I finished my complete day of the Silence. It was easier than I thought it would be but, still very strange not having ANY noise, conversations, communications, etc. I was glad that I was able to schedule and complete a full day. It began Friday evening and lasted until 10:00 AM on Sunday when I had to break the Silence to serve at church.
I wasn’t really sure what to do during the Silence. During the week last week when I did momentary spurts of Silence I simply sat and meditated or read Haanel, Og, Emerson or Wattles; it was mostly sitting though but since it was momentary it wasn’t too difficult. However, just sitting for an entire day (or more as we were tasked) seemed nearly impossible. But, it wasn’t. I still woke up early to start my day and did my meditation, prayer, and daily readings as normal. Then I did a Sit for about 30 min. Then I just rested.
I hardly ever get a chance to just rest; I mean truly rest where I’m not planning anything, watching TV, reading, etc. Normally, my “rest” is me catching up on chores or TV shows. Basically, if I don’t leave the house and I’m not working, then I’m “resting”. However, I’m not truly resting. So, during my day of Silence, I got to truly rest. After my morning Sit, I just relaxed in bed for a while. I nodded off and took a nap. When I woke up I did another Sit for about 15 min then got up and got dressed which I didn’t have to rush to do. I was able to enjoy the little things like the smell of my shower gel and the luxrious feel of my body lotion. Then I went downstairs and sat on the couch and just sat and meditated, pondered and enjoyed the day. I had lunch, did my daily readings and Sit again. Then enjoyed the day. It was such a beautiful and warm day. I was able to truly appreciate Spring approaching.
I had put my phones on ‘do-not-disturb’ so I wasn’t distracted by alarms, notifications or texts. Most of my immediate circle was aware of my Silence observation so I wasn’t worried about getting any calls. However, if there was a true emergency, then those who would need to reach me could get through the ‘do-not-disturb’ mode; fortunately, there were no emergencies.
I was a little disappointed in my day of Silence though in that I didn’t have any major “ah-ha, epiphany” moments. I think my expectations were very high and I would come out of it with some new revelation. However, I didn’t let that feeling settle on me too long (thank you Mental Diet). I reminded myself that this is a process and epiphanies, changes, etc, aren’t going to happen immediately and with a single, complete day of Silence. During the whole 2 weeks when I was able to observe Silence, the main thing was that I was able to have time with myself and be more introspective. As the Law of Practice states “….I practice daily and perform AMAZINGLY because of practice!” I have a daily practice of Silence during The Sit; however, I also try to take other moments of the day to observe Silence as well such as when I’m driving. I will work full days of Silence into a regular routine and it is my goal to extend it into at least 3 full days. That will require me to actually go away so I’ve been looking into places that do silence retreats in the area.
I would encourage everyone to do this and observe at least a full day of the Silence. It is important for us to take this time to be alone with ourselves, with our world within, with our Spirit, with our God and just relax and reflect. As a Christian I enter into Holy Week next week (Week 24) and will spend many days in Silence and reflecting on Jesus’ service, sacrifice, death on the cross and rejoicing in His Resurrection. This is an opportune time for those who are Christian to take a day or two or three to observe Silence. Imagine the REJOICING that will come on Easter Sunday after having all the noise around us “die” and allowing ourselves to just be still. Then, we can CELEBRATE our COMMENCEMENT; our beginning; our resurrection on Sunday with our final webinar.