{"id":1017,"date":"2011-06-28T05:33:06","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T09:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2011-06-28T06:57:14","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T10:57:14","slug":"eliminating-stress-practice-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html","title":{"rendered":"Eliminating stress–practice quiet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Friends have been concerned about my well-being since my husband died. \u00a0\u201dHow will you get along without someone in the house?\u201d is the most common question. \u00a0In reality, I think they are asking, \u201cHow will you survive the quiet?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the Bible tells believers to \u201cBe still,\u201d at least eight times, we seem to think that noise is more holy than quietness. \u00a0We love to sing and quote, \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d \u00a0Yet, our modern-day living screams another message. \u00a0Too often, we do not teach the truth of the benefits of a quiet, spirit life.<\/p>\n

From the hum of traffic that seeps through our windows to the murmur of our TV\u2019s which continually stimulates our minds, we are almost never bathed by quiet. \u00a0While peace is not the same thing as quiet, it is perhaps impossible to be quiet without God\u2019s inner peace reigning in our spirits.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of things that I\u2019ve learned from others in my pursuit of practicing quiet.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Set aside a time each day to quietly sit or lay before the Lord. \u00a0Prayer and listening are different disciplines from quietness. \u00a0While God usually speaks to an active mind, waiting for the Lord in a quiet setting prepares us to hear from the Lord.<\/li>\n
  2. Start with small bites of times. \u00a0Thirty minutes are much too long. \u00a0Don\u2019t even attempt it. \u00a0Begin with one minute. \u00a0That minute will seem like an eternity at first. \u00a0But you will find that progressing to 5 minutes will be easier than that initial 60 seconds. \u00a0After you develop a set-aside time and you faithfully follow it, you will crave a quiet time.<\/li>\n
  3. During the day, eliminate as much background noise as you can. \u00a0Turn off the TV, if you aren\u2019t watching a specific program.<\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t let praise and worship music become a distraction from your quiet times. \u00a0Again, praise and worship are different from being still and quiet.<\/li>\n
  5. During these times, harness your thoughts. \u00a0Be sure that thoughts of the Lord\u2019s goodness and thankfulness are immersing your mind.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"<\/a>I read The Practice of the Presence of God<\/a><\/em> as a young wife and mother. \u00a0 The teachings found in this thesis captured my spirit. \u00a0It was\u00a0written in the 17th century by the monk, Brother Lawrence, who was a cook and dishwasher in a monastery in Paris. \u00a0The disciplines practiced by this monk have been amazing stress relievers for me and thousands of others seeking to know God more completely.<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Friends have been concerned about my well-being since my husband died. \u00a0\u201dHow will you get along without someone in the house?\u201d is the most common question. \u00a0In reality, I think they are asking, \u201cHow will you survive the quiet?\u201d Even though the Bible tells believers to \u201cBe still,\u201d at least eight times, we seem to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,186,49,8,85,12,4,41,152],"tags":[690,191,193,21,688,696,7,165,699,701,694,689,192,692,6,700,710],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-stress","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-benefits-of-quiet","tag-brother-lawrance","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-eliminating-stress","tag-faith","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-practice-of-the-presence-of-god","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality","tag-stress"],"yoast_head":"\nEliminating stress-practice quiet - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eliminating stress-practice quiet - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friends have been concerned about my well-being since my husband died. \u00a0\u201dHow will you get along without someone in the house?\u201d is the most common question. \u00a0In reality, I think they are asking, \u201cHow will you survive the quiet?\u201d Even though the Bible tells believers to \u201cBe still,\u201d at least eight times, we seem to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-28T09:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-28T10:57:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/img_00881-e1309183437164.jpg?w=184&h=245\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eliminating stress-practice quiet - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eliminating stress-practice quiet - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Friends have been concerned about my well-being since my husband died. \u00a0\u201dHow will you get along without someone in the house?\u201d is the most common question. \u00a0In reality, I think they are asking, \u201cHow will you survive the quiet?\u201d Even though the Bible tells believers to \u201cBe still,\u201d at least eight times, we seem to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-06-28T09:33:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-06-28T10:57:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/img_00881-e1309183437164.jpg?w=184&h=245"}],"author":"Linda G. Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html","name":"Eliminating stress-practice quiet - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/img_00881-e1309183437164.jpg?w=184&h=245","datePublished":"2011-06-28T09:33:06+00:00","dateModified":"2011-06-28T10:57:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/img_00881-e1309183437164.jpg?w=184&h=245","contentUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/img_00881-e1309183437164.jpg?w=184&h=245"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/06\/eliminating-stress-practice-quiet.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eliminating stress–practice quiet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/","name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Linda Howard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739","name":"Linda G. Howard","description":"Linda G. Howard is the best-selling and award-winning author of four books, including MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE, TOO and THE SECRET LIFE OF A HOUSEWIFE. Currently, she serves as area director of The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community. Additionally, she is the co-publisher and editor of CONNECTING POINT, the ministry newsletter. Her husband is a retired aerospace technologist who worked for NASA. They have three children and four grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/author\/lhoward"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1019,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions\/1019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}