Summary

The article reflects on the value of silence for well-being, emphasizing its role in fostering comfort, intimacy, and self-awareness in various settings, including live music, yoga classes, and personal life.

Abstract

The author of the article, Michele Maize, shares a personal appreciation for moments of silence, describing how they create a sense of anticipation and connection among people. Whether it's the hush that falls over a crowd during a live performance or the quiet that descends in a yoga studio, silence is portrayed as a powerful tool for fostering community and introspection. The author also discusses their journey to embracing silence as a means of coping with the desire to fill empty spaces with noise, a behavior they recognize as a way to avoid processing emotions and thoughts. Through sobriety and yoga, the author has learned to find comfort and creativity in silence, highlighting its importance in their daily routines and its role in reducing anxiety and enhancing presence. The article invites readers to consider the significance of silence in their own lives and to recognize its profound impact beyond being merely the absence of sound.

Opinions

The author values the silence during live music performances and yoga classes as it creates a bond among attendees and allows for reflection.
Silence is seen as an antidote to the chaos of everyday life, providing a space for healthy processing of emotions and thoughts.
The author has a preference for silence in personal activities such as writing, cleaning, and showering, contrasting with their husband's preference for music.
The article suggests that silence can be intimate and comforting, especially with loved ones, and can lead to shared experiences without the need for spoken words.
The author emphasizes that silence is essential for thinking, processing feelings, and fostering creativity.
The article conveys a personal transformation from viewing silence as awkward to embracing it as a necessary and beautiful part of life.
The author believes that silence is undervalued in a noisy, fast-paced world and that it is crucial for maintaining mental well-being.
The author expresses a heightened appreciation for silence after quitting drinking, indicating that sobriety has allowed them to be more present and enjoy the quiet moments in life.
The author poses a question to the readers, inviting them to reflect on their own relationship with silence and whether they share the author's perspective.

The Intimate Sounds of Silence

Pausing and muting for well-being

I sat with my family and we didn’t say a word. We just listened. Photo Credit: Michele Maize

I’ve always loved the sudden quiet. The way people move in tighter to try and hear. The freezing of bodies as they await what sound will come next.

I have watched live music and then the musician stops to say something important. But, they must transition from playing to speaking. It takes the brain a minute. The beautiful silence when the crowd stops and the music mutes.

The same thing happens when my yoga teacher enters the room. At my studio, we arrive 15–20 minutes early to talk to each other. We have all become friends and we want to hear about each other's lives.

The teacher enters and speaks and we all immediately stop to pay attention.

I like being with like-minded people and I feel the same goes for live music. You congregate with others who like the same music. You feel bonded. You want to speak and find the commonalities.

You can also sit and feel something in those silent moments.

When the chatter and music quiet to hear a teacher's wise words. I honestly don’t know what I would do without yoga. It has taught me so much.

It’s brought me together with some of the most amazing people and it has shown me how to be silent. How to love those little breaks of silence. Sometimes I still hear but other times it is completely black. They are both comforting and not awkward.

When you are grown to think that silence is awkward and you should fill it, you do. That’s a learned behavior. I was used to chaos and talking and when that wasn’t around anymore, I filled my silence in other ways.

Those ways weren’t always healthy. I needed to be busy, not to sit and think. I wanted to numb and not feel so filling empty silences was a must.

Although now after reveling in a few years of feeling warmth in silence, I found just how intimate it can be. With people that you love surrounding you, silence is beautiful.

Have you noticed that when you are with your closest people, you can be silent and it doesn’t matter? Maybe you are even thinking the same things as your friends and family members when you are together without spoken words.

Ever since I quit drinking, I have welcomed the silence and actually prefer it now. My husband told me recently that I don’t like music. I found that to be a weird comment.

But, I write in silence, clean the house in silence, cook, and take a shower in silence. He does all of those things with music and also codes for work with blaring music in the background.

I’ve come to notice that I need silence to think and process. Because I not numbing anymore, I want to process what I am feeling. It also takes time and a lot of thinking.

I want to brainstorm ideas for stories. I need the sweet silence for that.

I have fallen in love with silence and stillness. I thank sobriety and yoga for that.

When the teacher walks in, we must listen and then we must be silent. I still love music during yoga. I still love music. My husband is wrong.

I can’t walk outside or drive a car without music in my ears. But, I also revel in silence and crave it.

I want to stand in the shower and only hear the vibrating of my head because of the strong shower pressure. I only want to hear the soft droplets of water that hit my feet.

After watching a movie recently where there is a sonic boom, it made me think about how much I need it to be quiet. Also, as I have aged, my ears are more sensitive and I couldn’t imagine going through that.

The actors are clutching their ears to try and block the deafening, screeching noise that is boarding and won’t quit.

Please don’t let that ever happen to me.

It reminded me again how much I need the sweet sound of silence in order to be present. All I can think of when something is too loud for me at that moment is that I can’t wait for it to be over.

Life is often noisy. Everything is fast-paced. Our minds carry loud volumes from our days and interactions. So, it makes sense to me why I need the quiet.

I also don’t feel anxiety when it’s silent. It is calming to listen to natural sounds. Like the airplane flying over my house right now.

I notice more in silence and also reveal things about myself when I think. When I ponder, I get creative.

Silence is so much more than nothing.

It’s the coming together of friends and being able to sit without speaking while feeling completely comfortable. It’s about finding who you truly are. It’s needed to make space in your mind for other things. It’s about letting go and letting be.

The sweet and intimate sound of silence is the breath of fresh air after a storm. The lulls in life are welcomed by me when they come.

Do you agree?

Check out my Substack: The Maize