In a recent
NavPress executive meeting, I spoke with our leaders about the need to make time for deep thinking. In the course of our conversation, I learned so much about the challenges these men and women face regarding having the time and making the effort to set aside time for contemplation on work, spiritual life, and personal issues.
The truth is we
all need time for deep thinking!
As the meeting progressed, we discussed principles from
Dr. Richard Swenson's book In Search of Balance. Here is a sample of what Dr. Swenson wrote that challenged us; it may help you, too:
- "At the end of our lives we will discover that hurry was only a socially glorified form of perspiration."
- "We never concentrate on one task anymore. You take a little chip out of it, and then you're on to the next thing . . . . Depth is born out of such disciplines as stillness, patience, solitude, waiting, intimacy, suffering, quiet, contemplation, submision, discipline, prayer and yes, margin and balance."
- "Senna was a Roman philosopher who lived at the time of Christ. In his famous essay 'The Shortness of Life,' he said, 'Everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is buried with many things . . . since the mind, when its interests are divided, takes in nothing very deeply."
What challenges do you face in achieving balance in your life and what solutions have you found?