Cultural ADD- finding silence.

I have been reading a womens Christian magazine and also their email newsletters I received this article today about finding silence in an over stimulated world- radios, music, televisions... quite an interesting read. (The bold parts are what really spoke to me) If this apeals there are more articles and information at their website
http://www.radiantmag.com/

ADD and Groceries By Joy Williams

I am a noise-addicted woman in a culturally distracted world. Don’t believe me?I went to the grocery store just a few days ago. While I was busy thinking about dinner, I found myself humming along to the top 40 hits blaring overhead. I was reaching for glamorous articles (like toilet paper and lettuce) when I thought about changing the ringer on my phone … it was time. I went out to my car after purchasing my groceries, and my car stereo was tuned to the classical station. While I drove, my mind meandered, and so did my hands on the radio dial. I went from Vivaldi to Kelly Clarkson, from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to the Doors. Before I knew it, I had pulled into my driveway without absorbing one single song all the way through. With groceries unloaded, I went into the spare room to check out MySpace. Different profiles had carefully chosen songs, colors and banners to burst onto the scene with each visit. I stayed at this online dance club for a half hour and read several blogs of every emotion and opinion imaginable. All the while, in the background was the low hum of the TV I’d inadvertently turned on in the other room.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I took stock of these “natural” habits I’d formed in my day. The only word that came to the forefront of my thoughts was oversaturated.Have you ever felt this way? Has the noise in your life risen to a louder decibel? I am beginning to wonder if we are quietly suffocating ourselves with the noise by which we so quickly surround ourselves.
I recently had the privilege of going to the symposium of a highly esteemed, international cultural analyst regarding our country’s current temperature. An English accent danced through each word as he described a culture that is so noisy, so vocal. He spoke about an inflation of thought—that we desire being heard in a culture that stifles and yet promotes autonomy. His description of this constant kind of amplified motion and musing, he proposed, had caused a kind of cultural ADD … a restlessness within many of us. What he shared has astounded me, shaken me and invigorated my soul in the last few days. Though I will never demonize technology or music, this thought of “unnecessary noise” in my life has led me to a place of introspection.The world has shrunk because of the Internet. We have avalanches of opinions and information at our fingertips more than ever before.
But, herein, perhaps is the deeper issue beneath it all: If we are all “declaring,” who is really listening? This has caused a series of questions in my mind. “Am I afraid of quiet?” “Why do I always have the radio or iPod playing?” “How much time in my life is filled up with thinking about ‘me,’ when I should be thinking of others?” With this daily rush in our multitasking lives, maybe there is a great need to stop and breathe for a moment. When I tap into the silent stirrings of my soul, I can detect a desire for “still.” There is nothing wrong with quiet-nothing to fear—yet I’ve run from this many times.
For the first time in a long time, I took a walk outside yesterday while the fall was flirting with summer. I listened to the crackling of the leaves beneath my feet. I took in the sweet air wrapping around my face. I heard an old man laughing in the distance. And I sensed more glory in those minutes than I had in all the fast moments I had absorbed earlier.Moments of stillness, perhaps, allow our bulging spirits time to do some laundry.
When our mental hampers are overflowing, maybe it is our souls calling us to listen and quiet ourselves. The “motionless moments” just might allow those deeper mysteries from within to ri se up, and our hearts might be able to find fresh air again. And perhaps we’ll be able to hear a “still, small voice” in those placid moments, as well.I am inspired to remember the gift of quiet, and to be a soul that listens first before it speaks.
Maybe today is a day that you can choose to fight this cultural ADD in your own life. Perhaps today is the day you say no to the noise for a few moments.

May you find some quite motionless moments in your life.
God Bless Shelle :)