{"id":6105,"date":"2012-01-05T06:44:02","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T11:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=6105"},"modified":"2012-01-05T06:44:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T11:44:02","slug":"words-feed-the-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=6105","title":{"rendered":"Words Feed the Quiet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0article “The Joy of Quiet<\/a>,” published recently in the New York Times,<\/em>\u00a0expresses at least a part of why I write, why I promote an active and thoughtful\u00a0involvement with words, and why I collect ideas\u00a0for how\u00a0anybody can incorporate words into life.\u00a0 The article discusses the crush of information people get via video monitors and screens and the growing need to try “to escape the constant stream of too much information.”\u00a0 Here is a quote:<\/p>\n

A series of tests in recent years has shown that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects “exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition.\u00a0 Their brains become both calmer and sharper.\u201d\u00a0 More than that, empathy, as well as deep thought, depends (as neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio have found) on neural processes that are \u201cinherently slow.\u201d\u00a0 The very ones our high-speed lives have little time for.<\/em><\/p>\n

Writing words, thoughtfully interacting with\u00a0them, is a slow process that requires\u00a0open eyes, an\u00a0open mind and an open heart.\u00a0 As I write, I am more aware of myself and the world around me.\u00a0 Being bombarded by a heavy stream of information, a torrent of words, some deep,\u00a0most shallow,\u00a0can inundate victims in a raging\u00a0word (and image) river pouring from a myriad of monitors and screens.<\/p>\n

It seems as if the New York Times is publishing a series on the need for quiet, reflection and peace.\u00a0 In another recent article, A Time to Tune Out<\/a>, the author, discussing how more and more people are becoming\u00a0unable to switch\u00a0off the devices that connect them to email and the Internet, makes this\u00a0poetically written point:<\/p>\n

Inhabiting one place \u2014 that is to be fully absorbed by and focused on one\u2019s surroundings rather than living in some diffuse cyberlocation composed of the different strands of a device-driven existence \u2014 is a fast-dwindling ability.<\/em><\/p>\n

Writing a word, a sentence, a paragraph or more requires the person holding the pen, or tapping the keyboard to be aware of her or his thoughts and feelings as well as the piece of the world she or he is writing about.\u00a0 Writing even a very small amount in a journal or a blog can be a powerful and healthful antidote for the engulfing information flood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0article “The Joy of Quiet,” published recently in the New York Times,\u00a0expresses at least a part of why I write, why I promote an active and thoughtful\u00a0involvement with words, and why I collect ideas\u00a0for how\u00a0anybody can incorporate words into life.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,13],"tags":[969,971,970,967,632,968,1076],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6105"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6150,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions\/6150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}