Thus ran a popular song many years ago. The world is going even faster now, or perhaps it is we who are going faster. We want to fit more and more into our twenty-four hour society, and the south-east of England where we live is faster and more complex than most places. We drive rather than walk (in spite of higher petrol prices), we do several things at once like speaking on the mobile phone while we walk the children to school. Television, computers and radios, as leisure activities, make sure that our stress levels remain high. The danger is that we do not realise that we are living on overload until symptoms appear – too well known to list here. We do not need to wait for a holiday or a break. We can take advantage of the many moments of solitude that fill our day: the early morning moments in bed before we get up; the first cup of tea or coffee, if possible alone, without the noise of radio or TV; there can be solitude in the traffic jams on the way to work. Try suggesting that the children keep silence one morning each week on the way to school. Let one room in the house be a quiet space without disturbance for a certain time each day. Outside the home, there is always a corner of a park or garden. Our churches, sadly, have to be locked due to vandalism but a key is always available nearby. To sit in a church alone is to connect with the part deep inside each of us which is always peaceful. Jesus Christ said: “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest”. We only need to say “yes”. He is as near as a prayer, if only we can find silence, which someone has said is God’s first language. We do not have to stop the world and get off. Just find ways to turn off the noise from time to time. Rosemary Drew