To Inspire:

I (Matt) just finished my first book of the New Year, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. Wow…what a helpful book for any of you who, like me, find themselves too rushed and too busy. My next couple of Wealth Notes missives will be on excerpts from this book – I think all of us can benefit greatly from his insights.

Today, I want to focus on one he encourages us to do – as a way to unhurry our lives: embrace silence and solitude.

Comer reminds his readers that for people born before 1995 there was something called boredom. Finishing a book on your airplane flight – and having nothing else to read. Standing in line at the grocery store or pharmacy with no phone to look at. For all of us that are older, these and other moments of each day offered times when we simply were quiet with our thoughts – we could pray, relax, think of something, or think of nothing. Our brain rested. Not so now of course. Virtually 80% of all adults (of any age) report that when they are unoccupied with whatever, they immediately go to their phone – to check texts, emails or social media. What’s so bad about that? Well…Comer reflects that this new normal of hurried digital distraction is robbing us of the ability to be present: present to God; present to other people; present to all that is good and beautiful in our world; present to our own thoughts, our very own soul.

Comer goes on to reference author Andrew Sullivan and his manifesto on silence – where he writes:

“There are books to be read, landscapes to be walked, friends to be with, life to be fully lived. This new epidemic of digital distraction is our civilization’s specific weakness. And its threat is not so much to our minds, even as they shape-shift under the pressure. The threat is to our souls; at this rate if we do not turn off the digital noise, we might even forget that we have souls.”

I have a challenge for all of us – to let those times when we are unoccupied (in line, on a flight, in the evening at home) become times of silence and solitude. If you’re a person of faith, pray a bit. Or look at something beautiful. Or simply allow your brain to rest and to think thoughts of peace, joy, and gratitude. Cultivate this habit and see if you don’t find yourself happier and more content, more rested and at peace.

Living a great life includes living a life of peace and quiet reflection – we do that by turning off the digital noise in our lives – at least for certain moments of each day!!

Have a great weekend!

Written by Matt Palmer, Partner & Co-Founder