Withdraw and reflect
The other day I had a warm and lovely conversation with a client about the need to simplify our lives. The advent of COVID has added so many layers of necessary steps, precautions and things to remember and add to our every day. I suggested to her that if one is going to add something, another must be taken away!
Perhaps it is the winding down of summer, and the nearing of fall, which is my favorite season, that I feel the need for quiet. Or perhaps it is my travel plans, including retreat time, have been cancelled because of COVID. I know that the earth is going into a preparation and resting phase into winter, and I have been actively making adjustments and adapting into this season of change; I want to prepare for a season of beauty and rest as well.
Robert Greenleaf felt strongly about the need for personal solitude and reflection. In fact, he considered reflection an essential ingredient for living out servant-leadership. He writes, “the ability to withdraw and reorient oneself, if only for a moment, presumes that one has learned the art of systematic neglect. To sort out the more important from the less important – and the important from the urgent – and attend to the more important, even though there may be penalties and censure for the neglect of something else…..pacing oneself by appropriate withdrawal is one of the approaches to making optimal use of one’s resources.”
Isn’t it interesting that much of Greenleaf’s writing was done nearly 50 years ago, when technology or a pandemic had not begun to invade our lives? If he saw the necessity for reflection then, how much more do we need to pull away from the sirens of busyness which beg for our attention today?
Wherever this message finds you, I hope that you will take time for uncluttered, still moments – a drive in the country, a morning walk to enjoy the bird songs and kiss from the sun, an evening of candlelight glow with family or a moment alone, just to be.
This small investment will prove richly rewarding in your ability to truly care for yourself and respond to others from a filled cup. Like entering into the rhythm of nature, you will be silently renewing the rhythm of your own life.