"Silence is not an absence but a presence."
Anne D. LeClaire
Would you consider spending a day, half-a-day or even an hour in silence? No verbal or written communication (No talking, no listening to devices, no watching anything, no reading, no
writing)?
How long can you resist picking up your phone, tablet or a book? Try it for an hour. Go for a walk without earphones. Cook without a device entertaining you. Tend to your plants. Clean your home. Have a shower or a bath.
Silence will allow your mind to wander a little further, get ideas and solve issues. That
chattering mind will also learn to quiet down eventually. Instead of losing out, you will be gaining more of yourself. You might just love exploring a slower pace and stillness. Time just for you, to reconnect with yourself or short breaks from noise every day. At the end of the day, grab your journal, describe the experience and write down all your insights.
More than ever, we need silence
to restore our sanity. There is so much mediocrity in the news and comments that we are bombarded with! Silence makes room for our own, more interesting thoughts. We switch off from 'reacting' mode to 'creating' mode: same letters, different life! Who and what is worthy of your time and attention? Who and what isn't? Spending time in silence will give you plenty of time and thinking space to answer these questions and change the focus of your attention to what is important to
you?
You could go for a walk, exercise, paint, collage, knit or saw, do a bit of gardening, potter about, care for your body, cook, or just relax, daydream, sit with a cup of tea.
Can you give yourself an hour of silence every day? What would you do? What would you have achieved by the end of the year if you switch everything off and did what you love? It can literally
change your life.
