unfamiliar relationship.

- Read a book. Reading requires imagination. We have to fill in the gaps, the pictures ourselves. Films and computers provide all the information and more, so that we do not have to engage our imaginations when we are watching them. A book will only provide an outline, no matter how thorough it might be. We have to provide the look, sound, smell of the scenes ourselves. It requires us to engage, make an effort, focus.

- Sit still. Turn off the computer, television for an hour a day. Maybe look out of the window, day dream, ponder, listen to music.

- Do nothing. Sitting still and doing nothing is important. Okay, there is always lots to do, but sometimes sitting still and doing nothing is important. It allows the body and the mind to be quiet and relax. Our bodies need to take time to regularly attend to internal functions, like healing, digestion, growth, renewal. Being still allows these activities to happen more comfortably. And doing nothing allows our bodies to release stress and become healthier. It can take a little time to get used to this new way of behaving, but by sticking with this as an important exercise it enables your mind and body to appreciate quiet time more.

- Being bored is fine occasionally. It allows all the mental stimulus to calm, all the activity and urgency of rushing around, being over-stressed to subside. And when we are constantly being stimulated we become unimpressed by the little daily miracles of life happening around us. We lose sight of the little vignettes of a robin on the fence, or two children playing, or a beautiful cloud formation. Stopping and maybe being bored allows us to start seeing things with clear eyes again.

It can take a little time to get used to this new way of behaving, but by sticking with this as an important exercise enables your mind and body to learn to appreciate quiet time more and become healthier and calmer as a result.