Fear of Silence

Wherever we go these days, we are bombarded by sounds.  They can range anywhere from the normal background noises we experience during our day to the music or TV we seek to fill the silence with.  There seems to be a growing inability on the part of most people to surround themselves with silence or embrace any lack of noise they might experience.  To be fair, it is extremely hard to eliminate all noise from our surroundings.  Whether we are in a house surrounded by the hum of appliances and the ticking of clocks (for those of you who don't have digital clocks everywhere) or in the outside world where even at four in the morning you can still hear cars traveling in the distance or the sirens of emergency vehicles racing; silence is hard to come by.  But even with these relatively non-existent sounds provided by our environment, we seek to fill the emptiness with more noise.  Most people have lost the ability to exist for even  part of the day in silence.  Well, why should people let silence in when we have the ability to fill it with noise and clatter?  Perhaps more importantly, why does there seem to be a fear of silence and what it might bring about?  Whatever the noise may be, music, TV, news; it all removes our ability to be with ourselves, to think, and to perhaps look inside ourselves and seek to understand more of who we are.  When we exist in silence, we may think of things we have to do, tasks at work to be completed, or chores around the house; but in the end, all thoughts lead back to ourselves, who we are, and how we operate. 

Looking at ourselves without the distraction of added noise can be a scary thing for a lot of people.  It means coming to terms with the possibility that maybe we aren't in a place in life that we would like to be or it might mean realizing that we could improve our relationships with others.  Regardless of where our thoughts might lead us in silence, it means coming to terms with who we are, here and now, and facing that reality.  How can we possibly seek to improve ourselves if we can't honestly look at where we currently are in life?  Silence affords us the ability to honestly look at ourselves without distraction.  Yet it seems more and more people are unwilling or unable to turn off the noise in their lives and simply sit and exist in thought.  I have the ability as a contractor to either fill my day with endless music from my ipod or radio or dare I say it, work in silence.  Silence, while allowing us to look honestly at ourselves, also allows us to be more attentive to the world around us, how it sounds, and how it affects us.  For me, there are days where I have music going non stop, but there are more days where I simply let silence surround me.   Yet even during days of silence, nothing is silent.  Currently I am working outside and despite the lack of artificial noise, I am surrounded by the sounds of nature.  In addition to looking inward with my thoughts, I have become more attuned to the different sounds of nature.  I can tell the difference between the chirping of a chipmunk (yes they do chirp) and the twittering of a bird.  I can tell the difference between dead leaves falling from trees to the soft patter of rain drops beginning to fall.  While these may not seem like world shattering realizations, they have made me realize how complex nature really is and how we fit into the mix.  Silence for me is wonderful.  My thoughts are free to explore the world and myself and quite often, the time passes more quickly. 

Silence is not something that should be feared, but rather an emptiness that should be embraced.  Silence has turned into an unsettling experience for many, but for me, it brings me peace and calm.  Perhaps people find silence unsettling because they are afraid of what they might find when they look at themselves.  Perhaps there is a fear of the unknown that silence ushers in and forces us to confront.  Regardless of the reason, silence is a path that most people don't want to travel down and discover what waits for them.  Imagine if everyone embraced a little more silence in their lives.  I can imagine people being more settled, level headed, and peacefu;, but perhaps that is just me being optimistic.  I know that after reading this, people may give silence a try (as if it were a miracle drug), and many will go running back to their noisy worlds afterwards.  For me, I will embrace silence as often as I can, allowing it to take me down undiscovered paths, allowing my mind to wander, to inspect myself, and perhaps improve myself in the process.  Who knows?  Wherever silence leads me, I will follow it.  I could go on about silence, but to be perfectly honest, I am exhausted and need some more coffee.  So until next time, embrace a little silence, even for 5 minutes and see what happens.  Trust me, the world will probably not end in that time.