Silence

I listened over these last weeks, hearing patients, friends, and family members talk about what they are seeking over the winter holidays.

To summarize what I have heard in one word:

Silence.

I hear a need to quiet the chatter and clamor, internal and external.

In a world addicted to noise, where every moment is furiously filled with sound, our bodies yearn for that space where we can again hear our breath breathing life.

Where will you find silence in these next weeks?

How will you actively create space for silence?

What do your traditions teach you about silence?

What sound does silence have for you?

 

I can remember one of my first conversations with silence. 

I was on the Navajo Nation for the first time, seeing a landscape that was completely new to me. I knew cities and highways and constant noise, but I lacked an appreciation for the vastness of the desert. I was on a run (surprise!) and had gotten far from town and suddenly silence was upon me.

Silence became stillness.

I stopped moving to commune with what I was hearing.

And I was indeed hearing something.

Silence was loud, in a sense.

It was a life force pressing upon malleus, incus and stapes (bones of the ear).

Silence, I discovered, was not the absence of sound, but the presence of something. Myself. The Divine. Life speaking to me, frustrated that I had drowned it out with so much noise.

I bowed, asking for forgiveness, and continued to listen.

Stillness.

Silence.

Heartbeat pounding.

Eyes taking in the mesas before me.

 

 

My relatives, look for ways to invite silence in over these next weeks.

Know that she wants to be invited into your sphere.

She has been waiting patiently for you to seek her out.

 

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A few thoughts for your journey with silence…

Get outside and find silence in a place you have wanted to explore.

Curl up with a pen and paper and write. Or doodle.

After busy days with family, make time and space for silence before resting head to pillow.

Go screen-free for a period of time. (Try this with everyone in your house)

I will share a personal practice that I do each winter break that has been quite helpful in this quest. I shut off my phone for 9-10 days, understanding that these devices create much of the noise in our lives. After a first day where there is a legitimate withdrawal symptoms (as with any addictive substance taken away), I notice how things slow. My thinking slows. My ability to be present improves.

John Cage produced a piece 4'33'' in which the musicians are instructed to sit in silence with their instruments for the duration of the piece. As Mr. Cage says, "Everything we do is music". This is a  performance of 4'33''.