Silence, Please!

Silence does have a sound….
A few young people wrote about “Listening to Quiet” in our St. Petersburg Times and it brought to my mind an assignment that I once had. While taking a Writing Class at the University of Maryland in Augsburg, Germany…we were told to sit outside on the grass…anywhere, with eyes closed or put on a blind fold…..and listen to the silence.
Next we were to write in very descriptive detail……everything we heard.
I was surprised at the myriad of sounds that emanated from that experience.
At first I could not concentrate…..for you see…even when nothing is ‘said’…A voice in our heads is talking ALL THE TIME.
THIS was the most troublesome of my experiment….
A definite effort had to be made in order to still the inside impulse to feel, think, record and explain…..everything as it was happening….
I had to…SHUT….ME….UP….first!
Once that was accomplished…with much effort….I entered another world of sound….I heard sheep with a shepherd not far away, the buzz of nearby insects, cars at a distance, a plane overhead and after a great length of time…..I could almost believe that I heard my own breathing!
What do we hear in our silence?
The sound of our surroundings…inside and out.
The outside often drowns out the inner sounds of our being.
The inside dialog of ‘self’ can prevent the sounds of the outside from being experienced therapeutically…
One little 12 yr. old girl named Casi says it best….

….Silence is the pitter-patter of rain against your roof as the love of a family’s heart surround it.
Silence is the tension in a room after someone has gotten in trouble.
Silence is the sun sneaking up over the horizon and falling under it again and again.
Silence is lightning finding its way through the clouds in a split second.
Silence is prayer helping you make your way through life.
Silence is….unexplainable.