The Redding HamletHub's own June Archer won First Place in the International contest (Area level) Here is the text from her speech. It has a message for us all!
The Quiet Toastmaster
We do a lot of talking in Toastmasters, don’t we? We talk, we think on our feet. We write outlines for speeches, flesh them out, and then walk to the stage to present. We use different techniques – vocal variety, body language, humor, and persuasiveness. Our heads are full of talk, talk, talk – as well as HOW to talk, talk, talk!
This evening I’d like to talk to you about not talking. I’d like to talk about how to refuel our lives and our minds by getting rid of noise and distractions. I’d like to talk to you about QUIET.
In her beautiful book, Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote about time spent away from her family and friends - and from the notoriety that came with being the wife of one of the world's most famous men. She goes to the shore where she has time to read and write and think. She watches the waves come in and out, she listens to the sea birds, and she collects shells. But Lindbergh talks specifically about 'being alone' and how most people are afraid to be alone. Somehow, 'alone' connotes loneliness or unpopularity. She notes that even if we do not have a trusted friend around to fill up our free time with idle chatter, we can always rely on the television or radio to fill up the space.
Quiet time comes at a premium. There aren’t even too many places where we are asked to be quiet anymore – expect perhaps the library or that announcement that comes just before a movie begins in the theater.
Do we really welcome quiet? How many of us get to Friday afternoon and say, "Oh thank God, it's Friday! I can finally get some peace and quiet!" But what do we do? We spend our weekend running here and there, doing errands, and attending different functions. Sunday night comes in the blink of an eye and we realize we've had no quiet time at all.
I think a lot of us do many things to crowd quiet out of our lives. I'd like to suggest three ways to let quiet in.
Throw it out, write it down, and turn it off.
When I say 'throw it out' I am referring to the 'stuff' we keep year after year - you know, the stuff you haven't looked at for two years or more that's taking up space somewhere in your environment? Things that you don't use anymore or that are obsolete or are just plain junk. I'm not talking about sentimental items that bring back good memories. We all have those as well and those are things we should keep. But getting rid of the clutter helps us to simplify our lives and not worry about what to do with all that stuff.
Probably the biggest way we can bring quiet into our lives is to ‘turn it off.’ Turn of the smart phone. Turn off the TV. Turn off the noise. When Webster's was looking for new words to include in the dictionary at the end of last year, one of the candidates was the acronym "FOMO" which stands for Fear Of Missing Out. Smart phones promote that fear, don't they? The average person picks up their smart phone 36 times a day - even when it's not making any noise. Heaven forbid we miss an email or a text or that cat video that's gone viral on the Internet! Turn it off.
Quiet time comes at a premium. Toastmasters teaches us to talk. But Toastmasters also teaches us to listen. We can continue to keep quiet out of our lives or we can invite it in by throwing out the clutter, writing down our thoughts, and turning off the noise. When we do these three things, we will have find more time to listen - to ourselves. No one will even have to ask us to be quiet. We will welcome every opportunity that comes along.