I know some people who can’t stand silence. Wherever they are, they’ll turn on a radio or sound system or tv, or at least they will talk incessantly. They’ll admit that silence bugs them.
It may be that we get addicted to drama and turbulence. We can grow so used to the noise around us that its absence can be truly frightening. Take a city dweller out to the desert and see how quickly they start climbing the walls, looking for action. They’re so unused to silence and the unfamiliar experience of nothing happening.
But we can so much more readily access deep understanding of ourselves and the world if we are able to become silent.
If we perpetuate noise and endless activity without relief, we miss opportunities to grow and to become more ourselves.
You want to find out how to be happy and fulfilled, right? If you don’t actively seek answers to your questions, if you continually distract yourself with noise, you’ll miss the boat.
Now, you might think your life is about being financially or socially successful; or about traveling to exotic places, or plotting revolutions or whatever. But unless such directives come from deep inner silence, they are likely to be delusional. It’s only when we stop and listen that we can perceive clearly.
That’s why, in the midst of a given Wednesday’s climb to the week’s summit, as you’re approaching the hump and dizzy with all the clamor and noise around and within you, opting to observe silence can be extraordinarily helpful.
I know, it’s really hard to stomp on the brakes all of a sudden, when momentum has you nearly at the crest of the mountain. You want to push over the top; you don’t want to pause.
But even a very short period of reflection will avoid wrong actions and enrich right ones. It is the least respect we can show to the powers of nature that do, after all, always have the last say. And when we listen to them, they always share wisdom with us.
So, in the midst of whirlwind getting-things-done, take the pause that refreshes.
• Stop. Everything. Take five. Inhale. Exhale.
• Listen with intention. Focus on the sound of your breath, the air conditioning hum, the street noises outside. Let thoughts come and go.
• Write with your hand in your journal. Let the pen on the page speak freely. Listen.
Then bring revelations from your silent time back into the everyday world with you.
You’ll soon come to rely on this intently quiet time for listening and journaling to help you navigate successfully through any challenge (and every Wednesday!) To neglect this practice will seem rash to you because you recognize the superior quality of insights from your silent times.
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxborrow/73187983/