The Value of Silence

Lately I've come to value silence even more than I used to. I've moved to a new location within the building where I work and the music over the loudspeakers is constant. In my previous location I had asked to have the speakers turned off, but here I'm in a more open space and the other people around apparently like the constant music. Sometimes I'm able to tune it out, but sometimes it seems to drive itself straight into my brain. I'm not sure what it's supposed to accomplish, if it's supposed to make people work harder or faster, but it just makes me nervous.

At lunchtime I take my meal out to the patio overlooking a small lake whenever the weather cooperates, and can eat in peace away from the constant clatter and chatter. I'm frequently thwarted there, too, as often my quest for silence is interrupted by lawnmowers or delivery trucks, or occasionally by groups of people who move their meetings outside. That doesn't happen very frequently, though, and I usually have the deck to myself. I need that quiet time to relax, to recover from the stresses of the morning and prepare for the afternoon. I used to hurry out to the car and run errands, driving through a fast food restaurant and picking up something to eat in the car, but recently I've decided that it's more important to use that break in the middle of the day to center myself.

Many people seem to find it impossible to enjoy silence. They turn on the television or radio as soon as they get up in the morning and as soon as they get home from work, never turning it off until they leave the house or go to bed, and sometimes not even then, choosing to fall asleep to the television's soundtrack rather than drifting off in the darkness and silence.

Some people are simply used to a lot of noise and activity, and can't relax in silence. For others it's an escape, a way to avoid thinking about their problems or examining their own lives. As long as they have something going on every minute of every day from the time they get up in the morning until they go to sleep at night, the days pass, if not painlessly, at least unexamined, which might cause more pain.

It's important to be comfortable with yourself, to be able to relax into silence, unentertained except by your own thoughts. If you can find an oasis of healing silence in the midst of your busy day, you will find yourself refreshed and recharged. Our lives are busy, the world is noisy. Spending time in silence can help you recognize the still point within yourself so that you can return to that calmness anytime you need it.

Lunch in the park, a walk in the woods, a quiet corner of the house away from the television and telephone. That corner of silence is hard to find sometimes, but we all need it. And once you find it, even the memory of it will sustain you.

Only in silence can you hear the voice of your heart.