When you’re tired after a long day, do you sit in silence?
I know that’s a luxury to many. I don’t have kids so I have the option more than some. Even so, it’s a luxury I often don’t indulge in. Silence can be quite threatening. With empty space and time your thoughts and feelings crowd in.
If you’ve been busy, your feelings have probably been pushed aside:
- Exhaustion – I have to do one more thing.
- Anger – I don’t want to do this.
- Fear – if I don’t do this, will happen.
You can’t know what you want when you’re very busy, when you fill every moment of the day. You can’t hear yourself with all that noise. You certainly can’t hear your intuition guiding you. It’s quiet, it’s gentle. Some call it the voice of God.
So, if there’s too much happening you can’t hear God or yourself. It’s hard to be yourself when you feel crowded out by the world.
It’s awkward being alone with yourself when you feel unacquainted. But, like any relationship worth having, it starts at awkward and develops from there.
It’s impossible to know yourself without a little quiet. It’s impossible to serve yourself and others without knowing yourself. It’s impossible to hear the voice of God, your soul, your intuition, the Universe (whatever name you call it). And what’s the point of constant, meaningless activity.
Direction and purpose require silence. Silence can be damn scary. A backlog of feelings may come up. But here’s the thing, we don’t get joy without its opposite. Heavy feelings are just indicators of direction too. At the simplest physical level, you feel exhaustion when you need sleep and rest. You feel it too when you’re going the wrong way.
When you first make space for silence it will feel awful. You’ll hear and feel your exhaustion and dissatisfaction, your need for sleep and purpose. It will be an ache and a scream and it will sound like nails on a blackboard.
Sit with it though. Slow down enough to hear your heartbeat. Listen.
miss yardley 