New Experiment

Today begins another experiment:
16 hours of silence, every day for 10 days (except Sunday, I get to rest from silence on Sunday. Plus, several hours of my Silent Time will be spent sleeping).

It brings a new focus on an old commandment. This one is number three:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Why?
If everyone is made in the image of God, speaking words "devoid of real worth" is breaking this commandment. Jesus said:

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

I am preparing the abundance of my heart. Its kinda full of all sorts a crap right now. You should have heard me bag on Leo DiCaprio during the Oscars, just for fun out of the meanness of my heart. or, yell at all the drivers and say i wished i had trick tacks that could spit out of the sides of my car to impede them on their journey. This mouth speaks too much the HARD THINGS IN MY HEART. For 10 Days I will hold personal silence from 9 pm in the evening to 1 pm the following afternoon.

After 10 days, I will spend the remainder of the month with pure speech: no complaining, no gossiping, no angry words. See why I need 10 days of silence. I really, really need 10 days with 16 hours of silence a day to learn to measure my words.

Note: This experiment is not meant to be duplicated or judgey.  I'm just extreme in my personal experiments and my need for quirky means of observing common practices.  

Here are some of my not-so-silent to-dos for the next 10 days:

• Coordinate details for the play Hannah is student directing
• Get kids to and from rehearsal all for Broadway in Utah
• Train a puppy
• Prepare refugee sisters for their presentation at the UN
• Run through all presentations for the UN, decide on best moderation techniques
• Finalize all arrangements for UN trip
• Reach out to everyone I met in NY last trip and invite to our event, plan for attending theirs
• Help coordinate daily briefing for the trip 
• Figure out food for our events. Here's to dollar slice pizza. 
• Manage a family, run a life.

Never perfect, always trying. We'll see how it goes.

Rules of the Silence Experiment
1. Choose your 16 hours - Avoid excessive external stimulation: Music, radio, Other media. Provide space for your thoughts.

2. Tell all the people.

3. Don’t speak unless you are spoken to, or you need to train a puppy with love or correction.

4. When you do speak, choose words that are quiet and few. And then return to silence.

5. Go all Depeche Mode. Enjoy the silence. Notice your urges to speak. They will be far more common than you expect.