Time For Reflection

Reflection can be a powerful tool to ensure we're focusing on the things that bring us the most joy.

Living simply does not guarantee that one will have time for reflection, but having fewer distractions does make finding the time more likely.

"Coming home from an Ozark jaunt the other afternoon, it occurred to me again how hard it is, in this modern world, to find time for reflection, for ordered thinking. 

Perhaps the age we live in is against us-the monotony or extreme tension of the daily task, the bombardment of our senses by a thousand distractions, the strange belief that only through amusement can we secure relaxation, even the state of world stress and uncertainty. 

The printing press, the air waves, the image on the silver screen-these instruments to fill our leisure rob us of this most precious possession." 

- Leonard Hall

Leonard Hall was an outdoorsman, writer, wildlife photographer, farmer, and lecturer.  

His book Stars Upstream: Life Along an Ozark River chronicles life along the Current and Jacks Fork rivers in the Missouri Ozarks.

First published in 1958, it is an example of one man's love for the land and of a way of life in danger of being lost.

Unfortunately, all the things Hall wrote about have ratcheted up since his time.

Finding time for reflection and ordered thinking has never been more difficult.

Not finding the time has never been more dangerous.

Living a more simple life can help.