Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
“The best time for planning a book is when you’re doing the dishes.” -Agatha Christie
Lately I’ve been having conversations with a friend about the importance of the menial, everyday tasks in our lives, and how they provide wonderful opportunities to let our minds loose to roam, explore, and process.
We live in such a noisy world. Whenever we’re driving or folding laundry or jogging, it’s tempting to always have our iPods or cell phones in our ears, or the TV or radio on in the background. How desperately we avoid having few moments of silence!
But I am more and more aware of the importance of allowing our minds to be free once in awhile. We can create silence—when our hands are busy—so that we can hear our own thoughts, so that ideas can form, so that our subconscious can help us solve problems, so that we can hear the voice of God. I believe that when we constantly have “input” into our brains in the form of music or voices, we rob ourselves of the crucial processing time our minds need in order to be creative and access all of our intelligence.
I’m not talking about dedicated prayer or meditation time, which is important in its own right. I’m talking about doing the dishes, walking the dog. Cleaning out the car or driving to work. Times when our hands and bodies are busy doing something that doesn’t require our entire brain’s worth of concentration. We can choose to start seeing these times as valuable “free time” for our minds. We can enter them with no agenda except to have no agenda. We can get used to the solitude and eventually come to appreciate the riches that can be found in the quiet.
One of my favorite books is The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris. In it, she encourages us to treasure rare moments of solitude and silence and to avoid distracting ourselves with television and the like. The menial tasks of life, she says, can be “islands of holiness” in an otherwise chaotic and noisy life. This has been hard for me to get used to. I’m constantly downloading podcasts from iTunes and listening while I fold laundry or dust the furniture. I listen to music when I go running or workout at the gym. But I’m trying to open up some of these times to the silence.
If you are a writer, then these times are incredibly important for you. Your brain needs open space to create, to solve plot and character problems, to clarify your position on an issue you’re exploring in your writing, to come up with just the right word for that problematic sentence you’ve struggled with.
I challenge you today to start looking at your daily “quotidian” tasks in a new light. Not as something to dread or simply get through, not as a time to catch up on the TV news, but as a gift from God, a time to allow the silence and discover its treasures.
What will you find there?
Such a wise post, Rachelle. I’m so used to “brain clutter” that I forget the great blessing of silence. My goal today? Walk my 3 miles quietly and THINK!
Silence is essential. My husband loves noise. When he leaves I have silence to think, pray, and plan my day. A few times a year I share my silence with him at my cabin in the woods. Last week was one of those times. Although even the woods aren’t silent, one morning the birds performed an atonal piece with the skill of John Cage. I cannot find silence in the quotidian, as some do, because it simply wears me out. I do find it in well written books, music, poetry, theater, film, and in the forest.
I so agree, just a great post today. I thrive on silence! I swim an hour each morning alone with my own mind. Most of my best ideas are sparked from that place.
I know exactly what you mean, Diana. My husband always has the television on in the background at night. He might be reading the newspaper (or even dozing) but the noise is blasting.
For the sake of sanity (mine), I’ve developed a system of gradually lowering the volume when he’s not paying attention. 😉
In my house, my six year old son knows the volume on the tv stays at six or seven – six first thing in the morning, no louder than seven as the day goes on. But ever since my husband had an eardrum injured at work, and through the four (five? I’ve lost count) ear surgeries and the increasing scar tissue on his eardrum, I find myself battling the volume setting almost daily. I turn on the tv and start pushing the volume down button before the screen comes on because I know it’s been turned to 11.
Starting the car after he’s had it is the worst! 🙂
I think this could explain my creative slump lately – why every morning I feel like Today Is the Day, and every afternoon by the time my toddler naps, it takes the entire nap time just to empty my head of all the clutter and noise.
I wrote a similar blog post just yesterday @ http://wp.me/p2bjEC-r0 Couldn’t agree more, Rachelle.
