Sometimes I wonder when life became so loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not the kind of loud that makes you cover your ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A different kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind that follows you from the moment you wake up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before your feet have even touched the floor, there may already be messages waiting. Emails. Notifications. News. Reminders. Someone needs an answer. Somewhere, something has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And without really deciding to, we reach for the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world enters the room before the morning does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t think we always realise how tiring that can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have become so used to being available that being unreachable for a little while can almost feel strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is always something to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something we should apparently know about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there is social media, where everyone seems to be going somewhere, doing something, achieving something, buying something, celebrating something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even rest has somehow become something we’re supposed to do correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No wonder our souls get tired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve been thinking about how often we look for complicated answers to simple needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we’re tired, perhaps we don’t always need another podcast, another book, another video or another piece of advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe sometimes we need less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Less of the feeling that we should be doing something every minute of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe we need to step outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To feel the sun on our skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To let the wind move through our hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To take our shoes off and feel the grass beneath our feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To hear birds without needing to identify them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To watch clouds without photographing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To drink a cup of coffee while it’s still warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simple things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things that don’t require passwords, batteries, subscriptions or Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things that have been quietly waiting for us all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you remember when doing nothing wasn’t something to feel guilty about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could sit outside and stare into the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could lie on the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could watch rain running down a window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could spend an afternoon reading a book and not call it “self-care.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was simply life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somewhere along the way, we’ve become uncomfortable with empty spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we’re waiting in a queue, we reach for the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we’re sitting alone, we reach for the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there are five quiet minutes before an appointment, we reach for the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We fill every little gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But perhaps those gaps were never empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that’s where our thoughts had room to wander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where ideas appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where memories surfaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where we noticed how we were actually feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where we breathed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I’m not going to suggest that you throw away your phone or disappear into the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life doesn’t work that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have families, responsibilities, jobs and people who genuinely need to reach us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But perhaps this week we can find ten minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just ten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten minutes that don’t belong to anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leave the phone inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step outdoors if you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sit somewhere quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take off your shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feel the ground beneath your feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Really look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe you’ll notice a flower you have walked past a hundred times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe there will be a bird sitting on a fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe the wind will pick up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe nothing remarkable will happen at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps that’s the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t need to achieve anything during those ten minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t need to meditate correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t need to practise gratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t need to take a beautiful photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You certainly don’t need to post about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody even needs to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We often talk about “finding peace” as though it is somewhere far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A quiet beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little cabin in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A holiday we haven’t booked yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A life we hope to have someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I’m beginning to wonder whether peace is much closer than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps peace hasn’t disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe we’ve simply become so surrounded by noise that we struggle to hear it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might be waiting in the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the front step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beside an open window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the first cup of coffee before everyone wakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the few minutes before sunset when the sky turns golden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the sound of rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In bare feet on cool grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing spectacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing that will go viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quiet, ordinary, beautiful life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And maybe this week, that’s enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take a moment before you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What has been making your world feel loud lately?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what is one simple thing that makes you feel quiet inside?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t have to fix everything today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps you only need to make a little room for silence again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until next Sunday…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n May you find one quiet corner this week where the world asks nothing of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May you feel the sun on your face, notice the wind in the trees, and remember that not every moment needs to be filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some moments are meant simply to be lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep packing your Sunshine Suitcase.<\/strong> \u2600\ufe0f\ud83e\uddf3<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes I wonder when life became so loud. Not the kind of loud that makes you cover your ears. A different kind. The kind that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[87],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-motivation"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunshinesuitcases.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}