Fostering Imagination through Silence
Quieting the noise around me to let my mind wander
Welcome to the end of month summary on how I have fostered my imagination in February. My goal this year is to explore different ways to foster imagination each month and report back on how it went and what I learned.
I went into February thinking I would foster my imagination exploring junk journaling. I was going to play with various ideas, even talked to a friend who teaches a mixed media class specifically for that. Then February came and John went out of town that first weekend and my body was buzzing from all January held. And instead I went silent. I spent the weekend reading, writing in a journal, puttering around my house all in silence. I didn’t even turn on the TV, I was just quiet, both in my lack of talking but also in my lack of consuming noise. It was lovely and healing and made me realize what I wanted to focus on this month was actually rest and quiet. The remainder of the month wasn’t quite as quiet1, but I did spend the month being purposeful about what I consumed, how I thought about the noise I was letting in, and the way I was using my time.
God seemed to be affirming this month’s practice everywhere I turned. I kept coming across substack articles on rest and how we spend our time. Every book I read seemed to say something about it. I think we are all culturally tired of the noise and pace of our life and looking for solid ground again. It is nice to find so many voices (ha ha) teaching me how to spend time in silence and rest.
Lent started this month and it was quickly obvious that silence would be my Lenten fast. Not 6 weeks of silence but time daily in silence. Time to just sit with God and be present to what is around me. This doesn’t have to look like meditation, maybe it is while driving down the road, no radio, no podcast, no call to a friend. Just silence and observation. I had lunch alone between work appointments a couple weeks ago. Normally I would grab something to eat in my car to avoid that awkward eating alone in public experience but I needed to do a little work so I sat in a busy restaurant eating my meal in silence before I set up my laptop. Turned out to not be that awkward2 and was exactly the refresh moment I needed on a busy day.
The Ash Wednesday message at our church was about pondering which fit perfectly into my time of silence. Because silence is a time to ponder. To think about and process experiences, ideas, who I am and who I am becoming without forcing answers.
This last week of the month I decided to start taking a crisp morning walk around my neighborhood. We have a 1/4 mile loop in our development and not knowing how long I would want to be out in the cold I just did the loop. Turned out to be comfortable enough I did many loops3. I didn’t bring my phone but just walked in silence. I had done this a few times this summer when I was recovering from my surgery and remembered I enjoyed the quiet moment. At that time I was in survival mode and could only do 1 or 2 loops. But this time I noticed something, after 2 loops my mind relaxed and I started processing some things. I kept walking as I let my mind ponder some things I had been stressed about. When I got home I was ready to take on my work day and the conversations I needed to have.
I used to run without music in my 30’s when I first started running. I didn’t have a fancy ipod to strap to my arm and couldn’t afford one. Instead I ran in silence and fell in love with the quite time. I felt like I solved all my problems on those runs. It is one of the reasons I love running. And while adding music and podcasts over the years has been nice I am reminded that I actually enjoyed running more when I ran in silence.
According to what I have read about this in the past, there is something that happens when your brain is distracted by a routine task, this is the same reason we get our best ideas in the shower. Our mind needs the distraction of something routine to let us then wander around in the broader ideas rattlign around up there. It allows us to imagine new ways to do things, new interpretations of events, new adventures we might want to take.
There were challenges.. The negative, spiraling voices that pop up when you quiet your mind being the big one. The fears, the anger, the anxiety. You can’t hide from it in the silence. I realized that all the distractions of phone, tv, etc help keep me from needing to look too hard at the challenges of my life, my frustrations, etc. But once you decide to let the thoughts in you then get to decide what to do with them. Every time my mind would start practicing a conversation with someone that I am never going to have I had to catch it, stop it mid sentence and tell it the conversation is unnecessary. (Since most of those imaginary conversations where about me telling someone I was mad at them and why they were completely wrong and I was completely right.) I did this A LOT this month. My running negative dialogue turns out to be significant. It’s very easy to imagine negative experiences and it is easier to be mad than to give grace, let go of hard things. But as the month went on it got easier to push the thoughts aside and they have become less frequent.
