The pace is as busy as ever entering 2012. The schools opened today and by most accounts this has taken place without any major glitch. The good news from TAA is that the funding from back east has come through to continue the capital improvements in the dorms and around campus. This opens the doors for the Maranatha International group to come on campus in February to do some major renovations. That is exciting news. The asbestos has already been removed from both dorms. This took place during the Christmas Break as a step of faith, since the funds to cover them had not been secured yet. But God is working.
Budget time has arrived in the conference. The economy has not turned totally from its enduring malaise, but there are encouraging signs. Schools are faced with increased costs due to new policies impacting teacher remuneration. A conference-wide intervention will be needed to address the impending crisis, but once again I am confident that the doors of generosity with open and the apparent pitfall will become nothing more than another stepping stone in the Journey to Excellence ™ (a little plug for the sponsor).
On a personal note I have come to a few decisions regarding my future. I realize my time in Arizona will not last forever. God alone knows when my time will end either by attrition or volition. The point being that I want my time remaining to be as productive as it can be. The holidays left me feeling sluggish, heavy, and a bit bloated. I have already begun making some changes that will address the excess baggage. It will require a bit of discipline, but I think I can muster that much. This is not a New Year’s resolution per se. It just seems like a good time to eliminate certain things, while adding others to return me to a better physiological place.
There is a second choice I have already begun putting into place with little fanfare. I believe it is a bigger change for me that the first choice. It came about as a result of my wife Penny’s notion of detoxing our bodies through a regimen that cleanses the system of impurities that have accumulated over time. Well, I thought to myself, perhaps a detoxing of the senses would not be a bad idea. After all, the mind is the catch-all for visual, auditory, and generally all sensory input. I simple took a “vow of silence” for the year. Yes, you heard correctly, a vow of silence.
Now perhaps some of you are thinking, “That’s a good idea—Ruben not talking!” I am sorry to disappoint you but the silence has little to do with my speaking and more to do with what I see and listen to—in other words I am going to try to refrain from any audio and visual input under my personal control. No radio when I drive. No Netflix when I want to unwind at the end of the day. No Veetle for TV streaming. No Pandora. No Radio Streaming of any kind. No news radio. No talk radio. You get the idea. It all adds up to a lot of silence where input used to be. Even I think it’s crazy, but I am doing a self-experiment hoping to blog along the way and in the end have day to day journal of my self-discoveries. Mostly for me is a sort of media fast to clear the slate and be more open to Divine leading that I may miss in the cacophony of noise that my life had become.
Other than this blog, it is an otherwise very understated transition. In fact, Penny has not even made note of it. I have already discovered certain things about myself in these three preceding days. For one, if there is nothing blaring from the radio as I drive, I will find something else to do. I have made more phone calls to friends and family on my Bluetooth hands-free car phone; I have had spontaneous conversations with my wife; I have even traveled for miles wondering what my brain is going to do with no input! Nights are quiet without my usual music playing in the background.
To be sure I will not be evangelistic about this. The truth is that I watched some Netflix with Penny a couple of nights ago: a very funny episode of Psych she asked me to watch with her. It’s early so I can’t say yet whether this crazy experiment will run its course. Stay tuned.
Oh my!!!! I don't think I could do that. TV is not as big a deal as music. I think I'd die without it. Literally. But silence is good sometimes, too. And yes, you do need silence to listen to that still, small voice. But no music? I'll be interested to hear how that goes!
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Cool idea. -Robert
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