Wow. Very, very true. In fact, some of my best ideas have come at the most random times, like doing housework. I suppose it is because I’m giving my mind free time. Those are the grab-an-envelope-and-pen moments. Thanks for the reminder!
Quotidian rolls around the tongue with a much more delightful feel than “mundane.”
Also reminds me of One Thousand Gifts. I’m working on this. I know as I get better at it my characters will thank me.
“Islands of holiness”–love that!
~ Wendy
My husband has taught me the beauty of silence. When we road trip, I like listening to audiobooks or music with our kids. When he drives, he likes silence.
I am challenged to just let my thoughts wander during those “quotidian” times of my day. I usually have music on or am praying. Just letting my mind wander…that’s something I’m going to have to reteach myself. Thanks for sharing the beauty that can be found in mind-silence.
Some of my best problem-solving occurs while digging in the dirt. Great incentive for getting yard work done.
I know exactly what you mean. A few years ago I discovered that if I’m stuck on something in my writing, I can do housework for awhile and the answer comes to me. And you’re right about our
listening to God better when there’s silence.
Thanks for an insightful post.
This is something I’ve been thinking about recently because I’m learning how much I cherish the moments of silence in my life.
During the school year, there’s precious little silence, but during the summer I’m blessed to have an abundance.
I wonder what others need. My oldest daughter gets on the phone the minute she needs to walk any distance – and she’ll talk at you the entire time she’s walking. She doesn’t like silence very much and always attempts to fill it – usually with words. By contrast, my younger daughter is more like me – content in her own silence.
Despite my reference above, my husband can do either. I think he finds silence deep in his mind even when the television is blaring. Perhaps that’s an unsung benefit of city life – you’re so often surrounded by noise that you learn to escape into a silence within. I know I’ve become fairly adept at turning the city sounds into a white noise.
But maybe I have too much silence and that’s why I’m typing on and on this morning. LOLOL
Great post, Rachelle.
My case is opposite. During the school year my elementary-aged sons are in school and I can think.
I miss that…
I find when I haven’t had down time, both silence in the morning dedicated to God and undemanding time at night before bed, my ability to function begins to break down. Now, halfway through the summer, I’m feeling a similar exhaustion from not having in-my-own-head time during the day as well.
It may not win me a ‘Mommy of the Year’ award, but I am anxious for school to start again!
LOL Jane,
We’ll have to agree to trade off. I love my work as a teacher but by the time June rolls around, I need some silence to regain my equilibrium so I totally understand where you’re coming from.
Hope you find some alone time before school opens.
I totally understand this, Jane, with two active boys home all summer.
Mary, I taught for a few years before getting married, and I loved that last day of school! 🙂
And then … there are times to set aside for meditation. I’m a big believer that whatever silences our thoughts and helps us get in touch with the Divine within and our creativity can only be good!
http://birthofanovel.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/how-meditation-can-help-your-writing/#comments
I agree! I love the silence. It’s so rare, but it’s something to reach for.
I’ve often pondered the facts relating to the fear of silence, of quiet. There is possibility in silence. In possibility, their is uncertainty, things not yet encountered. People feel threatened by what they don’t know. At an early age I found security, comfort and peace in silence and solitude. It is a proven fact that there is such a thing as “mind out of body.” Its transmission is the mystery. As writers, we need to be able to hear the mystery at work. Writers like me understand how images can be too loud, noises too blurry. Maybe this is all just my belief; maybe not. You’ll never know unless you stop and listen.
Great Post, Rachelle! Just at a time when I’m about to begin a few hour drive. Guess some of it will be in silence. Thank You.
I think that’s why some of my most creative thoughts appear in the interim between asleep and awake. Is it stepping too far to pose that our minds enjoy a time out to play and explore-to have adventure on their own?
