Silence - A Cure for the Weary Mind

I was saying to my beau the other day that he might consider spending some time listening to the silence in his life.  I don't remember what brought up this conversation, but love him as I do, this guy usually has either TV or music going on in his house all the time. Maybe it's a guy thing?  I asked if he had ever just turned everything off and was just "one" in the quiet. When I mentioned this new and startling option to him he looked at me surprised. (Is it really that strange?)  As for myself. I'm a big believer in silence. You could even call me a "silence junkie".  If I don't get enough quiet time, I begin to get a bit cranky.

I love to listen to the sound of silence in my home. Sometimes it is not completely silent, of course. Tonight I hear the rain on the window and the sound of car tires on a slick pavement.  Sometimes it is the soft conversation of my boys downstairs.  When I'm in the city I love to hear the city sounds outside the window and those somehow seem to also comfort me.  But when I turn off the TV and the music in my immediate environment, I find my body almost immediately relaxes. Literally within minutes, I feel my neck muscles loosen and my breathing becomes more deep and regular. It's very satisfying and a gives me a greater sense of relaxation then if I were to come upstairs and switch on the TV. Silence allows me to be alone. It allows me to follow the train of my thoughts or intuitions and to sometimes even shut off my thoughts and just be. It lets me shut out the world and my goodness...it's just plain peaceful.  I find that sometimes my most creative ideas come to me when I'm in silence.  When I read it must be silent.

I honestly don't know why I have chosen to share these thoughts with you tonight except perhaps to somehow tell you that I'm really enjoying a quiet night at home and am wishing the same to all my readers...  Breathe deep and enjoy. 

For those of you who can't seem to break the sound barrier but feel the need for a Zen moment...try this great site Free Soothing Music (found via The Thinking Blog.) Free Soothing Music works almost as well as the sound of silence.