Sarah-Jane Grace – I’ve long been a seeker of silence. Seeking out opportunities to embrace the silent moments and to immerse myself in the stillness that silence can bring. We live in a busy, noisy, distraction fuelled world which can make it so hard to even notice the silence, but it’s always there. It’s often the case that we need to pause and breathe deeply in order to re-connect, but it’s important to realize that silence never leaves us, it’s usually a case that we shut ourselves off from the silence.
Silence isn’t just the absence of sound, far from it. Silence is the stillness that can be found in between moments and in those gaps between the in breath and the out breath, at the point where we are doing neither one nor the other. Silence is the space where true wisdom can be found, it can bring us insight and a deeper sense of understanding as to why things are the way they are. We may not find all the answers in silence, but we can find a stronger sense of acceptance to the inherently unknowable nature of life.
Of course, to truly connect with the silence, we need to be willing to wholeheartedly listen and connect without distraction. Sometimes this is hard with all of the distractions of everyday life, but the more we try to consciously connect to the silence, the more it will find ways to reach our hearts and souls. It’s in the silence where truth resides, and it’s in the stillness where our consciousness spirals backwards in order for us to see the bigger picture once again.
It’s innately human to collect clutter; we spend most of our lives with things to do, people to see, places to go and ‘to do’ lists to complete, and this can, at times, become so overwhelmingly heavy that we lose sight of the silence and the truth that lies within. Yet, no matter how over-burdened we can feel, the silence sits patiently, never waning, never fading.
Silence is the light within our hearts and souls that brings us closer to peace and closer to the truth of our true essence. Yet, what is truth? Is it finding the answers to all of questions in life? Maybe it’s an acknowledgment of the unanswerable nature of the questions we seek? Could it be a wholehearted acceptance of the possibility that we never really knew what we were asking in the first place?
It’s easy to become caught up in the currents of life, being carried along by the collective ideals and expectations, and slowly losing sight of our true nature. It’s therefore easy to see why silence then becomes a luxury rather than a necessity, as time away from the clutter of day-to-day life only serves to remind us of the true majesty of possibility and potential that comes by living our best lives.
Silence isn’t an empty, voidal space of nothing-ness, nor is silence the absence of sound; in this context, silence is the willingness for each of us to wholeheartedly open up to the universality of connection, to look beyond the things that separate and divide, and to sense the true nature of interconnectivity. Every single action, choice, thought and belief has consequences and so nothing happens in isolation.
It’s understandable that so many fear the silence as they fear looking deeply within their hearts and souls in order to see the truth of what resides there. Silence brings truth and truth shines the light of all of those aspects of ourselves and our lives that we’ve been avoiding for so long. Silence wakes us up, but many would prefer to remain sleep walking to keep on keeping on as it’s easier.
So, when we listen to a bird in song or the waves lapping on the shore, these are opportunities to breathe in the silence and enter a quiet moment deep within. This is the pathway to feeling more connected and more alive. Silence isn’t the absence of connection, it’s the epitome of true connection. The ability to sit comfortably in total silence with another soul is the true test of a connection as it’s in the silence where more can be exchanged.
It’s time for each of us to step beyond the chatter of life and to focus more wholeheartedly on embracing the silence more. It’s time to let go of the distractions in order to live our best lives. It’s important to remember that every word spoken matters, so we need to make our words count and make them purposeful and use them with wisdom and passion.
Even when life feels chaotic, busy and loud, when we take a deep breath, the silence rises up and gently smiles at us from within. When we enter those spaces in-between spaces, we access our creativity, spirituality and wholeheartedness. It’s here where we become fully aligned with our true essence as we let go of the collections of ought’s, must’s and should’s that shape and define our lives.
Each of us are on a journey at the moment and, as we continue to listen to the breath of life and the echoes of silence, we begin to realise that we’re ready to open up to the true beauty of existence and to finding a deeper level of purpose, hope and joy. As the ebb and flow of the tides of life continue to lap the shorelines of our souls, there is a growing sense of awareness of the shifting landscape carved out by the currents and the winds of time.
It therefore seems important that we acknowledge the roles we have played in our own evolution. Every moment of every day we make choices: choices to act, choices not to act, choices not to make choices and so on. Some of us embrace each and every moment, seeing life as an opportunity to experience as much as possible, but others spend life finding reasons ‘not to’.
Most of us have, at some point, spent time in both categories, but the more awakened we become, the more we need to be accountable for our choices, even those choices we choose not to make.
Whatever life brings us, the silence always has the potential to bring us peace, wisdom, insight and strength. As the orchestra of the universe starts to softly play a new melody, it seems the more willing we are to pause and acknowledge the silence, the more uplifting this music will become…
SF Source Spirit Library Sep 2021