Silence is a beautiful thing (July 2011)

Silence is a beautiful thing.

I am a noisy type of person. I always have music playing where ever it is I am and it is usually pretty loud. Most people would find it distracting yet I find it blissfully peaceful.

Most people may assume that I am trying to block out my own inner voice or maybe even that silence frightens me yet the opposite is true. Music helps my mind flow through thoughts and helps me process what is true in the moment. Most mornings I make a new CD to go into the office. The songs reflect how I am feeling or how it is I want to be feeling. Sometimes the music is mellow and other times it can be hard hitting.

So color me surprise when last night I turned off the music and listened to the silence. Not just the silence of my apartment but the silence of my mind. There was nothing left for processing. I took my journal out to write only to realize there was nothing left to say or do. So I sat in this silence and I enjoyed the bliss of no noise.

It was then the storm began. There was a crack of thunder and the sky opened and poured. It was blinding rain – the kind I love the most. I went to my balcony and stepped out and felt the rain soaking my body and tried to hear the rain but sweet silence was all I could hear. No images to distract me, no emotions to rock me, no music to move me – just the bliss of silence as I stood in the pouring rain.

I do not know how long I stood in the rain – long enough to be dripping wet when I entered my apartment. I then grabbed a sweater to warm myself in and put my music back on – the end of silence – the beginning of amazing movement.

I moved my body in a way I did not know I could – it was soft and hard. It was flowing and cutting. I just closed my eyes and felt the beauty of the silence and of the pouring rain and allowed myself to dance it through.

Today I returned to my music filled mind feeling relaxed and clear – still not a lot of thoughts to be had just the freedom of hearing the music with the understanding that I think silence is beautiful too.