Harbor Pilots

Everybody, come on in. I'm known on the Cadre as speak wonder because I like to bend words into poetry. And I have something to read to you. Come on in. Give me a heart, give me a smile, Give me a sunshine. Tell me what the weather's like in your corner of the universe here in Erie, Pennsylvania. Hi, Faith Hunter. Hello. Here in Erie, the lake is still, I think, over 80% frozen. And that's saying something because it's a very large lake. It's also very shallow, so it freezes pretty quickly. And in the harbor there are many, many tents for ice fishermen.

And some of them just kind of duke it out in the raw cold without any structure around them. No tent, no nothing. Anywho, I've brought something to share with you. Having to do with silence. I'm sitting in my silent apartment where I've opted out of music or TV this morning, and instead I rolled pine cones and peanut butter and put bird seed all over them. And I'm looking out my window. You know, I've never had success when I try to flip the camera, so I'm not going to try now anyway, trust me. There are two birdseed laden peanut butter smeared pine cones hanging just on the other side of my window off of a hook so that I can watch the birds.

So far, all I have is curious feathered friends flying by checking it out. But no one's landing right now. They're still cautious. I love to feed the wild birds. Excuse me. Have some coffee. I. I have five feeders that I've just filled up, so they're happily feeding on the feeders. They're just not real sure about those pine cones just now. It'll take a minute. I've noticed how our snow ice locked weather here in Erie. I think it's. Oh, there's my weather thing. It's 16 degrees at the moment, 16 above zero with 95% snow.

And we have lightly falling snow, kind of like a snow globe out there. And it's no surprise, but it's fun to mention it once in a while. That snow is, of all the weather systems, the quietest. The flakes fall silently if there's a snowstorm, unless there's wind, we don't know about it until we see it the next morning. You know, if there's a snow falling, we don't hear it on the roof. It just lands quietly, softly. So today is silence with a side of calm. Do you get fidgety after a certain amount of silence?

Feeling the need to get your Pandora going Or your spot of. Or call someone. Start a conversation. Watch puppy or Kitty videos on YouTube or any of a plethora of distractions that are always at your fingertips. Try hitting pause. It's not easy for everyone. Research suggests the average person or group can only bear 15 seconds of silence. 15 seconds, you guys. For instance, in a noisy classroom, if the teacher falls silent, everybody looks up and starts paying attention. The lack of words signals to the brain there's been a break in communication.

Therefore, something is up, something is wrong, something is off. Voila. The teacher has the student's attention. 15 seconds and we're ready for some noise. Anything to solve the disconnect, to fill the void. Some background music, a conversation, the whir of a fan, a ringtone on your phone. These are comfortable sounds to recover some normalcy. You know, on my YouTube, I discovered a years ago, while. While I was still in the working world, in my little cubicle, I discovered a coffee shop ambiance on YouTube.

And it's the clatter of dishes, its voices, it's the c**** of coffee cups, the stirring with the spoon, and maybe a little music. And I was told it would enhance my workflow. I don't know if it did, but I kind of liked it. I think because as a human, I'm built for some amount of audible activity. Many of us who work from home have built in ambient sound. Our kids voices, the dog is barking, the TV reporting news updates, a meal being prepared in the kitchen. For us others, it's a continuous loop of silence.

Silence punctuated by the hum of the fridge, the ping of an email, the spatter plunk of rain on the window. And even though a remedy is a radio click away, the silence is becoming a welcome companion. Has anybody else noticed this? There are some unexpected benefits, from the sacred to the incidental. To be still. To be still is to allow gifts into the quiet intervals of your day. Centering prayer, taking mental inventory, letting some memories in, problem solving. The list goes on. Anticipate stillness like a gift.

Whether it tiptoes into your ruckus household, patiently waiting for you to notice, or whether it's already profoundly present and you simply need to join it. Either way, silence is a worthy companion, doing unseen things like lowering your blood pressure, building your immune system, even recalibrating your brain. Try framing your day in margins of silence. Tranquility may ensue. Who wrote that? I did. I did. I wrote that on May 11th of 2020 for my co workers during lockdown. I was invited by my supervisor to send Lunchtime, we called them lunchtime jabs.

Notes of encouragement through email to 200 recipients that normally were in the building, but they were sequestered in their apartments and homes and their own makeshift offices during shutdown. And I've been sort of dabbling, turning the pages of the book because I printed out each of the notes and excuse me, I find, like this one that I wrote on May 11, 2020. Silence with the sight of calm is still relevant today. We've shifted into our new normal. I feel like things post Covid are never the way they used to be pre Covid.

And yet our basic human needs remain in place and Cadre addresses those beautifully. So I love being in the Cadre sphere. Today is caregiver day, and so our emphasis is on being caregivers. And whether that means having a kiddo with some special needs or an elderly parent or, oh, pardon me so much, you know, a friend who is particularly needy. We're all walking each other home. Matter of fact, where is it? I found this picture of Pooh and Piglet, and here they are in the Hundred Acre Wood, just being sure of each other, walking each other home.

And we do that through the industry of silence. You know, we don't always need words to be excellent companions to one another. The spoken word is beautiful. And that's what I'm doing now, of course, on the Cadre. Be kind of weird if I got here and just sat silently for a while. Maybe I'll try that. If I do that, I'll warn you first. And pardon me, I'm also really super interested in a tree that's across the street. It's a big tall tree and it's probably a quarter of a mile away. It's that prominent and that tall in the sky.

And there's a bird of prey, there was this morning, sitting in it, and then it flew off. So I wonder what it is. I don't think it's large enough to be an eagle. It might be a hawk of some kind. And it's only in the margins of silence that I can gaze out the window and be at ease doing so. We don't always have to be in a full fast forward mode. And sometimes we need that gentle reminder. As caregivers, we need that reminder. We need to dwell in those margins of silence so that when things get hectic and when demands are made of us, or when we, out of a sense of responsibility and pure love, want to do things for others, we need to cushion that with intentional slices of calm in our day.

So how might you build those into your day? I've heard some speakers here in the Cadre consider that you would maybe even write it on your little calendar on your phone or your paper calendar, just like an appointment. Honor it like you would a doctor's appointment. This time for some calm. Or you could write the word silence or down time, or I like to write the word recalibrate because sometimes recalibrate means go make a cup of coffee and then sit down and take a breather. Recalibrate might be settle down, recognize my emotions and deal with them so that they don't build up and then implode.

We are complex human beings, and yet there are simple solutions to our layers, and one of them is silence. So I invite you into the silence. If it's snowing where you are, recognize the beauty of the snow. I'm trying, you guys. Out here in Erie, it's been snowing since November. No joke. We have not seen the ground since November. And if we listen to the weather prognosticators, we're not going to see the ground until March, maybe. Thank you for joining. I see you. You guys joining. Appreciate you so much.

This is a shorter presentation today. I just wanted to enter into the silence with you and employ the power of the pause. So recalibrate, regroup, refresh, and sit quietly. It'll do you a world of good. And as you enjoy that refresher, it'll help you to pour into the lives of those to whom you're giving care and love, understanding and compassion. And maybe that individual needs to join you in your silence. Give it a try. I'm sure you've done it with intention. It's just a little reminder on a Thursday, stay in the Cadre sphere.

JC Did a lovely interview this morning that you can put on the replay. Dr. Jessica, Ms. Shannon. Paul's coming along. Comedy in the chaos. And there's so much content on here. I find myself on the community feed in Cadre way more than I'm on Facebook. Cadre seems to be my go to. So thank you, everybody, and I'll see you in the Cadre sphere. Be a good harbor pilot, y'all.