Silence and Solitude

I am a big believer in the power of music. Almost every time I sit down at the computer, I set it to play something. I have different selections for different moods, and pretty much always have something that works for me.

But I think that moments of silence are just as powerful and sometimes more important. There is so much in our daily lives that creates noise, and we are so busy it can be hard to take moments and just sit in silence and not do anything.

This past weekend, my son was away spending the weekend with his grandparents. During the summer it is a lot harder for me to have solid chunks of time that are just quiet, and I hadn't realized how much I had missed it until that first morning (and then evening when my husband went off to work and I truly had the house to myself...for the first time since summer vacation started).

I am pretty aware of how much noise people make, even when they aren't being loud. I think that people have a presence, and this manifests for me in tangible ways. I'm much more responsive to sound than I am to sight in some ways, and sounds tend to bother me quicker. It's like being around a low grade hum, and then all of a sudden it goes silent, and you are suddenly consciously aware of the lack of noise.

I really think that it is important that we take time to ourselves. And not just time to indulge in things that we enjoy doing (although that is important as well!), but just to BE. As little as a few moments, by yourself, in silence, doing nothing, can be extremely revitalizing.