Fostering Imagination in March
My body feels rested and I’m ready to take on something new. I still want to try my hand at junk journaling but that will have to wait because in March I will be fostering my imagination through new experiences. John and I are going to Europe for a week. This is our first trip to Europe4 and we decided to keep it simple. We are spending 3 days in Dublin and 2-1/2 days in Paris. We are excited to learn to navigate new countries, new cultures, new languages5, new foods. This trip came together as a bit of a surprise even to us6 at the beginning of the year and is a bit of a dream we weren’t sure we ever dared dream. When we were younger Europe seemed impossible for us. Recently we have been wondering if maybe someday…But a friend7 helped me realize Europe has become more affordable than I thought and after a little research we made a last minute decision to move our usual spring Florida trip across the pond. Cannot wait!
What I Read
“Wintering, The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times” by Katherine May
Why haven’t I read this before?! And yet, this is the exact moment for me to read it. Like me she had a health crisis that had her off work and at home for a few months. She talks about the struggle of feeling perfectly capable of doing life until she tried to do it and had to go home to lay down. The first part of the book is largely about her processing that and I felt so seen and understood. As she starts to get out of the house, regaining her strength, she explores the activities of winter and the observations of slowing down, embracing the season, the cold, the dark, the changing light. It is the perfect read as we come out of the darkest part of winter but are nowhere near spring. It is what inspired me to take those crisp 20 degree walks around my neighborhood this week. Highly recommend. (The book and the crisp walk.)
I also finished, finally, “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I started it months ago and adored it so much I apparently didn’t want to finish it. That first weekend this month as I was being quiet I endeavored to finish a couple books on my shelf that had been languishing. I was either going to finish them or decide I was done with them. So glad I didn’t give up without giving it a second shot because the last couple chapters were some of the best and exactly what I needed. I have read both Wintering and Braiding Sweetgrass almost like daily devotionals. Perfect engaging reading and right sized chapters to add to a morning quite time.
I am well on my way with Beth Moore’s new bible study, “Walking with God”. It is excellent and has been the perfect companion to my month of quiet. Learning about our call throughout the bible to walk with God, be aware of and in his presence each day as we grow our relationship with him.
3 more Louise Penny books: “A Better Man”, “All the Devils are Here”, and “The Madness of Crowds”. All great. I have now tapped out my friend’s library and need to find the last 3 or 4 books elsewhere to get all caught up. Will probably download at least one for our trip.
Quotes I loved
From “Wintering”:
“I am slyly pleased that I have pain to contend with, rather than a more nebulous sense of my own overwhelm. It feels more concrete somehow, I can hide behind it and say, "‘See, I am not unable to manage my workload. I am legitimately ill’.” The honesty of naming without a good excuse we struggle to allow ourselves to take time off, slow down, put up boundaries. Honest moment: There have been seasons in my life where I thought it would be nice to get the flu so I could spend a day or two in bed. Wondering why I could imagine changing/cancelling plans for sickness but not for my own well being to avoid getting sick.
This one too: “We’ve moved a long way away from the time when we saw a recuperative break as a legitimate strategy to aid your recovery. I wonder if there’s any room left for recovery at all. We are either off or on.” This was in context to her doctor encouraging her to go on a trip she had planned before she got sick. She was well enough to go on the trip, resting in a different place, but not well enough to go back to work. Somehow wanting to tell herself if she could travel she could work. As if they were the same. Am I allowed to spend months recovering in a way that doesn’t lock me in my bed or on my couch but instead acknowledges the slowness of a season? That question was all of last fall for me as I kept telling myself I had “relaunched8” into my life and yet did not quite have the strength or energy to do so.
Last one but you really should read the book:
“To fill the time, I’ve been busy doing nothing, giving the outward appearance of purpose while I’m really scrolling through my phone. But sitting quietly in church has done me good. My job was to do nothing but listen and feel and contemplate, and it was a liberation.”
From “Walking with God”:
“Yielding to the Spirit’s pace isn’t always obvious, but it is the most satisfying.”
“Sometimes the attribute most asleep in our Bible study is curiosity, and if we’re to appreciate what is meant by walking with God, it needs waking up.” Thinking curiosity might be an attribute to spend time with while fostering imagination this year. Where am I curious?
Substacks I read
Since I am thinking about my upcoming trip to Paris the abundance of people living in Paris trying to help us understand the cultural differences have been popping up in my feed. One of the very relevant aspects of French culture, apparently, is their relationship with time.
