There are very few times when living in anywhere except a rural area when you can actually hear the sound of silence. Yes, there is a sound to silence, a very faint one, but it is there occasionally. This morning as I was walking the dogs in the light mist swirling through the stale air, I heard the sound of silence. It was the point at which I could hear nothing but my thoughts and the wet slap of my boots hitting the pavement. There were no car engines, no animals screeching in the early morning, no birds tweeting away, no cacophonous highway sounds perpetually assaulting my sense; there was nothing. It is very rare, especially where I live so close to the center of our small town with a highway dissecting it, to hear nothing. There always seems to be at least one car traveling somewhere, either home from a late night partying or the early morning commuters heading to work before the world awakens. Normally you can hear the incessant buzz of the highway like a band of cicadas perpetually playing their monotonous tune. Yet, for a brief period, there was silence. I could barely even hear the dogs breathing. It seemed like a veil had been draped over our town for a little while, deafening all sound. For me, the sound of silence brings such tranquility and peace, an easing of the spirit like the soft touch of a baby's hand. I paused this morning, briefly, and listened for anything. There was nothing for about a minute. I sucked it in, let my thoughts drift away, and just walked. I didn't think about my sore muscles from power washing the past few days, I barely even knew I was walking my dogs, I just let the mist create tiny little drops on my face and kept on walking. I probably won't get another moment of silence like that for quite some time, but I take them when I can, sucking the life out of them till the noises return. I listen to my breath flowing in and out, and just let everything be. I think part of the reason I noticed the silence to begin with was because it was soon after waking, no coffee flowing through my body yet, and my brain still oiling the gears in preparation for the thoughts of the day. I love silence, not all the time, but I do love it. Yes, technically there is no sound to silence, but it sounds better in a weird sort of way if you say there is sound to it.
There are times when I am working that I prefer to work in silence. I find that while music motivates me a lot of the time, I also enjoy just letting my hands and arms do their work while I let my thoughts drift away, fade into the distance as I let go of any worries or stresses. People ask me all the time how I can enjoy painting, such a tedious and messy task for so many, yet for me, a meditative action that brings peace and not stress. Most times, a day at work flies by, regardless of what I am doing, my actions taking care of themselves. There are times when I wonder how I ended up at the end of the day. Silence is so hard to come by these days that I cherish it when I am surrounded by it. Too often there is the incessant buzz of electronics in our home, cars driving, the sounds of life all around us. I don't think that many people know what absolute silence is actually like. There are those that can't fall asleep without white noise in the background. We get so accustomed to the sounds of every day life that it may seem like silence to us, yet it truly isn't. Even on my walk this morning, I am sure that I automatically filtered out some of the sounds, not because I didn't hear them, but because my brain wanted silence. When we are surrounded by silence, it can be incredibly disconcerting at times. Without sounds consistently bombarding us, our brains take over make us hear more sounds, little ones, the ones that can freak us out if we think too much about them. There are times when I go camping in Vermont by myself that I too get on edge when there are no sounds. When I am in the middle of the woods with no wind blowing through the trees, no cars in the distance, and only a fire crackling softly, I sometimes start to hear little sounds in the woods. The silence usually doesn't bother me unless one of my dogs perks up and looks into the woods as if something dark and scary was moving there. Those are the times I freak out a little. Yet, I am also grateful at those times when I have my dogs because if they weren't there, I would probably lock myself in my car and not come out for the rest of the night. Its that fear of the unknown, not knowing what is beyond the dim light cast by the fire, what is beyond that first line of trees at the edge of the clearing that my mind loves to entertain. Yet I still love the silence, even in the woods.
How often do we search for sounds to fill up our day, to keep our mind focused on everything other than ourselves. Silence allows us the rare opportunity to look within for a brief period and see what is going on inside of us. There are no distractions, just our solitary selves. How many of us can deal with ourselves in silence and for how long? How long can we simply sit and be without action or noise to distract us? I haven't tried just sitting for a long time, but whenever I am engulfed by silence, I take at least a few moments to let myself just be. In this day and age when we are constantly engulfed by the sounds of life, I think it is necessary to balance out the noise with a little silence. We would be nowhere if we didn't have balance, and too often we go to the extremes of filling ourselves with too much crap. Today, I recommend taking 5 minutes, putting your phone in another room, turning off all possible electronics, and simply sit in silence. It may not be perfect silence, but see how long you can sit for. I guarantee that if you haven't sat in silence for a while, 5 minutes will feel like half an hour. Let your mind be quiet, let your thoughts drift inwards, and don't worry or stress about anything. When the silence is gone, those stresses and worries will be right where you left them, unless that is you decide during the silence that they aren't worth it and you can do without them. That would be nice, but not necessarily realistic for everyone. For me, I will be power washing all day so my silence was on my walk this morning. I don't know when I will get the silence back, but I will make time for it if I don't get it soon.
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