Recently, in the midst of a full day prepping for a class, seeing clients, working on a marketing piece, and anticipating a full evening at home with my family, I ran across this quote by Wayne Muller, author of Legacy of the Heart and Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.

It couldn’t have come at a better time.  So, I thought I’d share it with you.

“Brother David Steindhl-Rast reminds us that the Chinese word for “busy” is composed of two characters: “heart” and “killing.”

When we make ourselves so busy that we are always rushing around trying to get this or that “done” or “over with,” we kill something vital in ourselves, and we smother the quiet wisdom in our heart.

When we invest our work with judgment and impatience, always striving for speed and efficiency, we lose the capacity to appreciate the six million quiet moments that may bring us peace, beauty, or joy.

As we seek salvation through our frantic productivity and accomplishments, we squander the teachings that may be present in this very moment, in the richness of this particular breath.

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, there is a proverb: “Better one hand full of quiet than two hands striving after wind.”

Unpracticed in the art of quiet, we hope to find our safety, our belonging, and our healing by increasing levels of accomplishment. But our frantic busyness actual makes us deaf to what is healing and sacred, both in ourselves and one another.”

Take a few moments to stop, be quiet, listen. Live fully today.