--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Advent: the time to listen for footsteps…" description: "\"Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.\" — Bill McKibben" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg" --- # Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear… ![“Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.” quote by Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg) > “Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.” [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Listening requires stillness; you cannot hear subtle signs while you are in motion. **In simple terms:** You must be still to truly hear. Key Takeaway Pause and observe before acting. Themes mindfulness environment attention stillness Mood calming reflective Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - nature hikes - urban commutes - creative brainstorming - stress relief Key Concepts Meditation environmental awareness psychology of perception Questions to Reflect On - How do you cultivate stillness daily? - When is movement more appropriate? A Different Perspective Constant movement can be necessary in emergencies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advent/) [Advent christmas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advent-christmas/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Running](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/running/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Can you hear those footsteps behind you? 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Can't you feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-wangerin/god-is-coming-god-is-coming-all-the-element-we-swim-in-this-existence/) [Walter Wangerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-wangerin/) > [For a beggar to live at court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in his cottage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gurnall/for-a-beggar-to-live-at-court-is-not-so-much-as-the-king-to-dwell/) [William Gurnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gurnall/) > [How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? Which is more than if he had said, such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gurnall/how-can-god-stoop-lower-than-to-come-and-dwell-with-a-poor-humble/) [William Gurnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gurnall/) > [This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. 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The very word brings joy to our hearts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-winmill-brown/christmas-the-very-word-brings-joy-to-our-hearts/) Joan Winmill Brown > [The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillips-brooks/the-earth-has-grown-old-with-its-burden-of-care-but-at-christmas-it/) [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) > [It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/it-is-christmas-every-time-you-let-god-love-others-through-you/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [God is not dead; nor doth He sleep; ... The wrong shall fail, The right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/god-is-not-dead-nor-doth-he-sleep-the-wrong-shall-fail-the-right/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [Can you hear those footsteps behindd you?... Thats not me running after you... Thats karma catching up to you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynter-ryleigh/can-you-hear-those-footsteps-behindd-you-thats-not-me-running-after/) Wynter Ryleigh ## More by Bill McKibben > [I try not to be either optimistic or pessimistic. I try not to think about outcomes on that scale. My job, it seems to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-try-not-to-be-either-optimistic-or-pessimistic-i-try-not-to-think/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Oil companies are radical because they're willing to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/oil-companies-are-radical-because-they-re-willing-to-alter-the/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Whenever anyone challenges anything, the powers that be try to paint them as extremists or radicals or whatever. And I think that's actually nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/whenever-anyone-challenges-anything-the-powers-that-be-try-to-paint/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [My guess is that liberating the fossil fuel industry to frack anywhere they want will drive down the rate at which we're converting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/my-guess-is-that-liberating-the-fossil-fuel-industry-to-frack/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [What makes us different? We're the creature that can decide not to do something that we are capable of doing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/what-makes-us-different-we-re-the-creature-that-can-decide-not-to-do/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“The snow was coming down so hard. It looked like the flakes were hurrying to get out of the sky so the next ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-snow-was-coming-down-so-hard-it-looked-like-the-flakes-were/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Most of the men and women who vote in Congress each year to continue subsidies have taken campaign donations from big energy companies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/most-of-the-men-and-women-who-vote-in-congress-each-year-to-continue/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [“I’ve sat behind a microphone and listened for decades as Americans learned to stop talking with each other and start shouting instead. No discussions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/i-ve-sat-behind-a-microphone-and-listened-for-decades-as-americans/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [People in low-lying countries like Bangladesh with almost 140 million people who are managing to feed themselves, whose carbon emissions can't really be calculated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/people-in-low-lying-countries-like-bangladesh-with-almost-140-million/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We're putting more carbon into the atmosphere than the atmosphere can absorb. And everybody told us when we started, coz we knew nothing when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-re-putting-more-carbon-into-the-atmosphere-than-the-atmosphere-can/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Everything that the administration has done has been counterproductive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everything-that-the-administration-has-done-has-been-counterproductive/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [We use the web to help people organize in the flesh, and then we take the images of those events and put them