As a leader, what are you doing to feed your soul? Engaging in spiritual practices is a key part of sustaining your energy and authenticity as a leader.
One such practice is simply spending time in silence. It’s counter-cultural. It doesn’t even feel like a practice, since you don’t say anything or seem to be doing much when you are silent. It certainly doesn’t feel productive. In my new book, Listen: Finding God in the Story of Your Life, I make some observations about silence:
“Driving down the expressway one day, I noticed a billboard for a wireless phone service. In bold letters it declared simply: ‘Silence is Weird.’ The phone company’s name was at the bottom of the sign in smaller letters. Don’t be silent, the sign implored. Talk, communicate, keep in touch. Continuously. We’ll give a thousand minutes a month for just $39.99.
“We live in a world where the most common adjective we put in front of silence is ‘uncomfortable.’ As in, ‘there was an uncomfortable silence.’ We don’t think of peaceful, tranquil, or soothing silence. Silence is uncomfortable. It’s weird. We avoid it; we fill it with noise, with talking, with radio, television, or phone calls. We carry iPods so that our life has a soundtrack of our own design, so we can always have background noise. …
“We’re pretty sure we need a thousand minutes a month (plus more ‘free’ minutes on nights and weekends) for talking on our cell phones alone. What if we spent a thousand minutes a month in silence? What would that look like? It’s about 16.5 hours. Not counting the time you are sleeping, do you come anywhere near spending about 30 minutes a day in silence?
“But what would be the point? Why spend time doing something that is so unproductive, so uncomfortable, so weird. Why?
“Because if you let silence in, doing so will change your life.”
As a leader, you do a lot of talking. Your words can begin to feel too important, like they own too much real estate in your soul.
To care for your soul, take some time to be quiet, and listen to God. Listen to him, let him guide you, feed you. Practice silence, and you’ll find you become more comfortable with it. And you’ll begin to hear the voice of love more clearly.
Adapted from Listen: Finding God in the Story of Your Life by Keri Wyatt Kent. (April 2006, $19.95, Cloth) by permission of Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint.
Keri Wyatt Kent is an author, speaker, and children’s ministry volunteer. Learn more at www.keriwyattkent.com.
Copyright ©2006 Keri Wyatt Kent.
