Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Love of Silence

I'm not sure whether it's entirely "an HSP Thing" but I love silence. I mean that not only in the sense that we HSPs all need our regular "quiet time" in order to function well in life... I meant that I just like silence.

There are few things I find more soothing than sitting someplace where the only thing I hear is the breeze, or the sound of raindrops, or one of my cats purring.

We live in a super noisy world. Not only is it eternally noisy with the sound of commerce and "busy-ness," it's noisy with the "sound" of people's chattering psychic energies. It may be perfectly "silent" somewhere, but many of us can still "hear" the sound of people's anxious and nervous energy.

It's surprisingly different to find true silence, in today's world. We live in a small town, over an hour from the nearest metropolitan area. I can usually find a semblance of silence on one of our local beaches. And even then, it's only because I walk several miles down a beach that has no land access... so very few people bother to go there. But I can find silence, looking out across the water, across the straits towards the islands, with Canada in the distance. Sure, ships pass by, but they are so far out in the ship channel that I am barely aware of them.

When I was a kid, being "home alone" was actually one of my favorite things. Because the house would be quiet... and I could lie on the floor and listen to the sound of... almost nothing. We lived far enough down a quiet neighborhood street-- and at the end of a cul-de-sac-- so there was almost no sound of passing cars.

Somehow, I felt comforted by being alone with little more than my breathing. Silence afforded me a sense of... privacy. A sense that the world was-- at least for the moment-- not going to come and "make demands" of me.

Even when I was a teenager, I was never "one of those" who would use my parents not being home as an excuse to blast the stereo. In fact, I can say that I never went through a "blast the stereo phase," in my life. Not saying that's a "good" or "bad" thing... just that it's my thing.



Talk Back! What's YOUR relationship with silence? Do you love silence, or does complete stillness make you antsy?

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1 comment:

  1. As I age, I have come to love silence more and more. I even mute the TV when commercials come on. I recently had to move back to the city, after living in the country for 7 years, for financial reasons. I had no idea how much it would affect me. I'm crabbier, have more headaches, and get annoyed easily. From too close neighbors, to sirens, to lawn mowers, to reving motorcycles, etc. I just want to scream "quiet" sometimes. I may in the future have to find somewhere just a bit out of town, just for my health sake, and peace of mind!

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