Cultivating Quiet

Dear Friends,

This time last week a wonderful group of people and I were in Northern Iceland, based out of a small city called Akureyri, enjoying the magic and beauty of this country on the top of the world with our wonderful host.  It was truly an amazing, just an absolutely amazing week, full of majestic landscapes and nature buzzing with life, gorgeous fall foliage, delicious food, rest and movement, fantastic connection with our retreat mates and, one of the most important things for this girl…adventure.

Our last full day, as we looked out over a majestic ravine to the river below in silence, I was struck by one of the aspects that made the country magical to me…it was the beauty and quiet that surrounded us.  Practically everywhere we went there was this deep calm, beauty and quiet that enveloped us as we moved through the countryside.  I likened it to being in a perpetual state of backpacking, where I was surrounded by the beauty of nature coupled with a quiet from all fronts.

It’s hard, where we live, to find that quiet, that calm, that peace.  It’s complicated, with the people, the traffic, the sirens, planes and helicopters.  It’s hard to find that quiet in the place we live…our lives are not quiet.

But, I wonder how it might feel if we make a little more of an effort to cultivate that quiet, that calm in our minds, and in our hearts.  I wonder how life might feel if we were able to quiet ourselves a little more in our everyday lives.  Certainly, we won’t ever get to the quiet of Iceland, but if we’re willing to slow down, to quiet our minds and our hearts, we might find a little more calm, a little more peace throughout our day.

I hope you have an amazing week, my friends.

Love
Krista