Sacred Silence & Purposeful Nothingness

I have been feeling particularly grumpy so far this New Year.

Maybe I'm just tired. Christmas week was considerably more eventful than expected - including a 4:00 am run to the ER with a family member on Christmas morning!

Or maybe I'm grumpy when I read about the travel adventures, books read, pounds lost or inspiring New Year's resolutions adopted by others. (I know I shouldn't compare but it is SO hard not to, right??!!) I actually consider it a tremendous accomplishment to have read even a handful of books last year ... and those 30 pounds I have been trying to drop are still my constant companions (and they keep inviting friends!).

Or maybe all this talk of New Year's resolutions makes me grumpy because it feels so focused on doing. What have I done or what do I need to do? The very air we breathe seems saturated with incentives to do more, produce more, buy more, achieve more and so on, This all-pervasive cultural focus on doing, doing, doing exhausts me.

I recently read an article about the Dutch concept of "niksen;" the art of purposefully doing nothing - turning off your phone, letting your mind wander, gazing out the window or simply closing your eyes. This purposeful nothingness allows space for our mind to de-stress, heart rate to slow, breath to ease and soul to re-awaken to God's presence. Niksen is an invitation to just be. Now, that's a new year's resolution I could get behind!

What if I resolved to weave a little more niksen into my life - to embrace intentional nothingness, prayerful stillness and sacred silence? Even just writing those words makes my whole being feel less grumpy and more centered.

Of course, I realize that too much time spent "doing nothing" could quickly become an exercise in self-indulgent navel gazing! And yet, too much time spent "doing it all" quickly becomes a spinning hamster wheel of unsustainable burn out.

Both being and doing are essential to a faith-filled life. But because the winds of the world push me so easily into "doing mode," I need to be especially intentional about creating space for sacred silence where I can embrace my "being mode."

This year, I want to lean into the practice of niksen - purposefully doing nothing but being still with God in the sacred silence, then waiting patiently to see what sort of dynamic "doing" God has in store for me.

I invite you to join me in adding a little more niksen to your life - time spent in sacred silence and purposeful nothingness so that you can just be who you are called to be and then do what you are called to do.

Photo: Sunrise at Bryce Canyon (March 2023)