back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/we-use-the-web-to-help-people-organize-in-the-flesh-and-then-we-take/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [everyone knows, at some level, that the sharp line between "good weather" and "bad weather" is a fiction, that we need rain as surely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/everyone-knows-at-some-level-that-the-sharp-line-between-good-weather/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [The thing about global warming is that you can address it on a great number of levels - in fact you have to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-thing-about-global-warming-is-that-you-can-address-it-on-a-great/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) > [Where people aren't as deeply reliant on fossil fuel as in the United States, it's far easier for them to imagine change on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/where-people-aren-t-as-deeply-reliant-on-fossil-fuel-as-in-the-united/) [Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) [Explore all 299 Bill McKibben quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/) ## More Advent quotes > [“Liturgy gathers the holy community as it reads the Holy Scriptures into the sweeping tidal rhythms of the church year in which the story…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-h-peterson/liturgy-gathers-the-holy-community-as-it-reads-the-holy-scriptures/) [Eugene H. Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-h-peterson/) > [“History reveals that times of suffering for the church have also been times of looking upward. Tribulation has always sobered God’s people and encouraged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-w-tozer/history-reveals-that-times-of-suffering-for-the-church-have-also-been/) [A.W. Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-w-tozer/) > [Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-hauerwas/advent-is-patience-it-s-how-god-has-made-us-a-people-of-promise-in-a/) [Stanley Hauerwas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-hauerwas/) > [Two hundred years ago, before the advent of capitalism, a man's social status was fixed from the beginning to the end of his life;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/two-hundred-years-ago-before-the-advent-of-capitalism-a-man-s-social/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [ Hypertext makes a virtue out of lack of organization, allowing ideas and thoughts to be juxtaposed at will. \[...\] The advent of hypertext is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-a-norman/hypertext-makes-a-virtue-out-of-lack-of-organization-allowing-ideas/) [Donald A. Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-a-norman/) > [Critics of the war plans (including myself) have pointed to the disastrous political results that must be expected: Iraq would break into three parts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uri-avnery/critics-of-the-war-plans-including-myself-have-pointed-to-the/) [Uri Avnery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uri-avnery/) > [The true sovereign is not the American president nor the English king, but the Lord of the Second Advent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-myung-moon/the-true-sovereign-is-not-the-american-president-nor-the-english-king/) [Sun Myung Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-myung-moon/) > [For years, particularly with the advent of the Internet, people have been griping about lessening attention spans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-spacey/for-years-particularly-with-the-advent-of-the-internet-people-have/) [Kevin Spacey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-spacey/) > [“It is now, at Advent, that I am given the chance to suspend all expectation...and instead to revel in the mystery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerusalem-jackson-greer/it-is-now-at-advent-that-i-am-given-the-chance-to-suspend-all/) [Jerusalem Jackson Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerusalem-jackson-greer/) > [“On this eve of Christmas, whether you feel yourself to be surrounded by earthly blessings or whether you feel your blessings to be few,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-van-der-vinne/on-this-eve-of-christmas-whether-you-feel-yourself-to-be-surrounded/) Kerry van der Vinne > [If you thought the advent of the Internet, the spread of cheap and efficient information technology, and the growing fragmentation of the consumer market…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-surowiecki/if-you-thought-the-advent-of-the-internet-the-spread-of-cheap-and/) [James Surowiecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-surowiecki/) > [I think there is no doubt that the advent of 24/7 news channels, which are voracious in their demand for constant new content, has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-abbott/i-think-there-is-no-doubt-that-the-advent-of-24-7-news-channels-which/) [Tony Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-abbott/) > [The advent of AIDS circa 1980 has really forced medicine and biology to take enormous steps just for sheer survival. The same way war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-di-filippo/the-advent-of-aids-circa-1980-has-really-forced-medicine-and-biology/) [Paul Di Filippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-di-filippo/) > [“I believe deeply that God does his best work in our lives during times of great heartbreak and loss, and I believe that much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/i-believe-deeply-that-god-does-his-best-work-in-our-lives-during/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and equality is also theirs when placed beneath it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ninon-de-l-enclos/equality-is-the-share-of-every-one-at-their-advent-upon-earth-and/) [Ninon de L'Enclos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ninon-de-l-enclos/) [Browse all 258 Advent quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advent/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bill McKibben" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps-you-can-t-hear-footsteps-when/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Advent" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps-you-can-t-hear-footsteps-when/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/bill-mckibben-1057_advent_advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps_1291908.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.” — Bill McKibben", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bill McKibben", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Advent: the time to listen for...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps-you-can-t-hear-footsteps-when/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/advent-the-time-to-listen-for-footsteps-you-can-t-hear-footsteps-when/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```