Silence is golden

Photo - Guillaume-de-germain

Oh, my goodness, the world is noisy these days.  Electric lawnmowers back in action as the growing season starts, phones beeping everywhere, airplanes overhead, cars, washing machine, TV’s.  Noise, noise, noise everywhere which for many of us means stress, stress, stress everywhere.  

We have become so accustomed to it that we almost don’t notice that continuous background racket increases our stress levels.  Everyone is having to speak more loudly (which requires more energy) as they chat over the messages over the PA system in the supermarket, the radio in the friend’s home, or the trainee pilots flying their two seaters overhead.  

Give me a Break!  Some peace and quiet required here.  Struggling to be heard over the music or having conservation interrupted by the beep of personal messages makes us cross and irritable.  

Retreating to silence for a few days can give us some welcome respite, though this is not easy in this time of restrictions.  So where and how can I drink of that much longed for nectar of silence?  Where can I find that peace so badly needed at this time?  

Deep within ourselves is where we find that ‘Peace which passeth all understanding’. There are many online Mindfulness classes and plenty of books available on the topic and here are some simple steps which may help.

1.       Turn off all electronic devices for a while every day.  Phones, laptops, radios, washing machines all turned off and enjoy the luxury of that silence.  At the beginning this can feel really strange but before long we begin to remember how much we enjoy peace and quiet and how refreshing it feels to be without electronic stimulation for a while.

2.       Sit in the Silence for a while and notice how your feeling – what’s happening in your body? In your head?  Are you aware that your heart is racing, that your breathing has become shallow, that you’re feeling peckish?  Or that you are really irritated, tired, or off kilter? 

With so much noise going on outside we can become disconnected from our own bodies and miss some of the important messages it is sending us for our own health and well-being and peace of mind.

3.       Walk somewhere in nature – in silence.  No audio book playing, no minicomputer counting your steps, no phone pinging.   Just a good old-fashioned walk.  The body needs a rest, the mind does too – we all need a time to be quiet, to listen in to the voice of our intuition, an opportunity to hear that ‘still small voice’ within. 

With so much virtual communication these days many of us are exhausted and over stimulated.  We crave some rest even if we are ignoring that still small voice inside.  It’s time to treat ourselves to that most nourishing of nutrients, the sound of silence. Time to notice how much we have been craving some quiet time.  Time to just rest awhile.  

Time to sit in silence.