Life has been such a whirlwind for me in recent months that I feel a bit like a patchwork quilt. Although I think sometimes that I don’t have time for one more thing, periods of peace and quiet become so much more important when life is so intense. Whether this is meditation time, yoga time, sitting quietly with a cup of tea, chopping and cooking dinner, or puttering around in the garden and weeding, doesn’t matter much. It is very tempting to check email or Facebook or whatever else several times a day. But I found that that is exactly what I need to refrain myself from doing. It is like letting go of the stream of thoughts when we quiet the mind. Remove the irrelevant distracting stuff. Focus on what matters. We all need such contemplative time to be with ourselves and turn inward, to settle, to ground ourselves, so we don’t become fragmented. Quiet time is when I collect all those patches and sew them back together.