A Lighter Way 20: Stop, Look, and Listen
Oct 03, 2026Reflection:
I need to preface this blog post with the fact I am not an alumnus of Wisdom Tree Collective’s Spiritual Direction program, nor am I an employee. Recently I attended the WTC alumni retreat at The Monastery of Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana. My wife, Katie Rea, is both a graduate and employee of WTC, and I was graciously invited to join the retreat as a friendly yet familiar outsider.
For more than thirty years, my professional life has been rooted in consulting and enforcement of workplace safety and health, in both in field and management roles. This is the origin of my title, the century old safety slogan of “Stop, Look, and Listen.” On the surface, it may sound cliché, yet each of those steps, including “stop” requires intentional action for what on the surface appears to be an inaction.
Yes, inaction requires conscious action.
Science has shown that these functions engage different parts of the brain and require them to work collectively, thereby reducing complicity and accidents. The most effective and documented version of this is the Japanese technique of Shisha Kanko, or Point-and-Call. In Japan, it has been proven to reduce accidents by nearly 85% since its inception in the 1930s.
My career has required several thousand hours of training covering a large range of disciplines: legal aspects, investigative techniques, effective interviewing techniques, government executive leadership, Chemical Process Safety Management (PSM), Shisha-Kanko, Rule 31 Civil Mediation, Post Incident Critical Stress Debriefing, among others. I’m also a graduate of Education for Ministry (EfM) through the University of the South, Sewanee.
Why list all of this resembling a rambling LinkedIn page? Because each discipline had the following in common: they each incorporated creating a space, sometimes just a momentary mental space, to stop what you are doing, take in what you see and engage in active listening. Speaking or formulating answers are not an initial step, whether engaged in theological reflection, mediating a workplace conflict, or investigating a tragic accident.
So what does any of this have to do with the WTC alumni retreat?
The retreat had two parts. In the first, I participated in a joint spiritual direction session with two WTC graduates, discussing a specific spiritual struggle I have been carrying for five years. The two directors, Chuck and Darrell, sat and let me download as they both stopped, looked, and listened to me as their directee. Their guidance came only after I had finished, it was not peppered or interjected before, much like the techniques embedded within my past professional training.
Part two was a silent retreat. Me, in a silent retreat? I know what those of you who know me are thinking, even WTC founder Kasey Hitt, publicly called me out “Garrett, GARRETT” as we entered silence. She knows me all too well.
But guess what? I didn’t say a single word for probably the longest stretch of my life since I first learned to talk. And honestly? It was refreshing. I had space to stop, look, and listen to everything happening around me, whether I was eating a meal, reading a historical memoir for a church history project, or walking the monastery grounds.
We are all busy. We all feel pressure. We all feel the need to be heard, especially in today’s world. But I propose what we really need, in more situations than we realize, is simply to stop, look, and listen. Take in all the data without jumping to answers or additional questions. Give yourself time to discern quietly, use silence, even if it crosses the time threshold into awkwardness. And then ask yourself, is speaking or offering an answer even necessary here. Your litmus test is: “Will it add value?” or am I adding more white noise?
Try it. Stop. Look. Listen. Hold the momentary silence. The results may surprise you.
Exercise: Practicing Stop, Look, Listen
Choose one ordinary moment today—pouring coffee, walking to your car, sitting at a red light.
- Stop Pause your movement. Let your shoulders drop. Notice the impulse to keep going.
- Look Take in your surroundings without evaluating them. Colors, shapes, light, movement. Let your eyes rest on one thing for a full breath.
- Listen Notice the layers of sound: near, far, mechanical, human, natural. Then listen inward—your breath, your body, your emotional tone.
Hold this space for ten seconds. No fixing. No answering. No planning. Just presence.
Repeat once or twice throughout the day. Let it become a quiet calibration point.
Blessing:
In The Morning
“This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.”
Pg 461 Book of Common Prayer 1979
Episcopal Church Publishing Group
More information about Shisha Kanko: Japan Points the Way to Better Safety
This reflection is by Garrett Rea, supporter and friend of WTC.
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