Reclaiming Quiet: Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention

by Sarah Clarkson

In a noisy world, the cultivation of quiet may feel like a luxury you do not have. But it is also vital to your spiritual life. When we spend our days distracted by social media, news, entertainment, and jam-packed schedules, we make it nearly impossible to experience the kind of thought life that allows us to grow into the people God created us to be--to become more and more like Jesus. We're too busy and distracted to notice the people and situations God has placed in our path for our spiritual benefit.

Reclaiming Quiet is your invitation to discover the profound joy of resisting our cultural obsession with distraction and instead cultivating a life of holy attention. With practical strategies to add stillness, listening, and rest into your daily rhythms, this book shows you how to
· care for your inner life
· listen to the voice of God in the everyday
· stay grounded in the now while looking with hope and expectation to the future

You're more than a viewer, a user, or a consumer. You are a child of God, a recipient of his grace, a disciple who is seeking to follow him more closely. It's time to reclaim all that. It's time to seek out some holy quiet.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian Living, Christian, Audiobook, Faith, Christianity, Theology

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2024

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

Reviews

[Cindy Rollins]

I am not going to rate this book as I think I was too old to appreciate it. There were great moments in it. But I have been through too much to relate to much of the angst. I think this is a kind of book that is a five for the right audience.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep a shelf on Goodreads called "interior life" for books that explore the inner worlds of characters. I love entering a fictional inner landscape, and respect authors who can construct one well. Reclaiming Quiet is about the inner world, ways to explore it, honor it, and return to it in wilderness seasons.

There are few authors who I'd turn to on the subject of quiet. A vicar's wife/mother of four children is one I respect. She writes honestly, without oversharing, about how the demands of her life and mental illness invade her inner life, with the undercurrent of God's grace.

In Endō Shūsaku's novel Sachiko, a character writes, "Through my reading of literature, I came to understand that every person has a life of real depth." (367) Reclaiming Quiet invites us to explore those inner worlds, in ourselves and others and in literature, and to nurture our inner selves well. Moms like Clarkson are simply too wise to offer "advice" like schedules and limiting internet usage. You'll have to exercise your own imagination and come up with a way to cultivate quiet on your own, following the desire sure to be awakened by reading Reclaiming Quiet.

Each chapter concludes with a prayer and questions for pondering. Here is my favorite prayer from the end of chapter 10 (p. 158):

O God, who speaks in story, sings in starlight, and crafts an inmost world within our hearts, teach us to look beyond the surface of the outer world as through a window, beholding the wondrous light that falls upon us from the realms of heaven. Help us to nourish our inmost selves, to keep airy and clean that room where our dreams dwell and our hope waits and the doors to all creation are in our grasp. Help us to trust the great stories, to live the great songs, to fight the dragons and keep the feasts, through Christ, the Great Knight of heaven and of our yearning hearts. Amen.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no qualms with the message. It’s hard to imagine someone arguing that anxiety would not lessen with more intentionality and fewer distractions, more real relating and fewer distant comparisons, more quiet and attentiveness and less scrambling.

Nothing compels me to recommend this particular version of this trending idea. If you like her writing style, you might as well get it here. It isn’t my cup of tea—ironic when talking about her or her family—but I read it as it was for a book club.

With no desire to be harsh, her forms of disquiet and cause of unrest would probably have been better left abstract and not specified. Her life seems absolutely idyllic.

I’d recommend “12 ways your phone is changing you” if looking into phone detox particularly. Or “Enjoy your prayer life” by Reeves if ordering your prayer life, manageably but meaningfully. “Wintering” by Katherine May is on my TBR once I get my turn after hundreds of others in the library. It looks like the secular counterpart to Sarah’s idea, more compelling and satisfying, as I think the line of people to read it and numbers of reviews would attest.

UPDATE: I finished Katherine May’s “Wintering”, which did not end up satisfying as an alternative. But I absolutely have one to recommend: “Happiness: a very short introduction” by Daniel M. Haybron via Oxford. While not having finished it, I feel safe guessing it will be one of my most influential lifelong reads—and I am comfortable making that massive of a claim. It gets far beyond trending strategies and complaints to the more satisfying deep questions, stares inconsistencies in the face, and addresses the more honest question of what happiness is, how is it measured, and variables for it. It is changing my thinking for the better. 100% recommend.

[Whitney Newby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah's gorgeous writing offers a much-needed refuge in a world filled with noise, inspiring readers to cultivate a rich inner life. This book has come at the perfect time for me, helping me to seek stillness and quiet in the middle of a very busy season. I loved it!

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Clarkson has written yet another beautiful book. Her latest, Reclaiming Quiet, opens with the language of Annie Dillard or Mary Oliver as she speaks about the magical quietness needed to see a kingfisher in the wild. She then invites you to the 'kitchen table within her soul', to a world that is more kind, more hopeful, and more still, where the soul can connect with God. Into the atmosphere of her writing comes the likes of Marilynne Robinson or Brother Lawrence, rich in spiritual imagery, as she talks about the yearning within us for peace and inner quiet. I was left feeling both lighter and richer after reading this book. “If there was one thing I had pondered…it was just this: how to dwell in the kind of quiet that opens one up to the gifts and wonder of the world.”

