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Tag Archive | Under the Hill
Quiet vs. Silence
Hello again “Quietude” seekers.
Welcome back!
In this post you will find;
- Outtakes from and article in the HuffPost
- Results of an interesting study
- Some practical application – Do you think they are right?
- Links/credits at the end
The article from HuffPost states that a World Health Organization report called noise pollution a “modern plague“. The article says that;
- Silence relieves stress and tension.
- Silence replenishes our mental resources
- In silence, we can tap into our imagination
- Getting quiet can regenerate brain cells
This, put another way, is the same thing as transforming, or renewing your mind, and stated in Romans 12:2 where it says; Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
“Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted on sick or well.”
Florence Nightingale – Founder of modern nursing.
“Silence first began to appear in scientific research as a control or baseline, against which scientists compare the effects of noise or music. Researchers have mainly studied it by accident, as physician Luciano Bernardi did in a 2006 study of the physiological effects of music. “We didn’t think about the effect of silence,” he says. “That was not meant to be studied specifically.” (See link below to continue reading the study.)
This research began by playing quiet music, then “Bernardi and his colleagues discovered that randomly inserted stretches of silence also had a drastic effect, but in the opposite direction. In fact, two-minute silent pauses proved far more relaxing than either “relaxing” music or a longer silence played before the experiment started.”
” The blank pauses that Bernardi considered irrelevant, in other words, became the most interesting object of study. Silence seemed to be heightened by contrasts, maybe because it gave test subjects a release from careful attention. “Perhaps the arousal is something that concentrates the mind in one direction, so that when there is nothing more arousing, then you have deeper relaxation,” he says. “
I found this fascinating – I hope you did too!
“All unhappiness of men, arises from one simple fact; they cannot sit quietly in their chamber.”
Blaise Pascal – French mathematician,physicist, inventor, write, theologian.
For the final part of this post, I’ve linked a six minute video without music, just nature sights and sounds.
Won’t you take some time, two minutes, four minutes, six?
See if it has an effect on you.
Can you share what you experienced?
Here are the links and credits for what I have used here;
Next time; Toxic Thoughts
Hope to see you then!
Quiet Time Musings
This week has been a breakthrough week in my mind.
Making a quality decision to not ignore quiet time, and to put that time to better use.
By putting it to better use in this instance means to to use that time to create my own thoughts, consider my own beliefs, understand what things I think and why.
I can always find time to read someone elses words. I’m not saying that that is wrong, certainly not, because it does help to create questions for further thinking in my mind. I’m only saying that I need to find out what I, myself think about things.
One of my favorite/best ways to get my thinking to get moving, is to read scripture. It creates many questions, and answers many as well.
The place I landed in my thinking was about space. Quiet space. Loud space. Crampy space. Spacious space.
I then looked up my favorite verses about space, and realized yet again, why I love living where I live.
I grew up in a larger city forty miles north of here. Houses. Streets. Voices. Traffic.
White houses out my window in rows. Utility poles breaking every small stretch of sky.
Someone elses noise always, always, always filling my head.
Some people, and their different personalities, thrive on just such environments. I however did not. I always wanted to be out. Some place green. Some place that I didn’t feel smothered.
My Grampas’ house was like that, but as a child, not very accessible.
Psalm 31:8b (ESV) You have set my feet in a broad place.
Then we moved here. My children called it Podunk. It isn’t really. Podunk, to me, would be much further than the few miles we travel from here to get to town.
Psalm 18:19 (ESV) He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
It is close enough to be close, and far enough to be far. Away from the hum of the city.
I knew I always wanted to be where I didn’t see only rows of white houses, and poles scratching at the sky. I just did not know how much. Nowadays, a trip to town quickly makes me want to return home.
It was very difficult to find quiet space back then, and it often involved a camping trip, or a car ride to a empty country road. Not impossible, but often difficult.
I am positive that living here, has saved my sanity. I have now spent almost exactly half of my life here; and I’m grateful. I am grateful for the overstuffed chair, that sits by the window, and looks out over a really broad space.
2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV) Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
Maybe to you this does not sound like a gift; Your personality prefers the hum of activity.
Psalms 139:13 -14a For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
(He knows how He made you – He will show you another way)
Maybe you are here just wondering when your gift will arrive; You’ve been waiting and praying.
Matthew 6:8…. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
(Hang on!)
Questions to consider;
- Does my quiet time require total silence, or maybe some music or other ambient noise?
- Do I require quiet EVERY day? Every week? More than once a day?
- Does my quiet time involve time together, alone, with someone else?
- Does it contain devotions? Book reading? Bible reading? Audio reading? A quiet video? Or just staring out the window – at my street, or at my space?
- Does my quiet time release me from the stress and pressure of the daily grind?
Please feel free to leave a response in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
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Enjoy some quiet. It’s Under the Hill.
Significant Encounters 
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