Remember the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sounds of Silence”? They approached the ‘sounds’ of silence. I am going deeper. What about the emotions behind silence. How do you handle silence?
I have known people who seemed uncomfortable in silence. When I was little, every time I visited one of my friends, their TV was always on. No one was listening to it or even in the same room as it, but it was always on. Then there were the times I went some where with my dad and there would be total silence in the car. Neither of us spoke, but I was totally comfortable.
Some people just can’t deal with silence. They have to have noise to invade their mind. Maybe they are afraid of what their mind will come up with. I have heard some one say that they were afraid of getting lost in their thoughts and not be able to find their way out. Is that for real? What kind of a person are you? Are you totally comfortable in silence? Or do you have to speak to break the silence?
At my church we have a silent prayer time which only last about 30 seconds. I get the feeling that some people are uncomfortable with that short 30 seconds, while others like me would like to have a longer time. Gee, 30 seconds is barely enough time to quiet my mind. I have heard that Norman Vincent Peale had a 5 minute silent prayer time in his Sunday sermons. That is enough time to get centered and actually commune with a higher being.
Just being silent is not enough because even when we are silent, our mind is noisy. Meditation is learning to quiet the mind. I love to meditate. Meditation has a calming effect to prepare me for the hectic day to come. Meditation gets me in touch with my inner self. Give it a try for yourself, you may get to know yourself better.
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