“Monday 5 Things” ….. Being Still …..
May 05, 2025 by D. Paul Graham
“Strength in Silence”, Dr. Kevin Winters, Austin TX, photo by D. Paul Graham
It’s been a couple of weeks of earlier than usual waking hours for me. I have taken to making a coffee and moving out on our deck that we affectionally call our tree house. The pre-dawn air has been cool, refreshing. A perfect start to the day, with my bible and prayer. No humidity, no gnats. Two owls hooting back and forth, marking their territory. The world still. Me being still. Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do on a Monday, or any morning for that matter, is not to immediately try to conquer it, but to notice it. To be awake for it. To let it be human, not heroic. To be alive in it. Stillness has a rhythm of its own, and it often begins in the quiet intention of a single morning. This morning’s M5T shares ways of Being Still.
1. SEEK SILENCE. In a culture driven by urgency and constant stimulation, silence can feel almost radical. But silence isn’t simply the absence of sound. It is the presence of space. It’s where your mind can exhale. It’s the quiet room in which our deepest thoughts and intuitions can find a voice and finally speak. Try beginning your week not by frantically filling it, but by embracing the moment. Wake up ten minutes early. Step outside. Listen. Not for noise, but for the discreet pulse of the morning. Put your phone down. Better yet, pause before you pick it up. Close the computer. Walk without music. The beauty of our world is always present, but we have to block out the melee of media. Silence isn’t unproductive, nor is it emptiness. It’s where clarity grows. It’s fullness without chaos. Without silence, it’s hard to discern our own voice from the voices around us. Seeking silence is not just the absence of noise. It’s the kind of silence that opens doors inward. It’s found in the early hours before the world wakes up, in the space between breaths, and in a long pause before jumping to a response. Silence allows thoughts the space to settle, and intuition the freedom to speak.
2. SHED EXPECTATIONS. I feel like I enter each week with a silent contract: what I think should happen, how I think others should behave, how I should feel, and what I should achieve and perform. Surely, I’m not alone in that thinking. But these expectations are often invisible burdens, and when reality doesn’t conform to them, I find myself wasting precious time, energy, and emotion. What if, just for today, you released one expectation. Even if it’s just a small one? What if you let the day be what it is, instead of resisting or projecting what it isn’t? This doesn’t mean giving up goals or ambition. It means loosening your grip on what you can’t control, trusting the process for what you can control, and letting events evolve without constant comparison to a preconceived mental checklist. In doing so, we become more adaptable, less reactive, and far more present. Life is easier when we meet it as it is, not as we demand it to be. Releasing these expectations, even briefly, creates space for curiosity, for surprise, for peace.
3. STRENGTHENING PRESENCE. Presence can be surprisingly simple. It’s the act of being fully here. Yet, it’s astonishing how often we are not present. We drink coffee thinking about emails. We walk while rehashing arguments in our mind. We prepare our response without really listening to the person we are talking with. We read our phones while dining with those we care the most about. Strengthening presence isn’t about perfection. It’s about return. Each time you notice you’ve drifted, find your anchors. Come back to your breath, your feet on the ground, the smell in the air, the warmth of the cup in your hand, the beauty of the eyes sitting across from you. These anchors hold immeasurable power. Presence is where our joy lives. It's where truth lives. Meeting yourself, your work, and your relationships, are best found in the right here, right now. Everything else is either thought or memory. Challenge yourself to start this Monday, not in a hurry, but with a pause. What is here that you’re missing by looking away? It’s easy to live in the fog of yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s to-dos. Strengthening your presence doesn’t require a retreat or a ritual. It merely asks for attention to what is right in front of you.
4. STRETCH PERSPECTIVE. Our minds love certainty, but growth only really begins in ambiguity and uncertainty. When we stretch our perspectives, we challenge the limits of our own understanding. This isn’t about abandoning your beliefs. It’s about confirming if they still serve you, or if they’ve become impediments to your life. Try looking at a problem from someone else’s point of view. Consider what your frustrations are teaching you. Find beauty in something you've walked past a hundred times. Stretching perspective takes courage. It requires that you purposely put yourself into situations of discomfort, to risk being wrong, to question where you place your faith, or admit that you are not who you make yourself out to be. Stretched perspective, the flexibility of mind, is the root of empathy, creativity, and resilience. We all wear invisible lenses with a world view shaped by habit, culture, fear, hope, faith, and dreams. The world doesn’t shrink when we stretch our perspective, it expands.
5. SAVORING SIMPLICITY. There is a quiet abundance, a luxury if you would, in simplicity. A well-made cup of coffee. Holding the hand of someone you love. The smell of the earth after a rainstorm. The genuine laugh of a child. The sun on your face. Warm towels straight from the dryer. A good stretch. A song from years ago that brings a smile to your face. A handwritten letter, crafted with thought. A clean workspace. A single candle flickering in the dark. The mist of an overly hot shower. Sitting on a deck before the dawn light reveals itself. These are not grand gestures. They are small acts of intentionality that invite calm into chaos. In a world that glorifies more of everything, more of our time, more tasks, more noise, more money, more things, choosing less becomes an act of grace, a decision for peacefulness. Savoring simplicity is finding satisfaction in what already is, rather than constantly chasing what could be. Choose one small thing to do today. Do it slowly, with intent, with care, and with your full attention. Let it remind you that enough is often right in front of you.
Here's to a week of giving yourself permission to stop, to breathe, to listen, to just be. And to being moved by Being Still.
For over 13 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as M5T™. He continues to relish being moved while find ways to being still.
© 2025 D. Paul Graham. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe to “Monday 5 Things” by clicking here: www.Monday5Things.com
You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com