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah’s prose flows like poetry, and I love that in every instance she wrote about, I can picture the place and feel the atmosphere. So much of what she writes is very relatable, and I think that’s why so many women, myself included, find comfort in her words and ideas. This book needed to be said, especially in this day and age when quiet is not something valued or sought. Not only does it offer the why of the importance of quiet, but Sarah also shares her own journey of reclaiming this for herself, which I think is key for us to see how we need it in our own lives. I loved the prayers and thought-provoking questions she included at the end of each chapter as a way to process the thoughts that emerged while reading it. A very inspiring book!

[Abigail Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite reads of the year! Sarah, as a mother of four little ones, shares realistic reflections on the challenges and benefits of cultivating quiet in one’s life and home— and this doesn’t have to mean absolute silence 😉 I truly benefited from reading this book and found it to be beautifully crafted, helpfully relatable, and noble in its vision.

[Carrie Brownell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The theme of my year (Lord willing!) is quiet. I very much enjoyed diving in to Sarah Clarkson's musings on what it means to be quiet in a world that resists such a thing. The book felt like a very encouraging and pleasant discussion on the topic and I walked away with a lot of things to mull over.

[Rae Slabach · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a stunning book… I would give it 10 stars if I could. I took almost an entire month to read it so I could go very slowly, digesting the many morsels of wisdom on each page. I found Sarah‘s musings on holy quiet and practical ways to shape our lives around it so attainable and rich and beautiful. This is not a self-help book, or a big list of how to’s… but one that takes us to the heart of the matter and offers wisdom for crafting our lives around the inner stillness we crave most.

[Minte · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was almost entirely useless. I read this with a book club, otherwise I would not have finished it. While I think the author is probably an interesting person with whom I would, for the most part, agree when it comes to Big Ideas, this was such a poorly written book. She has no thesis. She never defines quiet. She never defines holy attention. It has way too many poetic ramblings, and while I appreciate poetry, these often feel contrived, as well as wholly out of place in a book that you think will be helpful for personal growth. The chapter titles give no idea as to what they involve, and the content is all over the place and largely given to personal angst and repeatedly mentioning that the author went to Oxford. I know, and know of, a lot of great people who went to Oxford, but I think they are great because of the true ideas they clearly express, not because they spent time in a specific locale. So less time talking about the humble-brag portions of her life, and more time given to writing with clarity, would be better! In this book, she tries to express a few true ideas, even citing that she has read them in great authors, but they are so clouded over by modern blog style and language--or even rambling Facebook post style!!! so reprehensible in a published work!--, and so obscured by her repeated forays into descriptive language and personal dramas, that it's nearly impossible to get at them. Our book club was stymied and kept trailing off into silence, trying to figure out what to say.

In her attempts to reclaim quiet, she shreds it to pieces and gives it all these false attributes like "shape" and "cadence." Because quiet has never been defined, there is no place for these definitions and descriptions to land. Is she talking about rest? Is she talking about peace? It's totally ambiguous. Far from reclaiming quiet, we are left in an even bigger sea of confusion about it. The ideas in each chapter are truncated from one another and so, while you think you agree with them individually, there is just no following the argument--because the book HAS no argument.

This book feels like something the author had to write to clear her mind and feel some closure, which she even mentions being the case due to her personal anxiety and her academic momentum being stopped by having children. Unfortunately it's not a book I think very many people need to read, and I definitely think it needed a better editor.

While I don't think every book needs to be useful, per se, this markets itself as a book that would be. One friend remarked it would be better retitled and sold as a memoir. Then you'd at least know what you're getting into! Another friend mentioned she wanted to hear more details from the great authors Clarkson mentioned--I say just read them instead.

Just one star, but it's earned because she does share the Gospel.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so lovely, and reading it is a breath of quiet. It arrived exactly when I needed a bit of extra quiet, with two months of illness in my house, followed by the sudden death of my father the week before Christmas. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing these much needed words with us. I plan to read it again, soon.

2025 - Reading a second time through with two dear friends. This book is such a gift.

[Chris Diehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just started this book and am loving it already. I like the way she talks about adding in the things that give life more fullness rather than subtracting the things we all know don’t foster the inner peace we long for.

[Janessa Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this and find myself wanting to go back and immediately read it again. A favorite read of this year.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely Lenten read and one I'll be returning to often over time because there is so much here to soak in and then live out.

[Kara Tomlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Clarkson’s writing always makes me feel like I’m talking with a kindred spirit. This book is both grounding and uplifting. This collection of thoughts and longings are so relatable to those of us in the online and postmodern world, and it is wonderful to walk through them with Sarah as your guide.

This book makes the case for the value of a holy quiet in the life of the Christian, and Clarkson asserts that such a quiet is rare today. She calls the reader to examine their own lives to find this holy quiet through moments of memoir, theology, and literature.

I was given an advance copy of this book for my honest review.

[Laura Scala · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the first sentence, my gut reaction was to grab a pencil and start drawing a line through all the unnecessary words. Once I let go of that notion and tried to appreciate the book for what it was, it earned my three star review. Good points were made. Nothing changed my life.

