Our 31 days to the inner rhythm of the heart, the root foundation of a house of peace, is in progress. In the vein of those who are setting a New Year’s intention with “one word”, I offer the word of today to you: quiet . Read on for more…
When our world is fast-paced, harried and stressed, it can not only be hard to hear ourselves over all of the physical and mental noise. We can also become part of that harshness with our gestures, with our voice that is raised or yelling, with our impatience that our request to our children was not acted upon the first time we asked.
What would happen if moments of silence and quiet were taken in reverence?
What would happen if instead of yelling up the stairs for the children to come down and eat, that you walked up the stairs, got the attention of your children, looked them in the eye, and made your request quietly?
What would happen if you interspersed moments of quiet into your day – a lighting of a candle with a prayer at mealtimes, a pause for quiet stories or conversational exchanges or a lullaby at bedtime, a time to listen to the birds together in quiet, a time for quiet rest in the middle of the day?
If your home is a place of yelling, a way to decrease that is to increase how many moments of quiet are interspersed in the day. Stand in front of your children, look them in the eye, and speak softly to them. It will become contagious for the whole house as the people in your home model your actions and behaviors.
Many blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
Hi Carrie, you are absolutely right. We should regulate our own emotions when dealing with our kids and responding to problems with much more compassion. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you so much for the reminder! The older I get, the more I see that our family needs some quiet spaces in our day. Music doesn’t have to always playing in the background, we don’t comstantly have to be engaged in conversation…it is so nice.
This is beautiful Carrie!!!