Written by Karen D. Swim
“There are times when silence has the loudest voice.” Leroy Brownlow
The cool morning air hit my face quickly awakening my senses. I tilted my head to the sky searching in the clouds for answers. Turning down the volume in my head, quieting the thoughts that fought for my attention I listened. I did not hear the rush of the wind, birds chirping or even the sound of my own footfall. I heard nothing. There was a stillness so fragile that I slowed my breathing for fear of breaking the magical moment.
Silence can be the whispering comfort that quiets your soul or the echo of your madness threatening to overtake you. It can be a sign of peace or the signal of impending doom. Silence can relax you or cause your hair to stand on end in anticipation of danger. For such a quiet little thing it has much to say.
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February 26th, 2009 on 10:15 am
A moment of perfect silence is something so rare! I don’t know how long it has been since I’ve experienced one. And this rarity might be the main reason we’re scared of it
It’s something we’re not even close to being used to, so it must be wrong.
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February 26th, 2009 on 11:17 am
We all need silence. We cannot renew ourselves intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually without it. I think we all need to make time in our day for the kind of moment you describe, Karen.
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February 26th, 2009 on 7:21 pm
There’s a certain silence you get in wilderness.
I’m not talking about a hiking trail in a crowded national park, or a busy beach.
I’m talking about going deep in the back-country…miles away from human beings…no traffic noise, no airplanes…
Maybe it’s paddling on a remote lake, Camping out in the desert. Or hiking up an isolated peak, and being the only one there.
Being so alone, tthat it’s almost scary…(What if something happened to you and they couldn’t find you?).
There’s a special kind of silence that comes with that….so quiet, you can hear the pulse beat in your ears.
it’s eerie…it’s overpowering. It’s so special, it’s hard to describe until you’ve experienced it.
I might only get to experience that a few days a year
…but when i do, it’s SO WORTH IT!
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February 27th, 2009 on 4:06 am
For me this experience of silence is combined with the experience of doing nothing – just sitting somewhere, looking at the clouds, feeling wind and sun on my skin. We are so used to be active all the time that it is very hard to just expose oneself to the surroundings, sitting still.
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February 27th, 2009 on 7:23 am
Karen,
When I value silence most is at the teacher’s office at school – it means that the lady next to me has her radio off and I can actually concentrate on preparing lesson plans.
On a more serious note, however, I think I agree with Ulla’s idea. To me, the kind of silence which I like is when you just stop and appreciate your surroundings.
Because I live in the countryside, one of the things which I like to do is to go for a peaceful walk through the nearby hills. There are plenty of spots on the tracks which I use which make great spots to just sit down and look up at the sky or listen to the wind.
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February 27th, 2009 on 5:10 pm
My late grandmother always used to say, “Silence is golden.”
I didn’t understand what she meant when I was younger, but, now, I think it’s one of the most beautiful sayings I’ve ever heard.
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March 1st, 2009 on 10:57 am
Karen – That is brilliant. There is something magical about silence. I hate when I get up too late and miss that early morning silence.
If I’m trying to write and the house is bedlam, it frazzles my brain and I feel totally stressed for the next few hours.
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March 1st, 2009 on 9:07 pm
All – I had lost my groove but got it back! Sorry for the ahem silence.
Sometimes a dose of silence, and rest does a body good. I will catch up with comments this week. Hugs to every last one of you!
Karen Swim´s last blog post..Quiet Whispers and Banging Drums: The Magical Mystery of Silence
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March 2nd, 2009 on 12:05 am
You were in the zone. Isn’t a beautiful thing?
I’m a huge fan of silence. It’s funny how when we are young we want noise and excitement. The older I get the more I enjoy quiet and silent moments.
I was walking my dog around the local elementary school and this soft gust of wind made me look up. This hawk was just gliding within the wind. It was so beautiful and what life is all about.
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