[Natalie Herr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle treatment on the art of embracing the quiet. This is definitely one I should have read more slowly- the language itself invites you to linger and slowly consider. I’ll take all the encouragement toward slowness that comes my way.

[Macy Frederick]

Read this for a church book club. The ideas were not unfamiliar to me, but it did inspire several good thoughts that I have been reflecting on, including the power of friendship/community to recenter our unsettled souls, and the way a life of prayer resists living in distraction, numbness, or despair. I appreciated how she discussed many different things that bring her to the quiet place - not just solitude but birds, poetry, children's books, long car rides, etc. I think she rightly describes "inner quiet" not as feeling perfect peace, but as both 1. being awake to what is already in front of us and 2. waiting on the Lord to feed our spiritual hunger.

[Jessica Telian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book is such a gift, and one that I desperately needed right now. I didn't think anything could top Sarah's "This Beautiful Truth", but this just might! It turned all my previous ideas of quiet and the "shoulds" of following God on their heads, and is a glorious breath of fresh air. I don't think I've ever read a book so infused with God's love and goodness to us. So very thankful for Sarah sharing her hard-fought wisdom and insight on this topic so beautifully.

[Lisa Holt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This does not seem to have been written as a help to others. This seems more like it was written so the author could prove something to herself or to someone else. Lofty language detracted from the beautiful message and then I abandoned it completely during all the Tolkien talk as I was really hoping for Scripture references.

[Rachel Mayes Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Clarkson is just an absolute joy and delight, and this book represents all the things I've loved about her other books: a realistic view of life in a fallen world, an affirmation of the goodness of God in the midst of it, and beautiful prose to communicate those truths. Really lovely reading.

[Gianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah's book is a gentle invitation to let God draw us into his morning quiet through moments and slivers of attention through our busy days. One splinter of quiet-heartedness at a time, she draws us into holy rest and a sense of being truly held.

[Ella Edelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this (audio)book up after a recent conversation with my spiritual director about quiet and the lack of it in my life of late, and it was the perfect companion as I think about what that looks like amidst a hurried, stressful year when I struggle to find moments of uninterrupted quiet that aren't filled with activity of some kind or another. Sarah's wisdom and humility, her quiet insistence that silence is at the heart of the spiritual life and as such is worth fighting for, was what I needed to hear. She has an older sister vibe that sometimes I don't realize how much I long for, and a winsome way of weaving her own stories and experience with theology, literary examples, and church practices. I found her book both theoretical and practical in balanced measure, and look forward to returning to it often. I especially think it makes for excellent Advent reading.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am I the only one who struggles with Sarah’s writing?? The message was good but the wording is so pretentious and if I heard the word “cadence” one more time I thought I might scream. Maybe I am just a happy dummy and Sarah is Oxford-educated but I just struggled to relate to her writing. I love Sally Clarkson’s writing as it is much more relatable for me. I’m sorry, I wanted to like it but couldn’t get through it.

[Ginny Yurich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. It is deeply touching and deeply thought-provoking. I loved the prayers at the end of each chapter as well. ❤️ Beautiful book! I’m so glad I read it!

[Meghan Safstrom Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

“…these words have helped me to understand, that in creating spaces of quiet, whether by joining those crafted by the larger worshipping church, or claiming them in the small drama of my own days, I am enacting and inhabiting God’s story. When I choose to shape the hours of my life in such a way — that they become the space in which I listen for God’s voice, and expect his arrival — I am entering the Christian way of understanding time, as redeemed from a fallen cascade into disaster by the arrival of God himself in the circles of our embodied days.”



Oh my… this book was like the strongest, heartiest warm hug alongside a calming cup of tea; I truly relished each chapter. I appreciate Sarah’s voice & story-telling flair, as she has a way of painting marvelous pictures with words. Quiet has been such a longtime friend (and sometimes a friend I’m scared of?) of mine for many years, but (like Sarah!) has felt distant or less accessible in my current moment of motherhood. Her words both soothed & convicted me into renewed and new ways of being present with my Lord in that sacred space. Highly, highly recommend.

[Susan B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Clarkson writes beautifully, with a depth that takes time to soak in. This is a book that requires more than a once-over and produces plenty of highlighting and pondering.

Sarah is living proof that quiet does not require silence and solitude, just a heart that is willing to focus on God. One of my favourite suggestions is to choose a colour and use it to remind yourself of God's presence and blessing throughout the day; use it as a touchstone of gratitude.

I'll be returning to this one and look forward to reading her other titles, starting with 'This Beautiful Truth.'

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my new favorite Sarah Clarkson book. Each chapter kept getting better. I had so many thoughts and I wish I could get them out in writing, but as I'm just recovering from a terrible stomach bug, I don't have the stamina to try.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who has ever thought to themselves, “I need to put away this phone and find some peace and quiet,” should read this book.

[Hannah Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is very poetic in her descriptions, so much so to the point that I got lost and had trouble understanding where she was going. We disagree a bit theologically, but she still offered up some great points about choosing to rest in the quiet.