How hard is it for you to sit in absolute silence?
Tonight - it's beyond difficult. It is 2am and I cannot sleep. No, I am not stressed about anything (believe it or not!) nor did I consume any caffeine today (a first!) However, laying in the dark was brutal.. the silence deafening.
I think if I were surrounded by tons of people all the time, I would probably crave the silence. However, as luck would have it, I get as much silence as I want. No kids, no pets, and my husband is a fairly quiet man.
I find that when I am around people with a lot of "hustle & bustle" going on, I tend to find it almost jarring. I do like to be invigorated, but I suppose I prefer it on my own terms.
I did experience a weekend of silence once. I booked a weekend at the St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama. It is a Benedictine monastery. To see more about my visit click here. What I found to be the most difficult part of the journey was the absolute silence I had to surround myself with. My mind tends to rattle on and on.. and sitting alone with my thoughts actually made me very sad.
It was a different time and place - my egyptian was still in Egypt, I had received a not-so-great review at work, I was living alone... it was just a tough place to be. I went seeking solace and comfort in a weekend of meditation and spiritual healing - and ended up feeling bare to the bone in who I was.
Libraries, doctor's offices, meetings, testing, elevators - these are just a few places we have to discipline ourselves to just be silent.
If I really need absolute silence - I head straight to my tub for a bubble bath. I have a large garden tub, I throw in the bubbles and light a few candles and I just soak away my cares.
Where do you go for silence? How do you react when you have no choice but to be silence?
