Shhhhhh!

You probably need more silence and solitude in your life.

I will now write a post with a great measure of hypocrisy.

Or maybe I am just writing this one for myself today.

Feel free to read along, though. It may also apply to you.

It’s a noisy world out there.

And we do all we can to bring more noise into our lives.

Silence makes us uncomfortable.

I was reminded of this while shopping for dog food at Target. Target stores don’t have background music. At least, the ones I’ve been in don’t. Their position is that it is a distraction to shoppers. (Side note - there are articles on the internets saying that Target added background music in 2017, but my Target is still silent.)

I remember the day that I noticed the silent Target situation. I walked in, and I was weirdly unsettled for some reason. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Something just felt off. I finally realized what was wrong. It was way too quiet. I hadn’t been in a quiet place for a long time. I didn’t like it.

I believe that silence can be a personal discipline — something we do purposely.

When we are silent after drowning in noise for a long time, it feels a lot like my shopping experience at Target. It’s uncomfortable, but we aren’t sure why. We can’t put our finger on it, but it is unsettling.

I have a strong suspicion as to why silence makes us unsettled:

Silence forces us to deal with the one person we feverishly and constantly work to avoid.

Ourselves.

Ancient mystics from various spiritual traditions have noted that nothing shapes a person quite like solitude. Purposeful solitude and silence turns us into people who are comfortable with ourselves. And those are the best people to be around. There is a peace that surrounds individuals who devote themselves to solitude and silence.

It grounds us.

It’s always been a human tendency to avoid solitude and silence, but never before have we had such easy access to so many noisy tools to help us do so. The magic boxes we carry in our pockets are the most convenient distraction ever invented by humanity. And we all have one.

“I believe in the discipline of silence, and could talk about it for hours.” - George Bernard Shaw

So, guess what I’m going to ask you to do today?

Gimme five minutes.

At any point today.

Just five minutes.

No phone, no computer, no music, no TV, no books, no driving, no working, no cleaning, no talking, no journal, no people.

Give yourself the gift of doing absolutely nothing.

It will be unsettling at first.

Do it again tomorrow.

Do it every day.

Before long, your five minutes will grow into thirty.

And you’ll be way more fun to be around.

And who knows? You might even learn to like being with yourself.