Remembrance Day: Why Stillness Matters

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Remembrance Day: Why Stillness Matters

Early in my teaching career, I joined two colleagues on a summer-time trip to Europe to visit the battlegrounds and grave sites of the First and Second World War. This trip had a huge impact on me, both personally and professionally. At the time, I was new to teaching and despite a four-year history degree, my war knowledge was less than impressive. Driving in our rental car through the French and Belgian countryside changed everything for me. We stopped at countless Canadian war cemeteries, Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Dieppe and Normandy (among other battlegrounds) and spent hours in silence as we weaved our way through gravestones and memorials trying to imagine and comprehend all that had taken place so many years ago.

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An argument for being average

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An argument for being average

Earlier this week, I was working at a local café when a woman in her late 60s (maybe early 70s) struck up a conversation with me about the necklace I was wearing. The next thing I knew, I was clearing my work off the table so this stranger could join me. She only had a few minutes to spare, but right away we found ourselves deep in a conversation about life and work. She talked about her husband, her children, her grandchildren, the work that she does and the passions that she has. Between bites of pastry and sips of tea, a lifetime of wisdom poured from this regal-looking woman. I sat there, in complete awe.

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Are you listening? How slowing down helps us tune in.

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Are you listening? How slowing down helps us tune in.

Just this summer, I was at my doctor’s office for my annual checkup. Our visit started, as it usually does, with a series of questions about my current state of health. I sat, legs dangling from the examination table, starring absentmindedly at the posters on the wall. My doctor also sat, her back to me, as she riddled off a series of rather personal doctor-like questions. As I responded to each question, she earnestly entered my responses onto a file in her computer. Only once or twice, during that first 15 minutes of the visit, did our eyes connect for a brief moment when she turned her head slightly to confirm what I had said.

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How I boosted my productivity by stopping - a quick lesson in doing nothing.

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How I boosted my productivity by stopping - a quick lesson in doing nothing.

This past week, I found myself restless and squirming at my desk, unable to link even two coherent sentences together. Instead of switching gears and doing something else I just kept pushing, desperate to squeeze out an article in time for my self-imposed deadline (which has passed, in case you are wondering). The more I tried to write, the more frustrated I became with myself and the abysmal work I was producing. I grappled for any semblance to flow, but it was completely and firmly out of my reach.

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