White Noise

Both of my daughters have to sleep with a fan going at night, not necessarily because they get hot, but because they use the noise to drown out any unwanted sounds.  Like mom vacuuming at 9 pm or dad yelling at watching the football game or that pesky alarm clock telling them they need to get up.  White noise—it should be a good thing.

But I wonder how often we use the white noise of living to drown out the conversations we should be having.  We turn on the TV instead of talking with our spouse about how disconnected we feel.  We sing along with the radio with our child instead of starting a conversation about undesirable traits we see in the boy she’s dating.  We let the hum of the office chatter keep us from asking a grieving colleague how she is really doing.  Texting and social media trump real conversations with real people sitting in the same room with us. 

Today, I will unplug for 15 minutes.  I will ban the TV, radio, internet and cell phones from my home for 15 minutes.  I will sit and breathe and listen to that still, small voice inside me that is my true north.  I will encourage my family to do the same. 

And then we will talk.  Really talk.