The Sound of Silence

Photo by Arthur Brognoli from Pexels

A lot is going on in the world, so I sit here bathed in solitude and fishing for a thought. Let the noisy silence of second hands and chirping birds lend me the inspiration needed to write. Let the calm of the rain suicide its face onto my windowsill, onto shingled rooftops, ripping puddles, or perhaps it will only melt itself into the concrete.

Have you ever sat back and listened to silence? It is hypocritically noisy. I can hear the laughter of locusts and the singing of birds as they intercourse themselves into the wind. This noisy wind. It whistles and shouts and spreads its hum across the troposphere, just silent enough for us not to notice amid the growling of car engines and groaning of electricity. If you listen closely enough, you’ll hear angels sing in the wind.

Give me not the physical right now. Not the booming lyric of music or the chatter of distraction. Give me focus so I may snag a thought from the roaring voices of spirit and memory hanging from the pictures on my wall. We are familiar with the sound of noise, but not the noise of silence. Not the tickle of an idea brushing past our thoughts or the seductive wooing of trees to wind. The giggling fabric against the windowsill. The peaceful lullabies of daylight.

Indeed, nature has its way of suckering us out of quiet, but what an incredible stillness.

There is a Movement in Stillness

I saw a sunflower bow to a bee without moving. It arched its stem, its petals already stretched wide and willing. There it waited for the wind to whistle the way it does when it pushes the flower forward, and here, the flower bowed. Beautiful and with grace, this sunflower let itself go in the wind’s direction, its sweet liquid substance sending the scent of fresh Nectar floating into the air. I couldn’t smell it but it wasn’t for me to smell so I looked down in my notebook and wrote a reminder: “what’s for you is for you.”

I looked up and noticed a bumblebee was already singing its way to our area and the whole time the flower did not move; it waited. The flower was only moved by the wind, the invisible force that guides it, and so this I wrote in my notebook: “do not chase, attract. What is yours will come to you. Put out the right scent and let the invisible force guide you.”

I looked up, and the bee seemed much more anxious and excited, but I knew better than to kill it. This creature was on a mission, so I didn’t swap him away because this wasn’t my business. I was here only as a witness to the meditative buzz of togetherness. I saw a sunflower bow to a bee without moving, so I bowed my head too and wrote: “there is a movement even in stillness.”

No Whining Wednesday – Embrace the Quiet

Welcome back to No Whinging Wednesday! The only day of the week where you do not get to whine, criticize, or complain. If you’re new to this blog, click HERE to learn more about NWW.

The No Whining Wednesday Badge
The No Whining Wednesday Badge

This week has been a week of quiet for me. Of reflection and deep thought. So, I thought of a wonderful quote to help to get us through this day. This week, we will attempt to capture peace and free ourselves from complaining through something that seems simple to do but is more complicated than it seems on the surface: Be still. Do you know how to Be still? Stillness can be defined as:

“The absence of movement or sound.”

Of course, this doesn’t have to mean literally without sound or movement. More like being slow to speak and thinking critically before making a decision (movement). During times you feel like arguing or snapping or getting upset and frustrated do not look for the answer, just wait. I love how Rainer Maria Rilke said, “Try to love the questions themselves. Like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them.”

Wait for mental clarity. Wait for the calmness to return. Wait for the right words to speak. Just wait. Be still. Do not worry about what move to make. Today is not about moving anything. Today is about being still. Here’s our  motivating quote:

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MIA on Purpose

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I’ve been intentionally missing in action this week. There’s a saying somewhere that says that when you’re working on anything that you want to succeed, it is really dangerous to listen to what everyone says. Sometimes you just have to tune everything and everyone out for your sanity.

In addition to solidifying some business endeavors, I’ve been putting the final touches on the ARC Copy of Renaissance for my advanced readers next month and have decided to lay low in the process. I’m so excited to introduce Nora to my team! (Email Me to join my Advanced Review Team for Book One in The Nora White Story). I am officially knee deep into revising Book Two. I’m not even going to look at Book One for at least a month! After spending so much time on a project you get to the point where you are relieved to let it go out into the world. Sure, you’re nervous about what others would think of your creation (I am trembling). At the same time, there’s a weight lifted at having made it to this point. A sigh of relief to have been done with it. What happens now is what will.

But that’s not all….

I’ve also been away because I’ve not felt motivated to speak. I have been tempted to re-blog! But I didn’t want to break my silence until today because it’s the day I set for myself so I held back. Silence is something I think we all need every now and again. I look forward to it and enjoy being still. I’m not unhappy, I just appreciate silence in a world that never stops talking, as the saying goes. This also helps me to write. There’s something amazing that happens as a result of muteness. How the creative juices flow and the mind ignites with clarity. I’ve had blog post ideas but I have not felt like saying anything. Sometimes you just gotta take a step back and reevaluate. Like looking at a chess board, it will require you to step outside yourself to see the whole board. You’re able then to see your moves in a genuine and unbiased way. What could I do better? Where have I went wrong? How can I improve? What revelations can I turn into tangible action? I turn inward and listen for instruction on the next move.

The Second Thursday of Every Month

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Be sure to tune into your favorite Ape the second Thursday of every month starting next month for my articles. Coming Up: “Enjoy the Journey”, Thursday, February 9, 2017 @ 01:100a London, UK Time.

Sometimes we need to slow down and capture the moment for what it is. Step outside of ourselves and see things play out as if we are not there. Then we can see our actions in their most genuine form, identify our mistakes and most especially, acknowledge those things we have accomplished. We spend a lot of time on what need to be done or should be done in order to reach that level of (place your career goals here) that we envision is representative of success that we do not take the time to appreciate the success we already have. Sometimes you don’t need to do anything. Just be still. Take the time to truly love what it is that you do. Enjoy the journey.