I couldn’t agree more. I started keeping a notebook on my nightstand because I always think of these ideas, transitions or sentences right as I am falling asleep, but I would forget them when I woke up. The notebook has solved my problem and I now carry it in my purse when I go out in case something neat pops up that I don’t want to forget. It is funny how our mind works when we just let it relax 🙂
Mine too. I’ve lost track of how many nights I’ve had to get up to write down story ideas just as I’m about to fall asleep. I’ve learned not to wait till morning, but to savor the silence of night that inspires them. 🙂
I love my quiet time. I have always had noisy jobs (bartending, selling, event planning) and I have a noisy family and kids. Even my dog is noisy. My quiet time is often in the car or after everyone else has gone to bed. I can’t tell you how many plot problems I’ve worked out while driving!
For me, it’s not so much silence as non-specific noise. When I’m cutting the grass the hum of the lawn mower pushes me inside my own head. A television or radio mumbling in the background does the same thing. Silence often distracts me, give me some sort of white noise and it frees my brain to roam!
I agree, Sarah. Maybe that’s why the sound of running water works so well (dishes, showers, etc.)
At first I thought the blog post said “Enjoy the Silence,” and we were going to discuss the only enjoyable Depeche Mode song in existence 😉
Though I am glad that I now have an excuse for day dreaming! 🙂
I love the “non-silent” silences outside, like the rhythmic tinkle of wind chimes or the late-evening cheeping of frogs. Combined w/the visuals of green leaves blowing around, a neatly mowed yard, and fireflies dotting the twilight, it’s exactly what this writer needs to just sit and ponder. I don’t do well in the city.
Laughing Heather because a couple of weeks ago my FB friends were laughing at me posting how all the “noise” in the country was distracting me. I was visiting my mom and I sat out on the porch in the early morning expecting to relax and read in the silence but the chirping and buzzing kept interfering. At home I’m used to drowning out the city noises.
Mary, let me tell you–we have a bird that starts tweeting around 11 pm! Sometimes we hear it around 2 am! I don’t know what the problem is with this particular bird, but it is LOUD! Yes, the country has its own set of noises, including neighborhood dogs, etc!
I am blessed. I live on the edge of nowhere. We don’t have TV or radio. I don’t own an iPod. Cell reception is spotty, so I don’t have a cell phone either. 90% of the music I listen to is my husband practicing (he’s a professional musician).
Rachel, you are absolutely right to point out the importance of not drowning out the silence with outside noise. Silence is never silent, but only by listening can we hear what it has to tell us.
I can hear the wind in the grass, the flap of birds’ wings, the footsteps and soft snorts of my horses in their paddock. More importantly, I can hear my own thoughts. Without that, I’d never be able to write a word.
I firmly believe in the truth of Agatha Christie’s statement. Late last week I figured out my next couple scenes when I was washing the dishes.
By nature I’m a person who enjoys silence and being alone, just letting my mind wander around and see what pops up. I get my best ideas in the silence of menial tasks.
I love using those quiet times to brainstorm. Mostly it’s while I’m doing laundry, but sometimes while I’m driving to work or exercising. I can also plan blog posts during this time, which has been really helpful, that way I’m not using writing time to think of posts!
Not long ago, Robin Hatcher wrote on FB that she figured out a pivotal point in her WIP while emptying the dishwasher.
I have six children in my home, so silence is rare and much appreciated. Excellent points, Rachelle.
The quiet in my life comes when I am knitting. And lucky me I write about knitting. It’s amazing how often the repetition of knitting in a quiet place free my mind to go way beyond knitting in a quiet place. Silence is golden, especially when it’s filled with cashmere.
Ah yes…the place I both crave and fear…the quiet recesses of my mind! I never know what will sneak to the forefront…sometimes it is something lovely I’ve forgotten about, and sometimes it is something I need to process but have been procrastinating. (or drowning out with noise!)
thanks for a great reminder!
