Thanks to COVID-19, I have been working from home now for about a year. On one hand, it has been marvelous – no commute, no traffic, fewer miles on the car, and days with my adorable fur-baby curled up by my feet. Oh sure, I miss seeing the in-person faces of my wonderful team and the convenience of printing on demand. But the thing that my soul misses most is the processing time in the car. It was me time. Time to think, pray, learn (podcasts, anyone?), strategize, and solve problems was a precious gift I never truly appreciated until now.

But often, by the end of the week, I just craved quiet. I could not put one more bit or byte in my brain. I had had enough…my soul was weary. You know what I mean. So, on those days I would drive home in silence. Beautiful silence. No thinking, no podcasts, no solving problems. Just quiet. On summer evenings when traffic was light and the air was warm, I would make that drive home with the windows down and the sunroof open, basking in the white noise of the breeze. Ah, quiet.

You see our souls are on the front lines, taking hits every day from things like relentless emails, phone calls, to do lists, texts, social media, marketing messages, images, news, and everything else that clamors for our attention. I call that the noise of life. Most days we can handle it and it’s enjoyable, productive, even energizing. But we must know when our soul says, “enough, please, enough.” When the noise in our lives exceeds the peace.

We may not be able to stop the noise, but we can take a time out. We can be careful about the mechanisms that funnel the noise to us. We can make technology serve us instead of the other way around. We must be mindful of our souls. And when the noise in our soul is creeping past enough, we need to make time for quiet, solitude and peace. We must create space for our souls to breathe and our minds to productively rest. We must be kind to our souls.

So, when you have had enough of the noise of life and just need a soul break, I recommend:

• Listening to Soaking Music (just search YouTube, you’ll see)
• Listening to nature sounds – like waves or birds – or better yet go into nature and listen to the sounds firsthand (you can find these also on YouTube and there are also several apps you can download)
• Indulging in something beautiful – artwork, a sunset, or a sunrise
• Buying yourself flowers and spending 10 minutes just looking at them, really seeing their colors and design, inhale deeply
• Praying
• Taking a break from all electronic devices, put social media aside for a bit and play a couple of games of solitaire – with an actual deck of cards.
• Taking a long drive with the windows down, the sunroof open, and the breeze whipping through your hair.

How do you care for your soul?