DID YOU HEAR THAT?

"True silence is the rest of the mind.  It is to the spirit what sleep is to the body; nourishment and refreshment."  William Penn

Yesterday I had the dreaded task of setting up new phone/internet/TV service for the new house.  You know how it goes...blah,blah,blah,PRESS 1...blahblahblah, PRESS 3...blah,blah,blah, PRESS 7. On and on and on until you are absolutely certain that there are no humans left on the planet.  We have been overtaken by Automatons.  AND - when you finally get to speak to a person...they put you on hold, where you have to listen to more automated voices giving you all the information about fabulous offers that you are not interested in.  At least that was my experience yesterday.  The thing is - that when you are on hold - you still have to be listening in case the voice changes to that elusive live person that you have clawed your way through the automated maze to find.  So - while I was waiting/listening on hold, yesterday, Marilyn was asking me questions, and I was checking my email - and suddenly I realized that I was suffering from "input overload."

We are constantly infused with noise...at least, I am.  I cannot chew unless the TV is on...I sleep with a "sound machine"...I feel restless without the continual whirrrrr of the ceiling fan circulating air.  When the electricity went off recently, I sat up straight and wondered, "What was that?"  Oh yes...silence.

My son recently went on a hike up Mt. Hood (I think that was the one) and he said that the thing he noticed when he stopped to rest - after huffing and puffing - was the silence.  The absolute stillness.

There is a reverence in silence.  It cuts us off from the manic activity of our brains and jolts us with a powerful sense of awe.  It also serves as fertile ground for creative thinking.  In the quiet, we can actually hear that inner voice we have all read about.  Ideas pop into your head - answers to question you didn't even realize you were asking. 

I read this little haiku-like poem by Dr. Sun Wolf:

unplug iPod
music stops abruptly
cricket song instead

Nice.  Maybe I will try to sleep tonight without the sound machine.  Who knows what wondrous dreams may find their way into my night.  I think Stephanie Meyers got her idea for the Twilight series from a dream.  Perhaps I can conjure up a dream for the next bestseller.  It's worth a try.