I frequently go home at lunch and clean the floors. My husband thinks I’m crazy for using my lunch but it’s WONDERFUL. I have the whole house to myself and it’s QUIET. I can mop the floor and create dialogue. Perfection.
Thanks for the reminder, Rachelle. I discovered K. Norris with her book, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. Her life-experiences really speak to my heart. Your post also reminds me of Brother Lawrence’s book, The Practice of the Presence of God. In it he talks about how important it is to continue our communion with God regardless of whether we are on our knees or in the kitchen. Often for me, when God is “working alongside me” I feel the closest to Him. I can talk with Him when my hands are busy but when my brain is busy (writing, bills, etc.) I tend to lose that sweet communication.
Thanks for the tender post, Rachelle
I revel in silence! My husband is akin to other posters, where he has to have the TV on even when he’s trying to sleep. I bask in the silence at night, straining my ears to welcome it. It helps me fall asleep, it helps me write, and read. I can’t deal with distractions & noise – it’s gotten to where it assaults my senses.
Oh so true! There’s something that seems to fill my soul in quiet that I don’t feel at any other time. Noise is like a drug. We always feel we need it, but when we give quiet a chance, it is what satisfies!!!
I once worked for a pastor that said his suburban was his sanctuary. Since then I have always looked forward to driving. Such a great time to not only worship, but chew through things, and let the creative juices fly. The voice recorder on my smartphone is the best traveling buddy ever. Also love bathtub dreaming and creating–sometimes until the ice forms and I have to be chipped out. wink-wink! BTW-Love, love, love this blog!
Beautiful~and this nugget of truth doesn’t come easily or naturally for me.
It’s when I let go (only when I let go?) and stop trying so hard that the answers come to me.
Great post and so true. Two of the most creative times for me are when I walk in the mornings and when I’m driving by myself. I’ve come up with and cultivated the ideas for all of my books during these times.
Great post! This is a good reminder of what I know but don’t always do.
I find the shower is a great place for inspiration to strike, as is any time my body is moving and my mind idling.
I love this post! I’ve had to mow the lawn the last few weeks while my husband is injured and I’ve solved a lot of writing dilemmas in my head while I’m ou there! I do cherish the quiet moments to let my mind be refreshed!
A friend and I were just discussing silence today, especially its rarity. My struggle is not always in creating a silent environment (though that is a challenge with young kids… but I’m thankful for they who cause the noise!), but in silencing my overcrowded, overly vocal brain.
I’ve read several people recommend performing “brain dumps” where they write out whatever they’re thinking, be it lists, words, phrases, etc. to allow themselves to empty out all the brain clutter and focus on something at hand. I may need to try this in order to focus my jumpy thoughts.
I just told a writer friend of mine – who was chastising herself for knitting and not writing lately – that the sound of those clacking needles is her brain developing the next turn in her story. Sometimes (but very rarely) I handwash all the dishes for the simple joy of thinking. Margaret Thatcher always painted a room when she needed time to think.
Absolutely true without a doubt. My best quiet/idea time is when I’m getting ready in the morning. If I begin thinking about my characters and plot while my mind is still relaxed and uncluttered by daily decisions, I find all kinds of dialogue and plot waiting for me in those silent moments. The best.
I have the best ideas when I’m cleaning. And in the shower!
Plot problems, creating new stories….for me it’s out in my kayak with my phone in a waterproof case to record the answers that come after staring at the water and feeling it swell beneath me.
That and picking up dog manure in the back yard. Breakthroughs every time.
I crave silence so much that I am way out of the loop on music because I prefer the quiet. I rarely listen to anything when I happen to be driving alone, because I like to dream and think out my stories.
What I love about silence is its’ rarity. When it happens it’s always an awakening experience and never becomes mundane, at least in my wild world. I have friends who live alone and they get so much silence they no longer recognize what a treasure it is. Thanks for the post.
I live in a busy household with four teenagers and two dogs, so I CRAVE quiet time to think, read, do chores, and above all write!