My power went out around 2am Thursday morning. I woke up around 3:30am and noticed everything was more noticeably dark and eerily quiet. I had no Wi-Fi. The usual gurgling of water in my Aerogarden was silent. I showered with no music and I wrote my morning pages by candlelight. I noticed how I strangely welcomed the quietude. It was a new way to begin the day- in silent reverence to the natural rhythm of the earth. I sipped my coffee and watched the gentle and gradual way my morning started as the sun rose.

I went to the office, and returned home later to a dark and quiet home. It was strange but also, a much-needed and pleasant change to the usual action-packed evenings I sometimes have. I stretched and did yoga by candlelight, rehearsing sequences I’d remembered from earlier classes. Without music or any instructor to follow, it was just me. My breath. My thoughts.

I drew a hot bath with epsom salts and soaked by candlelight, welcoming the silence and the darkness.

Yesterday I realized how much of our lives are driven by electricity and batteries- our computers, lights, Wi-Fi, televisions, phones.

The lights are back on today, but I won’t soon forget how badly my nervous system needed a deliberate pause and break from always being ‘on’ and ‘plugged in.’

Sometimes it’s good to unplug. To disconnect from the world. To sit with the unknown, where newsfeeds and social media are muted. Where you’re not consumed with the past or worrying about the future. Welcome to the generous present moment. You’ll find that this is the magic space where you can connect deeper with yourself and fully recharge physically, mentally, and emotionally.