Intense Silence

== Intense Silence. I am not sure I have ever thought of silence as being intense before. This morning Dean was moving some furniture around to prepare the deck for more power-washing. I came inside for another cup of tea and sat down in my chair and realized there was No sound.

The silence began to press in on me in a very good way. It called me to attention. I put down my tea and settled in my chair, feet on the floor, hands in my lap, eyes closed. I reached out with my ears and there was No sound. No cars on the road. No moving around the deck noise. No bird or little critter noises. No house noise - not even the ice maker. I pulled my attention back into my body and let myself be supported by the silence. I simply sat and let it settle in and around me. I was grounded - centered - releasing.

There is a sense that the intensity will stay with me even though the power-washer will begin soon. Dean came in and spoke to me and it took a moment to return to our shared space in order to hear him. Now there is a little movement, some sound, and he is on the deck again. And still the silence seems to be protecting me from whatever sounds will come. I have had this experience before of course - learned a long time ago how to surround my body with silence so that the words I was hearing didn’t invade my space but simply entered my hearing without beating on me. This morning was different though. I was not the initiator of the silence. The silence itself was alive and intense and calling me to its center. Very nice. Very nice indeed.