As I understand it, silence is literally as close to silence as we can get, as in no noise, no reading books, no listening to podcasts. Just be totally attentive to God through silence. Whereas stillness is a concentrated restraint to not engage. In stillness we are aware of our surroundings and sensations, but we choose for a time period to detach from moving forward through it.

I participated in a one-day seminar with his wife a few years back and she described the difference between the 3 S’s. It was my first introduction to it.

Being in the present moment is something I have to continually work on. It doesn’t come naturally to me; I typically want to rush ahead and start planning for the future. Anne’s book would be a great one for you to pick up first; it’s shorter and easy to read but has LOTS of good stuff in it. Thanks for hosting us each week, Dawn!

This sentence really stirred my heart today, ” The more we show up in the present moment, where God is, the more permission and awareness we give him to shape us into who he created us to be.” No matter what type we are, showing up in whatever way we connect, right where God is…giving Him permission to be Lord of our everything is the purpose of it all, isn’t it? I am adding these books to my growing wish list. 🙂 I have Anne new book Reading People, but have to confess that my procrastinating and severely unorganized self has set it on a shelf to read when I have time. I think I need to make the time, huh?

Thanks for sharing this at the #GraceMoments Link up. I am grateful for your continued presence each week.
Many Blessings,
Dawn

You’re welcome, Alice. I had to pass along this book because it really has such useful information. There’s one more book on the Enneagram that I’d like to read, but for now I’ll take a break from them and just try to DO the work instead of just reading about it. 🙂

I imagine you are wonderful at all of the contemplative practices, Jean. I think having years of experience makes a difference. And knowing to value them! I was slow arriving at the practices, and even then, it was mainly through reading Celebration of Disciple from Richard Foster. The past few years I’ve finally discovered other people to do them with in person and to talk about them with, but I still don’t have an in-life community that I regularly participate in. Maybe one day that will happen!

Yes, I went to a workshop with Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile and it was very enlightening to be able to hear them talk about the Enneagram in person and to ask questions. There is definitely a lot of breadth and depth to it. I’m still barely scratching the surface.

I’m so glad you shared the podcast link with me, Brenda! I hadn’t heard of Annie’s podcast, so I downloaded that episode on my phone and have been listening to it. It’s very intriguing stuff. I don’t always like what I learn about myself. ha. But it’s useful information.

That’s how I started with it too, Linda: I would hear about it here and there, then finally last year I decided to dig in deeper. It’s very interesting!