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Silence Please!

 
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Silence Please!

People don't have time to be silent anymore. Weird right? Now that statement doesn't make any sense does it? You could say, " What in the world is wrong with you? Why wouldn't anyone have time to be silent?". Of course, there are plenty of times I thought I got a quiet moment in the middle of a buzzing day. As time went by I came to a conclusion that there is never a single minute where I could be silent. I know, I know, I am babbling about the same thing over and over again. But let me explain to you why I think no body can be quite any more.

Being silent is taught to us ever since we are born. When a baby cries the mother says, "Hush, little baby, don't cry." The baby is fed milk to make it silent. Then comes the toddler, who is actually supposed to be running around the house and screaming his/her head off and doing all naughty stuff. But then again the mother or father go, "hush." Next comes the kindergarten stage where the little boy or girl sits in the class room for the first time and is told by the teacher to keep quiet. Then comes the serious studying phase, middle school where the children are told to be quiet and do their home works at home and to be quiet in the class rooms, in libraries and elsewhere. When they grow up to be teenagers even though they are noisy outside with friends they tend to silence themselves in schools, movies, video games, etc.

Then comes the serious study stuff in college. By this time most people are not speaking too many words because they have studying to do. No time for small talk in the campus. And now the adult stage comes where people become more accustomed to being themselves rather than socializing. It like a vicious cycle: wake up, go to job, come back home, sit in front of television, watch until midnight and fall asleep in the couch and do the same the next morning again. Married couples hardly ever find any thing in common to talk about after several years of being together. So the wife goes and starts knitting or something till bed time and the husband snores in front of the TV. Kids are doing home work or other activities.

No one has time for eachother. Most households eat their dinners away from the dining tables and families where people used to share information about their daily events. Then comes the retirement age where most people get into empty nest syndrome. Kids are gone out of the house, either one of the spouses passed away or suffering with anxiety attacks or diabetes or hypertension. Arthritis sets in and only complaining comes as part of the conversation. I am not saying all the couples are like that. I have seen many couples being as healthy and active as they were in their younger days. But here I am actually speaking about 'silence' remember! Any way, at this stage there is plenty of time to be silent but, in fact, no body does realize that.

Now, you might think I went crazy and you might ask, 'Well, there are plenty of occasions people could be silent, then what are you talking about?'. Well, think about it. When the infant is crying and the mom hushes the baby, doesn't really quiet down. Then when the toddler is hushed they have a single second to take themselves back but no time to think before they bounce back. When the kindergartener is told to be quiet, he or she is actually looking around to find something to do or some one to speak to or fight with. They don't have time to listen. And now, the school age kids start thinking about their home work, extra curricular activities, no time to be silent.

Teenagers, have a totally different version here. Gossip time for girls, flirting time for boys and no time to relax. They are constantly thinking of 'he said-she said', stories. High school becomes hard to maintain grades if one doesn't set his or her mind to studies. No time for silence, the mind is buzzing with questions, answers, book reports, SATs, and ACTs. College applications become priority at that age. Planning for graduation parties, proms, dating, movies, girlfriends, boyfriends, break ups, making up, making out, oh! You name it they got it.

Then the college zooms in. Every one in the campus looks serious and silent. But actually what is going on is a lot of thinking about studies, semesters, dates, work, assignments, and weekend parties. The mind is constantly churning with events in the campus. The work phase of life brings in new problems to think about. Bosses, work assignments, co-workers, gossips, pay checks, bills, wives, husbands, kids, dates, love affairs, other attractions, family get togethers, christmas parties, thanks giving dinners, cooking, cleaning, kids' homeworks, bank balances, cars, insurance, you name it they got it.

All these are stuffed in their brains. Never a moment to be silent to contemplate. Brains are working mills. We are always, grinding the brain with one thing or the other. Our brains even do multi tasking with parallel thoughts going at one time. Who cares about a moment of silence? Middle age comes with new set of things to think about. Kids education, college expenses, new cars for kids, newly acquired health conditions, increased doctors' visits, family issues, weddings, middle age crisis, extra marital affairs, boredom, menopause. Soon enough retirement age comes and new issues to think about come too. Pension plans, social security checks, blue cross/blue shield, spouses' health, care givers, hospitals, arthritis, heart problems, spouses' death, funerals, tours, reading books, watching some more television. There is no time to sit quietly and close your eyes.

In ever one of the above mentioned scenarios, there seemed to be plenty of times where one can be silent. But, think about it. All the while we are thinking with our brains. Don't you feel like reaching into your brain and just stop it from thinking for just a second some times? I do. My brain is under constant vigil about things that are going on. It is always giving me signals to think about some thing or the other. I never stops and keeps quiet. Come to think of it, where does silence come from? Our brain. And when it is over working even if we are sitting in the quietest corner of the world, we are not exactly silent. Don't you agree?

Well, that is why there are ways that are ancient such as yoga, meditation to calm us down. We are told to focus on one thing or the other and keep bringing our mind back to the focal point whenever it wanders around. Instrumental music does wonders to our brain. It calms us down, lets us relax and immerse ourselves into it giving rest to our brains and there is the silence. Nature calls us to relax in its lap. Green brings new life, a sense of relaxation. Watching a green lawn or meadows, flowers, birds makes us quiet down and enjoy the silence without constraints of daily life. Making love and bringing our selves to ecstasy and the euphoria silence our brains for just a few moments where nothing matters but total silence. Feeling our inner selves totally without a single thought of outside world is 'Silence'. And when we feel that silence, we feel our existence. Constant noises that our mind makes with thousands of impulses passing through giving way to emotions is what I was talking about all this time. It is not when you sit in one place and don't do any thing or don't speak to any one what you call silence. It is when you don't think about a single thing in this world but feel the space without images. Silence, a rare commodity for today world, if practiced correctly like the ancient saints did, is absolutely achievable for every one because, 'OUR LIFE MATTERS'.

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