“There’s a glamour in the unplanned hour here. A walk through Paris is not measured by where it leads, but by what it suggests back. A restaurant chosen by wandering isn’t a failure to plan. It’s a different kind of plan: one that expects time to participate.
Time in America is compressed for output.
Time in France is expanded for imagination.”
This one talks about how we think of time as a commodity as if we can make more or use it up.
“I started thinking about this thanks to a coffee date with a friend. I was talking about my schedule for the week ahead—what I had going on—how I planned to use my time—when she stopped me mid-sentence and said, “Jane, you are talking about time like it’s money! You cannot ‘make’ time; you just have to take it!”
This morning I recieved this great article titled, “You’re not processing your emotions, you’re ruminating”. YES, exactly the negative thoughts I worked on pushing away this month. We are not healing by rehashing our negative stories over and over in our minds. That needs to stop. Going quiet forced me to address those issues and begin to heal.
“We’ve all been told how important it is to feel our feelings. And many of us have taken that to heart. But somewhere the advice got flattened into “Think about your feelings all the time.” There’s a big difference between reflecting on what happened and spiraling about what went wrong.”
A Project I finished
Put in the last stitches on the 28th. Was the perfect task when I watched TV this month and wanted something to do with my hands besides scroll my phone.
How did you foster imagination this month? Do you spend regular, purposeful time in silence? Tell me about it.
2 q words together that use all the same letters!
Everyone around me was either on their phone, laptop or with someone else. Often a combination of those. Who would even notice I was alone when nobody ever looks up these days?
Was just wearing a pair of boots and now have very sore shins from power walking with no arch support…
Technically we have been to England. We took a mission trip to Kenya in 2009 and had an 8 hour lay over in London on the way home. So after 2 weeks in Africa away from modern life we hopped on a train into London. We had planned to go to Westminster, seemed like an obvious choice for Anglican’s coming home from mission work, and then maybe eat in a pub. But there was a sign that said, “Buckingham Palace” with an arrow. And I thought, oh it must be close let’s go that way. My family of course asked no questions and followed me. If you have ever been there you are laughing now because it is over a mile and not in a straight line. We somehow made it. Our daughter was 4 and sound asleep in the backpack carrier we had with us. So our family pictures in front of the familiar gate are of the top of her head sitting on John’s shoulder. I bought a tea cup in the gift shop and then we made our way back to the airport just as the gate was closing. Most of the reason we did that was because we didn’t imagine ever being able to get to Europe again. It felt like our only chance. And for most of the last 17 years it seemed like that was probably going to be true. Turns out you just never know where God will lead you around the next corner.
I have a daily Duolingo streak in French to try to remember something from my 4 years of high school French. After almost 60 days I am confident of my ability to look blankly at people with a big smile on my face and ask if they speak English. I do now know that the Jardin Luxembourg just means Luxembourg Garden. But I have a feeling we could have figured that out when we got there…
We literally did not have passports January 1st but had an appointment to get one January 3rd and passports in our hands by the end of January without expedited service. Which seemed crazy. I was worried they would come the week before the trip and I would be on pins and needles till the last minute. Once they came the trip felt like it was really going to happen.
https://sendmeapostcardmn.com/
My friend runs this travel booking service and letting someone else plan and book my trip has been the greatest thing we have ever done. She booked our Florida hotels last year and they were all amazing. I can’t tell you how much I hate that part of travel planning. If you are planning a trip this is a must do. And Extremely affordable.
And why was I trying to “launch” back into my life? Like I needed to shoot forward with speed and lots of action? Why couldn’t I have said I was slow rolling back into my life and seeing how I felt as I went along?
Melanie, hi! I loved your story how you gently shifted to rest, to solitude, to quiet. These end up becoming healthy, sacred default modes if they're nutured in the Lord's care. I applaud you for your willingness to listen to your body and His still small voice.
Our Creator knows exactly what we need and when.
I read and loved every single word of this post and like Linda, loved reading by the shift happen.
I never drive in silence but in the last week, I haven’t been able to connect my CarPlay in time and found myself with my thoughts for a good 10-min stretch. This is a long time of silence for me.