[blockquote source=”Norton Juster”]”Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven’t the answer to a question you’ve been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you’re alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”[/blockquote]

I had the most beautiful conversation with my daughter the other day, and prompted by her wonderings of why it’s such an awful thing…this matter of being alone.

“Don’t get me wrong, I really like people. But I also like the time that is spent, with just me.”

There are moments in a parent’s life, when we are simply awestruck by the glimmer of magnificence within our children. They are but subtle reflections of any number of instances, where two spirits have become forever intertwined. And this, was my very special moment.

I smiled proudly, as I sipped my tea – graced by the awareness within her few simple words.

“I don’t get it, they’re just fooling themselves,” she said.

And, as I looked around this bustling restaurant – I knew exactly what  it was that she meant.

For you see, surrounding us at every table – was a couple or family, completely mesmerized by a 4-inch video screen.

Were they really spending time together, or rather spending time alone together?

How very sad to think that within the context of this one very precious human life, and this miracle of awareness – that we spend such a vast majority of our time, flinging angry birdies over fences.

It just doesn’t make any sense, now does it? I mean, is it such a terrible existence that we must become so forever lost in illusion?

Is it such a terrible existence, that we must find ways to become lost in these illusions? And yet, we wonder why there is so much spiritual unsettledness.

And, so my dears – I guess the lesson here, is to perhaps listen to our children.To set aside these distractions in life, and hold on instead to the heart right in front of you.

I promise, you’ll never be disappointed – and the winning prize, will be that of a most cherished memory. And, those memories aren’t ever counted against your mobile data plan.

So, my dears – next time you’re out and about family or friends, ask yourself…

Isn’t it time we began making those smaller changes, that will in time bring us closer as humans?

I believe the answer is most certainly, ‘yes.’